Make-your-own Mac at Cheesology

I already did a very long complimentary post about my favorite STL restaurant, Cheesology, so if you'd like the details about why the establishment is so amazing please check it out here! This post is going to focus on a new menu item that they released while I was in Australia. It's a make your own option! You can create your own macaroni creation from a huge selection of ingredients! Best. Idea. Ever! I'd been eagerly waiting to try it out and got a chance to do so a couple of weeks ago. 

Two cheeses are included and they charge an extra 30 cents for other ingredients. I got a munster and smoked gouda mac with spinach, onions and bbq sauce. With breadcrumbs on top of course! It was really delicious. Bbq, onions, and smoked gouda is one of my favorite flavor combos and it was great in a cheesology mac. I also had it with my go to cider, Angry Orchard. This cider goes really well with bbq sauce because it's crisp sweetness compliments and brings out the sweetness in the sauce. This was amazing dinner, and I scraped the pan clean (note the caste iron pan that the dish is served in). It's so great to have cheesology again after being away for so long. And I'll be back on Friday for the traditional break fast!

Bundaberg in STL?!

So Bundaberg Ginger Beer is an Aussie Staple (one I never actually did a blog post about). I generally don't like soda, but I actually do enjoy Bundaberg (especially as a mixer), since it is sweeter than typical American ginger beer, and it also comes with a sweet pull top! I wasn't something that I drank a lot in Australia, but it was such a comforting site to find in in St. Louis!!!! There is a soda and candy shop, called Soda Fizz that opened up on the loop this summer. One of my friends took me there when I got back and I scoured the store until I found this treasure! Since returning to the states I've been frantically searching to see if I can find any Aussie staples around. So far I have found that "Arnnett's Biscuits" (aka snooty american Tim Tams) can be purchased at World Market. Violet Crumble can be found there too. There is a new specialty grocery store on the Loop that sells tins of Milo and jars of vegemite. And Soda Fizz sells Bundaberg. I have not been able to find Boost chocolate bars :,(, Just Right Ceral, or Aussie Strongbow Cider anywhere. 

It's funny how seeing Aussie brands and foods has become a very comforting sight. I've made myself vegemite on toast/cheddarmite sandwiches about once a week since returning to St. Louis, and I've already run through one of my two boxes of Just Right, much to my dismay. As Australia starts to feel farther away, seeing these little things make feel sadly nostalgic. On the flip side, seeing an Aussie food item in a store brings happy memories and stories to the forefront of my mind. I've shared these stories with friends to explain my enthusiasm for these little things, and doing so makes me feel a lot closer to being back Down Under!

Jilly's Hot Chocolate, Twisted Pink Velvet, and Bee Sting Cupcakes

My monthly Jilly's post. The last one for awhile since I won't be in St. Louis for awhile :( My sister got into the college of her choice, the day I was coming home from St. Louis so to celebrate my mom and I bought home some Jilly's! We got one of the monthlies Hot Chocolate (top left), which had chocolate cake, marshmallow fluff filling, and chocolate buttercream topped with whipped cream and marshmallows. It was just as yummy as hot chocolate and a lot richer. We got the Twisted Pink, of course, seeing as it's my family's favorite (top right > see my first Jilly's post for a more detailed description). Finally, we tried the Bee Sting. A vanilla cupcake with lemon cream filling, which was out consensus favorite this time around. We loved how refreshing this one was, and the good news is it's one of their regulars! My love for Jilly's remains undiminished, and I'm so happy that we know the best way to try the most is to share.

Pistachio Ravioli at Pastaria

My Mom came down to Saint Louis to help me move out (she's a packing genius, everything I owned in the apartment was packing and ready to go in like 3 hours), and she was kind enough to take my boyfriend and I out to dinner. I got to pick the place so I decided on Pastaria. Pastaria opened last year in downtown Clayton and got rave reviews for its homemade pasta and unique dishes. But its notorious for not taking reservations and being really expensive. So I thought on a Tuesday night this would be the perfect place to go. We weren't disappointed! When we got there they told us it would be a 20 minute wait, but a table opened up and we were seated in 5. The menu had a lot of extremely interesting pastas of all different shapes and flavors, as well as a large pizza selection. We decided to order risotto balls to start because every review of the place raved about them (below). We were not disappointed! They were so creamy and absolutely amazing. They came with two excellent dipping sauces, a garlic one and a marinara (which was so good it made me wish I'd ordered something with marinara in it for my main course). I mixed them together to make an even better sauce.

