KCRag Forum

So hit up St. Louis for a quick getaway.....not a lot to report as mostly went to see a friend with a kid and relax.  Highlights:

- Hit up Rigazzi's Saturday night.....most people laugh at my loving to go to this place but I really enjoy it and their huge fishbowl beers for some reason.  Got in late that night and knew they would be open.

- Stopped by Culinaria, their version of Cosentino's downtown market.  Very similar setup and offerings and pricing.  Store seemed a bit smaller overall but did have a better meat department, everything else was almost exactly equal.  Their checkouts seemed to be much less programmed for a resident buying a lot of stuff, setup way more like a lot of express lane "8 items or less" type checkout.  Glad St. Louis downtown peeps got a quality store.

- In and around Culinaria and Washington Ave. surrounding areas improvements continue from the last time I was there...seemed like even more buildings cleaned up and renovated....which kind of highlights the ones that hadn't been touched and are still rotting.  

- Ate at Pi in CWE.  CWE seemed much more alive than even last time I was there.....of course it was 75* so I'm sure that helped.  Love that neighborhood.  Pi is excellent as well.

- Drove through Laclede's.....man it seems to have gone down even more than last time I was there......maybe not, just a casual observation driving through middle of the day.

- Went to Iron Barley (which was on Diners Drive-Ins and Dives) in South city....never been down that way so cool to see a new neighborhood.....Iron Barley was okay....I probably wouldn't go back but it's a cool place.

- Bridge Tap House and Wine Bar - Cool new? place downtown that has a good selection of beers and wines....and looked like some quality food.  I wasn't a fan of the loft area low ceiling but overall a cool place.

- Ate at Lombardo's by Union Station....ehh, close to the hotel but nothing amazing.

- Union Station.....this place is sad.  It makes Crown Center look like a hugely popular successful urban mall.  Place was dead and empty.  Sooooo glad KC didn't gut our Union Station and put a mall in it....seems to just bastardize it.


edit:  Added Bridge Wine Bar

Not much else....downtown seemed even more resident friendly and cleaned up from the last time I'd been there.  Awesome to see that.

KCPowercat wrote: - Hit up Rigazzi's Saturday night.....most people laugh at my loving to go to this place but I really enjoy it and their huge fishbowl beers for some reason.  Got in late that night and knew they would be open.

Great choice. If going up during a weekday, I almost always make a point to go there for lunchtime. That and DiGregorio for some groceries.

Pi I also found good, though I ate at the Loop location.

I'm a Rigazzi's regular when I'm in St. Louis. I have to agree with all your assessments (except I haven't been to Pi, can you tell me more about it), except for Iron Barley, best meal I have ever had, ever. I would give it a second chance. I plan to tomorrow night.

Pi was a pizza place that had chicago deep dish and thin. Also great selection of wine and beer....seemed like it turned into a pretty happening night spot. Cool atmosphere and good ingredients. Had the deep dish and it was solid.

my favorite pizza in STL is at dewey's.  it's a chain out of ohio, and the atmosphere isn't anything to write home about, but it's damn good pizza.  also east coast pizza, which is in a strip mall in chesterfield, has killer pizza (and sells TASTYKAKE)!

Had the Monte cristo dog at iron barley. It was fine for bar food.....just nothing I'd head back into that hood to eat.  Definately unique things on the menu. They had all kinds of blvd smokestack which was cool too.

south city is sick.

I agree about a lukearm opinion of Iron Barley.  I went there all excited and had a sort of barley paella thing that was...pretty good.  Obviously really cool divey atmosphere tucked into the far reaches of south city, but the overall thought it was overrated.  Now, that's based on a single visit...so take that for what it's worth.

I have GOT to try Pi next time I'm in town.

I agree about Union Station...it's really a sad state of affairs down there, especially as I have so many great memories of that mall as a kid (anyone remember the old Banana Republic with the military Jeep crashing through the window?). 

I had the Zarzeula and my college had the Del Monaco, the Monti Cristo dog sounds pretty bad to me. Going there tonight so I will see if I was off.

