We paid my closest friend, who lives in St. Louis with her husband and 2 sons (12 and 14 yo), a visit this past weekend. Arrived Friday mid-morning and we decided on the City Museum which is beyond description. We grabbed lunch first at the nearby Medina Grill. My friends raved about the place and my falafel wrap was fine, but certainly not mind-blowing. Some shakes of hot sauce probably would’ve helped. I found the pita itself quite boring, although nicely griddled. B enjoyed his chicken “dodana” wrap with tzatziki/feta/olives/pepperoncini. Spring Onion seemed to enjoy his grilled cheese. Our friends’ boys always get the beef shawarma “Original Palestine” wraps.
Dinner was at home - marinated and grilled flank steak, grilled portabellas, Korean-ish cukes (rice vinegar/mirin/sesame oil/gochugaru), rice sautéed with mushrooms and broccoli, kimchee. Forgot take photos all day. Groggy due to a 5 am wake-up call.
Saturday was a zoo day, where we shared a snack. Cheese fries, nachos, Bavarian pretzel, hot dog for Spring Onion. And he got to try toasted ravioli (he said he didn’t care for it). The food was what you would expect from the zoo. Friendly service, though and at least it wasn’t as expensive as the equivalent “meal” out East.
The guys ran out for a few things we needed for dinner. B excitedly texted me from the local Schnucks - there’s a huge bulk bin of Brussels that you would love! There’s a pizza bar! With draft beer! And live music! You can buy a steak, they’ll cook it for you and you can eat it on the spot! B was loving it! Lol. Speaking of beer, we were surprised by the availability of (good) beer both at the City Museum and the zoo. But I guess in the town of Anheiser-Busch, we shouldn’t have been THAT surprised?
Dinner at home - snack of some store-bought dips and hummus, my friend made a delicious challah bread, arugula salad, repeat of the rest of the steak and a big piece of salmon, sautéed Brussels with chickpeas and tomato, kimchee, rice.
On Sunday, we decided to get takeout for lunch before our mid-afternoon flight. My friend decided on Katie’s Pizza and Pasta. We got the Calabrian kale salad (good but not massaged/marinated enough), and 4 pizzas - red and “olio” versions of margherita (the latter was simply a white pizza), squash blossom (didn’t understand this one at all - a basic red pie with 4 squash blossoms forlornly scattered on top, adding nothing to the pie), and sausage. We are spoiled in Boston with good pizza. These were uniformly boring, disappointing, and certainly not worth the prices, from what B and I could tell (of course we did not say that to our friends). I was mighty glad I didn’t order the $32 mushroom pizza, which is typically my go-to. This pizza had no soul. At least the sausage had some kick to it, according to B.
Despite the just ok / mediocre restaurant food, our homemade dinners were delicious and we had a wonderful time with our friends. We will return and seek out the good food.