For my main meal I ended up with the pistachio ravioli (above), the only vegetarian pasta on the menu. It. Was. Amazing. The pistachio, ricotta, lemon flavors melding solo well. The sweetness of the cheese and nuts were balanced by the sour lemon in a combination that I loved. That plate was spotless by the time I was finished, every stray nut snapped up. For dessert we decided to try the homemade gelato, though we were so eager to eat it I forgot to take photos. My boyfriend and I each got a small with two flavors in it. I got the pumpkin cheesecake and my boyfriend got basil and cardimon (It's been awhile since we were there so I forgot the other flavor that I each got :P ). I have to say it's the best gelato I've had in years, and definitely one of the top two I've had in the U.S. The lady who was working at the counter was incredibly nice. She let us sample whatever we wanted, and gave us helpful advice and suggestions about flavors. A wonderful dessert to top off a wonderful evening.

Thoughts on this Restaurant:

• Our food came out incredibly quickly, we tried to stretch the evening out with the appetizer and dessert. And we succeeded and we were the last patrons in the restaurant. We thought this was most likely because the place is usually super busy and they are used to moving things along. This is a good thing if we ever decide to go on a weekend.
• As expected it was a bit pricey, but not as outrageous as I thought. And I'd definitely go just to get gelato!
• The gelato was not just amazing it was fun too. The way it works is you go up to counter and taste and pick flavors at an ice cream shop. Then they bring it out to you in fancy bowls to your table. So fun.

It was a wonderful night and a great place. I thought it lived up to the hype. And the fact that we didn't have to wait probably helped out with that ;)

Bobo's Takeout

I already did a post about Bobo's Noodle House (the noodle restaurant a couple of blocks from me). so I'll briefly post about my second experience there. Besides a nice storefront and seating area, they also have a delivery service. So I decided to try it out. I got sesame noodles, cucumber salad, and cashew chicken (from left to right above). All were yummy, but the Cashew Chicken was especially tasty. The chicken was fresh and flavorful, and there were pineapples and many veggies in the dish. I will definitely be getting it again. I ended up mixing the chicken with the noodles and that made it even better. This time around I didn't have a cold and could fully taste the food, so I can say with assurance that this place has very yummy dishes. Also the delivery service was great. They said it would take 40 minutes but it only took about 25, and came nice and hot. There were also really yummy red bean mochi included with the meal :) I will definitely be ordering their take out again when its late and I have no food.

Pesto Mac at Cheeseology

I finally get to blog about my favorite restaurant in St. Louis!!! Cheeseology, oh how I love thee. This small restaurant only serves macaroni and cheese. And not just any mac and cheese, they serve a large selection of diverse macs with gourmet ingredients. Gourmet comfort food is my favorite so its not surprise that Cheeseology won my heart. It is also located on the loop so I've been going here since I first started at Wash U and I have not yet found a restaurant that I like as much in St. Louis. There are several reasons for this. The entire concept of Cheeseology is insanely creative and they pull it off incredibly well. The macaroni is always fantastic and the menu offers a wide variety of options. My favorite is the Pesto Mac (pesto, provolone, and mozzarella)(see above), but their Classic Mac (american and cheddar), Southwestern Mac (provolone, black beans, chicken, corn, and southwest spice),  Mediterranean (artichokes, olives, goat cheese, and sundried tomatoes) are also amazing. 7 of their 15 macs are vegetarian (and one is vegan) so they definitely make the list as a veggie contienous restaurant! Besides the menu itself the decor and theme of the restaurant is fun and creative. The furniture is metal and the walls are metal and white paint. Which sounds boring, until you realize that its supposed to be a chemistry lab! The walls are covered in minimalist posters about famous scientists and a periodic table of cheeses hangs on the wall. "Cheeseology" is literally a place where the study of macaroni and cheese happens!! As a science student, I love it. But there's more! Cheeseology delivers (see below). That's right, if you can't make it to the loop they will bring you fresh hot macaroni straight to your door. It's just as fun as actually going to the restaurant. No delivery charge and you can even order online! Gets better and better. 