The monte cristo was good.....

Pi is the only pizza I've had in St. Louis that I really love (although I don't have a car down here, so I don't make it out to strip malls in Chesterfield very often).  There's some other decent places here, but nothing I really like as much as my favorite KC places.  The one on the Loop also supposedly has this mystical Boulevard Chocolate Ale I've been hearing so much about, so I probably need to get up there soon.

Has anybody tried Bailey's Chocolate Bar?
I hear they are supposed to have a good selection of desert cocktails and beers.

IraGlacialis wrote: Has anybody tried Bailey's Chocolate Bar?
I hear they are supposed to have a good selection of desert cocktails and beers.

i have been there a few times.  pretty cool place, especially the upstairs area.  it is dark, small, and intimate so it has a pretty good atmosphere. if you like chocolate martinis or other kinds of sweet cocktails, they have a lot of them.  i think the beer selection is decent.  last time i was there we shared a cheese plate type thing that was pretty good.  basically it's decent fare in a cool, dark, space in a 130 year old building in lafayette square.  worth a stop if you haven't been.  there is a wine bar/shop in the same area that is pretty good as well.

So i went to Iron Barley last night. It was still really good but it felt like the chef was getting lazy. Three smoked sausage appetizer, the sauce was a little to sweet and bland. Cheesy Chowder was OK but not that fresh (maybe because it was a Tuesday, slow night). Duck salad, duck was smoked so it got a little tough on the outside, rest of the salad was kind of mushy with too much dressing, apples were the star of the dish, cooked perfect with a very nice glaze.

Great beer selection.

Not the high point that I had on the last visit, but still good enough to get me to go back.

I'd kinda echo everyone's comments about Iron Barley, it's been on a slow slide I think ever since it got national attention, still ok, not worth the insane friday/saturday waits anymore.

Anyone kind of in the mood for Iron Barley but want to try something new, should try the Shaved Duck much further up on Virginia near Tower Grove Park.

KCP, did you go see the changes in Old North and hit Crown Candy?

Really too bad about Iron Barley. Discovered that place years ago and fell in love, but I'm not too surprised they're heading downhill. Tom is a really cool guy but he's also a raging drunk. :/

warwickland wrote: Anyone kind of in the mood for Iron Barley but want to try something new, should try the Shaved Duck much further up on Virginia near Tower Grove Park.

I had dinner here about a year ago.  It was pretty good, although we went because we'd heard rumors of duck fat fries, but apparently they don't do that anymore, so there was momentary disappointment when we found out about that.  Still a good meal and I seem to remember them having a great beer selection.  I wouldn't mind going back except that without a car I rarely find myself straying from CWE/Delmar/Forest Park area.

phuqueue wrote: I had dinner here about a year ago.  It was pretty good, although we went because we'd heard rumors of duck fat fries, but apparently they don't do that anymore, so there was momentary disappointment when we found out about that.  Still a good meal and I seem to remember them having a great beer selection.  I wouldn't mind going back except that without a car I rarely find myself straying from CWE/Delmar/Forest Park area.

Hmm duck fat fries? I get my fix (among other delicious things) at Hot Dougs in Chicago, didn't know the Shaved Duck ever had 'em! If you have an open weekend I totally recommend taking the train up to CHI just to go there.

I get up to Chicago every few months to visit friends.  We've talked about Hot Doug's a lot but I've never actually made it over there since it's evidently always a two hour wait to get in.  Of course that doesn't stop us from going to Kuma's Corner every time I'm in town, where the shortest wait I've ever had was 40 minutes (on a Sunday morning in the summer when the patio was open and so they had basically twice as much seating as normal).  I think Hot Doug's only does the duck fat fries on Fridays and Saturdays though, which evidently leads to especially long waits on those days.  The fries are the primary draw for me though, I'm definitely gonna try them at some point.

You can just get Duck Fat fries in Lawrence at The Burger Stand at the Casbah, they are awesome and fairly inexpensive for being duck fat.