Main & Mill Brewing Company

240 E. Main
Festus, Mo.
On the Web
Social Media

We've been waiting, for over a year.
This place sounded ambitious. Take an old main street storefront and convert it to a brewery/brew house. . . in Festus.
The Place:
They stripped the interior of building and built it up again. Early on there was a significant delay when someone thought they were at a drive-thru and crashed into

Photo courtesy of
denny@mainandmillbrewco.com

the side of the building, knocking down a few yards of brick. This prompted the owners to go to the city fathers (and mothers) to install large, concrete planters between the building and the street. This has caused some 'discussion' around town, but in my opinion it doesn't appear to be all that inconvenient, excessive or tacky.
They finally opened up a few weeks ago, we thought we'd wait a little bit to work out the kinks.
The job they did was simply amazing. On the inside, mostly brick and heavy wood. The highly lacquered bar and wood tables were made from some of the 100 year old building's original lumber.

The exposed rafters were very much the work of buildings of that time, oversize by today's flimsier standards. The trim was mostly black, window frames, chairs, etc. The brewing equipment was bright stainless steel sitting in the center of the first floor. We went in and escorted upstairs to a large area with a bar and several rows of high bistro tables and chairs. The place was abuzz, about half full at five in the afternoon. The stairs appeared to be original, heavy, old and steep.
We were seated against the wall behind a long, high table and nice chairs. You end up sitting next to strangers along the table, but just because you sit by them doesn't mean you have to socialize with them. . .or even acknowledge they exist. I was fine with that.

A young lady stopped by and handed out menus and asked about drinks. I broke from the traditional, after all it is a brewery, and ordered a 'Session IPA'. It seemed to fit the taste niche I had set my mind on. I don't drink much beer, but when I do, I want it to have a bold flavor. By bold, I mean something with  more actual taste than popular domestic beers. I really, really don't like weak beer.
I once worked at a very large beer company in St. Louis. . . you know the one. . .  so I know a thing or two about. . . business software.  Seriously, in those three years I learned little more than I already knew, which wasn't much,  about beer. I handled the accounting and financial data, not the recipes. I have tried several beers though, I know what I like and don't like. Angel and Adam settled for soda pop. Losers.
The Food:
I'd looked online ahead of time. . . I knew what I wanted. There's not a huge pile of food offerings, but they span a wide enough variety. Sandwiches, burgers, salads, steaks, salmon, etc.
The appetizers looked appealing. . . different. . . oh, no fried ravioli, how odd. But they did have another temptation, Beer Cheese Pretzels.  That's what we ordered. We also called in our entrees, Angel and I asked for the fish and chips, Adam, a House Pub Burger. Fries for Adam and me, Angel wanted the house made chips. No salads please.
I sipped my first beer in a year or so and was greatly pleased. I'd had a few other IPA's (India Pale Ale) in my lifetime, this was a very good one. Hoppy, tasty, not at all dull or bitter. If I had to drink beer more often, this is probably what I'd ask for. As far as the 'brewery' bit goes, it was a home run for the first brewery to open in Jefferson county in 120 years.
Then came the pretzels, long thick sticks alongside a beer cheese bisque dipping sauce. I love a good
soft pretzel and these were certainly good. As good as they were though, the real star of this appetizer plate was the beer cheese bisque. Angel agreed, this was not your standard nacho cheese machine sauce. It had a depth of tastes I can barely describe. Cheese, beer, and something else, I cannot figure out exactly what, veggies, I think, maybe celery and a dot of onion, but I'm pretty sure there was even more to it than that. At the end of the meal, the only thing we boxed up was the remaining half pretzel and the last of the bisque.
We could have stopped right there. It was that good. Pretty soon though, the entrees arrived.
I've been looking for a decent plate of fish and chips. It has been mostly a futile task. The 'chips' are easy, a basic French fry does nicely. It's the fish

that everyone fusses with and fails. Fish and chips are a take away food, like a sandwich or a deep fried Twinkie. They were invented for people on the go. In other words, eaten by hand. That means the fish has to be breaded and crispy. This is apparently, incredibly difficult to do right. Fish, unlike chicken fried steak and Twinkies, is high in moisture. Fish is also crumbly. To make it street-ready, the breading has to hold up to and hold together through all that internal steam.
Main and Mill's fish was absolutely delicious. They served the two large fillets with the obligatory tartar sauce as well as a bottle of malt vinegar. I like both.
However.
At first bite, the breading started slipping off the rest of the fish. As large and as heavy as the cut was, it could not support its own weight. Only a couple of crunchy corners stayed intact. This rendered the notion of dipping the fish into the tartar virtually moot. I tried, part of the fish stayed in the ramekin. This was sad since the taste and texture of the fish itself