If you can't already tell that I love this place I actually have a bunch of wonderful stories associated with this restaurant. I'll share two that are special to me :)

Story #1: When I first discovered this restaurant I knew that I had to take my family when they came to visit me parent's weekend my freshman year. My Dad was very hesitant to go. He was unenthused by a macaroni restaurant, he thought it would be bad. We basically dragged him there. Well, he quickly changed his tune when he got the Bacon Bacon Mac (he's a bacon lover), he loved it and ate the entire thing. Now he insists we go there every time he visits (we went in October when my family was here but I forgot to take pictures so that's why it hasn't been up until now). He also preceded to rave about the place to everyone he knew. Major reversal of opinion there. I've also taken my grandparents when they've visited me and they loved it as well. This is a place that is fun and yummy, no matter how old you are.

Story #2: I have a tradition of breaking fast on Yom Kippur at Cheeseology. None of my family is here in STL so I created my own break fast tradition my freshman year, and continued it the next two years. My roommate has been happy to keep this tradition with me (even though she isn't Jewish). She puts up with my major grumpiness on the way to dinner and we both have a wonderful meal and a reason to indulge in Cheeseology (obviously this is NOT a healthy restaurant). The first year we went we didn't really know each other that well yet, but we spent hours there after our meal talking. We agreed this year when we were reminiscing about it during our 3rd annual break fast, it was definitely a time we became closer when we were first becoming friends. Last year we ordered it in, which was still really fun. And this year we were back at the restaurant. I ended up ordering a large (which I only do on break fast) because I'm so hungry and have no concept of portion size. This year when I did so the guy at the register looked at me and said there was no way I could eat it all. We ended up joking back with him. Then, the waiters kept checking up on us throughout the meal and teasing me! I didn't end up finishing it all, but it was a wonderful and memorable evening. Like I said before this place is very special to me!

Thoughts on the Restaurant:

• They sometimes have monthly specials, my favorite in the past was the breakfast mac, which had eggs in it! 
• I really want to try the chicken scampi mac, I always want to but then can't resist my favorites. Next time I will for sure though.
• At the restaurant they serve the macs in cast iron pans and will top with breadcrumbs upon request. There is noting better then scrapping the last pieces of cheese off of the pan. So so so good!
• It's not the cheapest for mac and cheese, but given the heaping portions and good quality ingredients I don't think it's overpriced

Basically I'll leave you with this. If you try one STL restaurant on this blogs recommendation this should be the one. I love everything about this place! I'm happy to be support this small, creative, and wonderful business. 

Birthday Dinner at Ginger Bistro

Ginger Bistro is an asian restaurant on the loop. It's not my favorite but one of my friends really likes it, and a couple of us went out for her birthday, so she got to pick. The reasons I hasn't really liked this place before was because the service was terrible and I hadn't had anything I loved off the menu. This time around though our server was amazing and I had a couple of dishes that I really liked so I'm revising my initial opinion. We also think that the place has recently come under new management. They've added a lot to their menu, including bubble tea :) We made a bit of an evening out of our meal, so we ordered items one at a time. I first got the taro milk tea (blogging about taro recently has made me crave it), which was not the best I've had but still really yummy. I then got a Tomago Roll. This was one of many vegetation rolls that they offer (always a plus), it had egg, scallions, and cucumbers in it and I really liked it a lot. My friend loves their Romance Rolls, which have sweet potato and avocado in them. Finally for dinner I got the vegetarian deluxe meal. It was a vegetarian dish with tofu and assorted veggies in their house sauce. I actually really enjoyed it, which was nice. I've been trying to find things on their menu that I like and I definitely succeeded this time around. And we had a wonderful birthday evening!

Thoughts on this Restaurant:

• Like I said I'd previously had really bad service experiences here. The original server was rude and slow. But we had a different server this time and he was wonderful, attentive, and funny. Unfortunately, I noticed that the other guy still works there so be warned, potentially iffy service if you go.
• I want to point out that they offer almost all of the classic americanized-asian dish preparations (ex. kung pao, general tso, mongolian, etc) but with a vegetarian preparation using tofu! This is really nice because it adds a lot of options to their vegetarian menu
• Also lots of unique veggie sushi rolls!
• And the new bubble tea menu is a nice addition, even though St. Louis Bubble Tea (still my favorite) is two doors down from them…

Overall I liked this place a lot better this time! It's still not my favorite, but a solid Asian restaurant with a large menu.

Dau Hu Xao To at Mai Lee

This summer I discovered that I really liked vietnamese food. It has a lighter feel then Chinese, and tends to be less spicy than Korean. Also it tends to have lots of veggies and noodles in its dishes, which is great for me. Another really cool thing about vietnamese food is that it has some french flavors and ingredients incorporated in it, a result of the country being a former French colony. This leads to wonderful things like Banh Mi (sandwiches on french baguettes)! Anyway I like vietnamese a lot, and I've been wanting to get the try St. Louis' selection of vietnamese restaurants all semester. I finally got to one last night! Mai Lee is close to the Trader Joe's where I shop for groceries, so my boyfriend and I ate there before doing errands. I was extremely impressed. The restaurant is surprisingly large and was fairly busy for a Wednesday night. The menu was huge with an enormous vegetarian selection. I asked out server what he suggested because everything looked really good, and the dish he recommended was the one that I had been looking at. Dau Hu Xao To, which is tofu and veggies cooked in a black bean sauce in a hot pot. It was sooooo good. The veggies were cooked down really nicely and the black bean sauce was mild and flavorful. The tofu was well cooked (always important because improperly cooked tofu is the worst) and the variety of veggies was amazing. It was huge and I couldn't finish it all, but I really liked it. 

Thoughts on this Restaurant:

• The service was so quick we got our food about 15 minutes after we ordered and our server was really nice and helpful!
• As I mentioned there was a gigantic menu, so I want to go back and try other vietnamese dishes I like. I want to try their Banh Mi and also get some vermicelli noodles which are always yummy. Also they have a dish with taro in it! So that must eventually get tried.
• They also do take out, and it's not too far so that's an option in the future as well.

I was so pleased that I can add Mai Lee to my ever-lengthening list of STL restaurants I like. However, this is especially significant since its the first vietnamese addition! 

Cucumbers and Green Beans at BoBo's Noodle House

                                   

I only live a couple of blocks from BoBo's but today I had dinner for the first time. It was a fairly early meal since I had to leave for the airport so my bf and I were the only ones in the restaurant. It was kinda nice actually, since its usually crowded when I walk by. They serve all types of noodle dishes, with a south Asian flavoring. Actually, a lot of their dishes have a Vietnamese flair (and I love Vietnamese food!!!). I wasn't hugely hungry so instead of getting a bowl I ended up getting two sides. The spicy cucumber salad and the peanut green beans. Both were amazing. Or at least I thought they were with my cold and screwed up taste buds. But my boyfriend really liked both dishes so I did get a second opinion. My favorite thing about the meal was the presentation of the cucumber salad (see below). The cukes were cut like noodles so I felt like I was eating a noodle dish, but it had none of the calories :) It was a wonderfully unique spin on one of my favorite Asian cuisine sides. 

                                  

Thoughts on this Restaurant:

• I really like how close this place is to my apartment and I'm looking forward to trying a bunch of their dishes
• There aren't that many vegetarian choices but I'm going to see if I can get some dishes without meat
• Like the atmosphere of the place as well 

The service was super friendly!

Overall I really liked it and want to try it again when I'm not sick :)

Vegetarian Sushi at Blue Ocean Sushi

While I don't eat fish I love the concept of sushi. It's fresh, light, and healthful. Fortunately, my flexitarian diet does not totally prohibit me from the sushi experience because there are many vegetarian versions of sushi. Each sushi place has their own unique vegetarian roll, and they usually have a couple of other vegetarian rolls as well. This time around I got cucumber rolls and avocado cream cheese rolls. Some other common veggie rolls are carrot/avocado/cucumber, sweet potato, egg and green onion, tofu, and soy bean. This means I don't lack choices at sushi restaurants. Combine that with my love from soba, seaweed salad, mochi, teriyaki, and tempura, and Let's just say I really like going out for Japanese. 

Blue Ocean Sushi is located on the Delmar Loop. It's a fairly cheap, but good sushi joint. The inside is covered japanese pop culture decor and the menu is sizable. I like this place a lot but find that sometimes it gets forgotten with all of the other fantastic eateries on the loop. Fortunately, I was craving something light on Saturday, and Blue Ocean caught my eye. I was with my boyfriend and he'd already eaten so I wanted to get something light and quick, also he loves sushi so I had a feeling that if we went here and he realized he was hungry he could easily get something small (this is in fact, exactly what happened). We had a really nice meal, and I left feeling perfectly satisfied and not overfull. 

Thoughts on this restaurant:

• They have an all you can eat sushi special that is very reasonably priced, a good place to go when you're hungry.
• They have other classic japanese dishes on the menu if you don't feel like getting sushi
• This place holds a special place in my heart because the first time that I went here the waitress printed "Believe in Sherlock Holmes. Moritary was Real!" on the receipt. As a fan of the Sherlock TV show this was a total geek moment for me. The time this happened I wasn't with anyone who had seen the show so I got a lot of crazy looks, but I didn't care because it was so cool! Don't believe me? There's proof below. I think I still have the receipt somewhere...

I love this restaurant, and am sad that I don't get there more often. It seems I'm always writing that when I go out to eat. I guess it's a testament to how amazing STL food is. 

Guo Bin Chinese Restaurant

Guo Bin is a local Chinese restaurant that my and I frequent. The food's really yummy and the staff are so nice. They recognize us every time we come in. We hadn't been there for a really long time, but this weekend we finally had the chance to go. I brought my boyfriend along, so he could meet some of my friends, and we had a wonderful meal. I got the Cashew Chicken (above) this time, but I usually get sesame noodles and vegetable egg rolls. I really liked their version of the Cashew Chicken it was really flavorful and had yummy peppers in it. Other dishes that my friends got included the Orange Chicken (below left) and the Garlic Chicken (below right). We all shared a bit and got to taste each other's meals, which was really nice. I miss this place, gotta get back sometime soon :)

Thoughts on Guo Bin:

• They'd rather you pay in cash so try to have cash on you when you go
• They have a back room and will accommodate large parties if you call in early

I'm happy that we were able to get back here before I leave next semester, it's a Friday night favorite.

Rosemary Brown Sugar Latte from Kaldi's

Kaldi's Coffee is a St. Louis company that has shops all over the STL area. This particular Kaldi's is on De Mun Rd. It's a bit farther from campus, and a great deal smaller than Kayak's. This means that it has a much more low key atmosphere (they also don't have a sandwich menu). And they close at 11p, so it was the perfect place to stop with friends after Dewey's and before the Catching Fire Premiere. I decided to be adventurous and try the seasonal drink. A rosemary brown sugar latte. I was a little skeptical about it, but I like rosemary and I like brown sugar and my curiosity was peaked. My thoughts? It was weird, rosemary (which is a fairly strong flavor) is not something that I'm used to having with coffee, but after the first couple of sips I really enjoyed the drink. It's nice to try something different and I'm always eager to try new flavor profiles, because sometimes the strangest combinations are the best.

Thoughts on Kaldi's:

• I'm a big fan of the brand because they are a local place. They grind their beans locally and are pretty conscious about getting fair trade beans. 
• This place is nice and out of the way, it's in an area that more professors are living in than students so there are some really nice restaurants and bars on the same street and this shop. 
• It's really close to our local Shnucks (St. Louis' local grocery chain) and movie theater, so it's in a convenient location if you have a car. 

Overall, many positive feelings. It was fun to something completely different than my usual!

Dewey's Socrates' Revenge Pizza

I already posted about Dewey's so here's a brief follow up post. My roommate and I grabbed a quick dinner before the Catching Fire midnight premier :) Like last time it was wonderful, we went at about 9p on a Thursday night so it was pretty empty. However, the service was wonderful again. I got the Socrates' Revenge this time, which was a white pizza with spinach, tomatoes, sun-dried tomatoes, red onions, black olives, and feta. Lots of veggies and sooooo good. I've decided that this is my favorite STL pizza joint, so expect more Dewey's posts as I try out their entire vegetarian menu!

Jilly's Pumpkin Pie Cupcake

I mentioned that this was one of my favorite Jilly's Cupcakes in my previous post. The Pumpkin Pie Cupcake. Pumpkin cake, pumpkin pie filling, vanilla buttercream with cinnamon sugar, and a piece of ACTUAL PUMPKIN PIE on top. It's a cupcake topped with a piece of pie. Two desserts in one! And PUMPKIN. You can see why I'm excited. Since the pie cupcakes are Jilly's November specialty and it's November, my roommate and I made our monthly Jilly's run to grab some of their awesomely creative November flavors. Besides the pumpkin pie cupcake they also have an apple pie a la mode, pecan pie, and french silk cupcake for November. It's the perfect theme for the month of Thanksgiving. For me, The food highlight of this holiday is not the turkey, it's the pie. Jilly's has it down.

 I love Jilly's and am so fortunate to live so close to an amazing cupcakery. Hopefully I'll be going there each month to sample the new flavors, so be on the look out for monthly Jilly's posts.

Boneless BBQ Wings at Buffalo Wild Wings

So Bdubs is a chain restaurant. It's not unique to St. Louis, but I've never been before and I thought I'd blog about my first experience. One of my friends and I headed over to our local Buffalo Wild Wings for a quick lunch on Friday. I have to say, after my meal I was left with very positive feelings. I really like different seasonings and sauces, and bbq/ranch is a combo I love, so I really enjoyed having some classic bar food for a change :) They have a spectrum of sauces to choose from, which makes ordering really fun. My friend was kind enough to help me decipher their heat spectrum, since I don't like super spicy food. I ended up getting an order of half sweet bbq and half honey bbq. Consensus? I liked the honey bbq a lot better than the sweet bbq one! It was actually the sweeter of the two despite the name. I will definitely be getting it again, but I would probably pass on the mild to taste other flavors.

Thoughts on this restaurant:

• I love all of the options! There are so many flavor combos to try, I'm leaning towards trying the parmesan garlic or teriyaki flavors next time.
• I like that they have boneless wings. I don't like wings with the bone in, probably because I'm not a huge fan of dark meat.

bdubs is exactly what I expected, a laid back sports bar atmosphere where you can get some damn good wings. I'm glad I finally got around to trying it!

Dewey's Green Lantern Pizza

 Okay, so I've been trying to get to Dewey's all semester and finally it happened. One of my professors always brings Dewey's pizza in for department events and info sessions and I really really like it. The pizzas are loaded with good quality toppings and the crust is wonderful. Unfortunately, they don't deliver, it's only a sit-down or take-out place. So it's harder for me to get there. My roommate and I finally did get to try it out, in restaurant, last night. It was a bit of a wait, but well worth it! One of the coolest things about this place is that they have really interesting, and funny pizza names. For example, my pizza was called the Green Lantern. I want to point out that any pizza that is geeky enough to be named after a superhero wins major points in my book :) But the pie itself is also an amazing combo of flavors. Its's a mozzarella and red sauce pizza with pesto, goat cheese, and artichokes. It also comes with mushrooms, which I don't love so I substituted them with roasted red peppers. Basically, think spinach artichoke dip meets pesto on top of an amazing crunchy on the outside-soft on the inside-crust. It was pizza heaven. The flavor profiles were sophisticated, but the quality of the crust and sauce were those classic thick crust pizza. This was the perfect melding of gourmet and comfort, and made for a really yummy (and geeky) meal.

Thoughts on this Restaurant:

• As I mentioned before this is a crowded place on a Saturday night at 7. We waited about 30 minutes for a table. But a full place usually means good food, and this was no exception. Also the service was great. We got our food quickly. This is even more impressive when you consider that they were filling twice as many take-out orders as eat-in ones, but still managed to be timely. 
• Dewey's is a block south of Momo's on North & South Blvd. It started in Cincinnati Ohio, but now they have a couple of Missouri locations, in addition to the Ohio ones.
• I also happen to really, really like many of their suggested combos, which is usually not the case at pizza places. 
• One of the things I really like about the suggestions is that out of the 15 specialties on the menu 8 of them are vegetarian!!! Usually at a pizza place there is one vegetarian specialty, the veggie supreme. Looking at the shear amount of combination options, it really speaks to the variety of vegetarian toppings that they have at their disposal. This makes this place truly a wonderful option of veggie diners. 
• Besides the Green Lantern (:D). I would really like to try the Billy Goat (sundried tomatoes/goat cheese/peppers/tomatoes on a sauceless pizza), The Socrates' Revenge (spinach/black olives/green olives/feta/red onions/tomatoes on a sauceless pizza), and the Killer Veggie (red sauce/mozzarella/mushrooms/onions/black olives/green peppers/fresh tomatoes). 

I really like this place!!! It's such a nice change, and the quality cannot be beat. I actually like Dewey's more than Pi pizza (shhhh), partly because I'm from Chicago and the Pi deep dish that everyone raves about doesn't actually compare the pizza I can get in Chi-town. Anyway, Dewey's is a must for anyone craving pizza in STL.

Cookies at Piccione's Bakery

I already did a long post raving about Piccione's so I'll keep this short and sweet. I took my family here to enjoy some of their treats. They agreed with me that this bakery is a find! We basically did a tasting of all my favorites, plus some mini frittatas (below). I think that we all agreed that the napoleon and the tricolor cookies (above) were the best things we got. We also tried a chocolate cannoli (below), and a spiral cookie (above).

 I had a cappuccino (below on the right) and my sister had a hot chocolate (below on the left). We both enjoyed our respective drinks.

Basically, this place is still wonderful. And the Tricolor cookies are still amazing and addicting. And now you can see that they are beautiful too!

Momo's Ouzaria Taverna

Momo's is one of my favorites in STL. Last year I was challenged to find a greek restaurant for my friends and I to eat at, and after a bit of research I found Momo's. Momo's is a bar and restaurant that is on North & South Blvd. about a block north of Delmar. It's menu is greek small plates, so that makes it cheap for us college students. Its also really awesome authentic food! However, I fell in love with the falafel (at the bottom) the first time I had it. It's greek style patties, and served in a pita with all the fixings. And can never bring myself to order anything else when I go, despite wanting to try half the menu. Solution? I brought my family. We love small plates style restaurants where we can share and try, and I wanted to share a place that I frequent with them. So my family and roommate went to Momo's the Saturday night of their visit. It was a success! We tried a bunch of dishes. One of our favorites was the saganaki (below), the flaming cheese, which is basically I huge lemony mozzarella stick. And they light it on fire! What's not to like?

We also ordered a lot of other things. Vegetarian wise we got goat cheese (top), eggplant fries, spanakopia, hummus, chickpea red pepper feta cakes, on top of the saganaki and falafel. For the the meat eaters we got sausage and polenta, bacon wrapped olives (top), and grilled octopus. Some of the highlights of the meal were the saganaki, dipping the eggplant fries IN the goat cheese, and the chickpea red pepper feta cakes which were so flavorful they surprised me by being my favorite dish of the night. Apparently the sausage polenta was also extremely yummy according to my roommate and my family.

Thoughts on Momo's

• I love Greek food and I'm so happy to have an easy and inexpensive local place to go!
• This place is normally packed, but we were there on the night of game 2 of the Word Series. With the Cardinals in it this year that meant that many people were at the game or down town at the bars so it was really empty. But normally you need a reservation if you don't want to wait on a friday or saturday night.
• They also have a belly dancer... so don't be surprised when she appears
• This is one of those "small plates" places that actually serves fairly large portions anyway, but they still price their mezzes like small plates. That's why you can get a really decently priced and filling meal here if you don't try the complete sharing experience.

This is one of my favorite STL discoveries! I love that I've been able to share it with so many other people!

Chocolates from Bissinger's Chocolatier

After my Family and I ate breakfast at Crepes Etc. we decided to wander around the Central West End. And there happened to be a special halloween celebration going on. All of the shops in the area were handing out candy to kids trick or treating (in full costume) with their families. It was absolutely adorable. My family decided that we wanted some candy too, and so we stopped in to Bissinger's Chocolatier. Now my family loves chocolate (especially my Mom, see where I got my sweet tooth yet? :) ), especially dark chocolate so we decided to get a couple pieces from the case to try. My Mom got a classic dark chocolate salted carmel (top left), my Dad got a raspberry dark chocolate truffle (bottom right), and my sister and I got a dark chocolate pear-balsamic carmel (the other 2 in the pic above). All were delicious. The raspberry truffle was the best one I've tasted in a long time. And the pear chocolate, which we got on the suggestion of the helpful young lady working at the counter, was absolutely amazing. The sweetness of the pear, coupled with the sweet/bitterness of the dark chocolate and balsamic were all tied together with the saltiness of the carmel making it the perfect gourmet chocolate. I would get these for someone as a nice gift. They were a surprising addition to a wonderful morning!

Thoughts on Bissinger's:

• This is a french chocolatier which is now based in St. Louis, and I was really pleased with the place.
• They have this nice sit down area that serves as a chocolate bar, it was all very chique. It was quiet on a saturday morning, but I can see it hopping on a Friday!

All and all a very fun discovery for a family of chocolate connoisseurs :)

Crepes and Coco at Crepes Etc.

Firstly, I apologize for the demolished state of the food in these pictures. We were halfway through our meal when I remembered to take them... but that doesn't detract from the awesomeness of the food. Crepes Etc. is a breakfast place in the Central West End. This area recently became more accessible to me because I now have access to a car and the Saturday morning of my visit I shared the area with my family. My roommate had recommended this place, so we got breakfast here. The walls are pink and white stripped and it has the feel of a cutesy french coffee shop. They are famous for their crepes and hot chocolate, but have a full breakfast menu. I got the Crazy Caprese Crepe (above). My sister had the Pumpkin Gelato Crepe (below), and my parents got omelets. My Dad's delicious goat cheese and red pepper omelet is pictured below.

All of the food was really yummy. I very much liked my crepe which was packed with spinach and had pesto on top. However, the highlight of the food was the breakfast potatoes. My family unanimously agreed they were the best breakfast potatoes we'd ever had. They tasted like a combination of has browns and french fries. Yuuuummmmmm! As I said before, Crepes Etc. is also famous for their hot coco. They made their own marshmallows, and serve the drink in gigantic size mugs (see below). Unfortunately, I don't have a picture of the marshmallows for you since they were already eaten by the time I got around to taking a shot :)

Thoughts on Crepes Etc.

• This place is obviously popular for good reason! It was packed when we were there and we were lucky to find a table. But the line to order the food moved fast, and they have outdoor seating.
• They have a huge menu of both sweet and savory crepes. I love savory crepes and was super happy that they have some really great vegetarian ones here. 

I loved the food and atmosphere of this place. I was so happy I could share it with my family, and will definitely try to get back here again!