was extremely good. I tried cutting it, tearing it, nothing worked, there were fish flakes everywhere, I had to re-wrap the flaccid breading onto the chunks to get a taste of both.
I try to be constructive, so I'd recommend this: Use a slightly thicker batter and definitely use smaller cuts of fish. The average fish and chip aficionado wants to break off a piece, dunk it in tartar without the rest of it falling apart.  It simply must support its own weight.
This is not to say we didn't enjoy the meal, far from it! Adam wolfed down his "good" burger in near record time, no problem there. Angel and I loved the taste and done-ness of the fish, but we were both just a little put off by the sheer clumsiness of it.
Summary:
Except for the fish batter issues, everything was absolutely great. The IPA and the pretzel were to die for. The decor, the ambiance, were awesome. The wait staff, in our case a capable and friendly young lady name Lexie (Short for Alexandra, or Alexandria, we learned) was exceptional. Why she wants to shorten her solid and proper name like that I'm not sure. I simply won't allow people to call me anything other than my full first name, even though I don't particularly like my full first name. It's almost criminal to chop up a classic name like Alexandria, or Alexandra, whichever it is. However, she did a first rate job waiting on us, chatting when we wanted to chat, she even capably answered a few questions about the bisque and other things, including what her name was derived from.  She definitely deserves a substantial raise.
We will go again, maybe not for the fish and chips, we'll probably try something else. They seem to really care about quality, it shows in their beer especially.  They've done an outstanding job of fixing the place up , no cutting corners, well, short of having an SUV plow into the place. It is classy, tidy and very well thought out.
The bill came in less than I expected, an appetizer, a fine IPA and three entrees for fifty two bucks and change. That's less than we pay at Ruby Tuesday's or other sports casual places.
Definitely going back, definitely recommended!

_____________________

As noted above, the photo of the SUV inside the building was taken by Denny, one of the owners. I've been following this place on FB since I first heard about it. They updated the progress frequently, including after the accident.  I asked him via FB Messenger if I could use this photo in a future blog post. . . well Denny, here you go. 
Hold it. . . 'Denny'. . . isn't that a shortened version of 'Dennis'?  Grrr....

Company B Bar-B-Que

4583 Hunter Lane
House Springs, Mo.

Earlier in the week we'd discussed grilling some food for the three day weekend. This put Angel in the mind of barbecue, slow smoked meat. I don't do that, I'm a burgers and chicken thigh guy on the grill.
So we lamented again the loss a couple of years back of our nearest favorite barbecue place, Bandanna's. It burned down, not slowly.
There are other barbecue places, some pretty good ones, then Angel recalled one that we'd intended to go to a few times, but never made it.
Thus, Company B.
One of the reasons we never made it is because it sits right beside one of our favorite Mexican Places, Cinco De Mayo. (translated, ' a Fifth of Mayo') So we decided to head over to Highway 30 and since we'd had Mexican two or three times this month already, not fearing we'd detour yet again.
The Place:
It's kind of small. This is a sure sign of a good barbecue joint though.

The place is definitely locally owned and they don't waste a lot of money on interior decorators or contractors. Not that it wasn't nice enough, just a little kitschy. Corrugated sheet metal covered the walls, rough wooden shelves decorated with wash basins, wash boards, rough wooden objects. Mismatched paper towel racks hung above each table. On one of those racks was a twelve inch nutcracker. . . which didn't make any sense at all until Angel pointed out the nut cracker was wearing a bib apron and holding grilling tools. I don't have one of those.
The tables were covered with vinyl checkered (easy to clean) cloths accompanied by simple wooden chairs.
There was a erasable marker board with a note to patrons to take a seat. We did, but only after two or three ladies greeted us warmly.
There were menus at the table, we passed them around. It looked good, it all looked good. Once again we decided to try to get a variety. We're cooperative.
The Food:
Angel had mentioned the macaroni and cheese, which gets some buzz on the internet, even though Company B  doesn't itself have very much of an internet or social media presence. I like mac and cheese. Not the crappy boxed powdered cheese stuff, no, it has to be thick, really thick and creamy. Angel and I recalled some of our favorites, chief among them the stuff they made many, many years ago in the cafeteria at the  Litton plant in Springfield, Mo. that her and I both worked at. We also agreed that KFC makes a pretty good batch.
As for meats though, she pointed out to me the 'loaded potato', which is exactly what it sounds like. The meats listed were pork, chicken, turkey, beef brisket and ribs. I knew Angel would grab the ribs, she did. I decided that a baked potato with smoked turkey would hit the spot. Adam decided on a 2-platter of chicken and pork.
When Brian,(not her actual name) the lady that waited on us stopped by for our order, she dropped a confounding bomb. "Macaroni and cheese is seasonal."  Not available till October. I still can't quite wrap my head around what would make M&C seasonal, but, whatever. Oh, and no brisket either. They'd run out.
This was okay, we understood that. Wanting meat that is slow cooked in bulk for six or more hours means that a small place like this might just run out of a thing or two as a day goes by. It's not like they can just throw another quarter-cow into the microwave.
So we worked around the unavailable options.

It didn't take long. Since everything is already cooked, serving time is fast. My big potato was covered in cheese and green onion, I had to dig a little to find the turkey, but it was there. The potato itself was perfectly cooked, the butter, sour cream, smokey turkey blended together to deliver a smooth taste profile. I didn't eat all of the potato, spuds are so filling that I concentrated on the meat and cheese.


Angel's Rib platter was a feast for a queen. Thick, meaty ribs, a big ball of potato salad and a fistful of slaw, along with some nicely grilled thick, buttery toast. She tore away at the meat. It wasn't quite sliding off the bone, but she seemed to be enjoying it nonetheless. She shared some meat, pretty good, not as greasy as I tend to find ribs at most places. That's my problem with ribs, they seem greasy to me. The slaw was sweet, good, the potato salad was also sweet. Maybe too sweet together. I declined her offer of a slab of toast, because, potato. Adam took it though.

Adam's two meats were as good as one can expect. Slow cooked chicken and pork doused in one of the three sauces on the table, sweet and smoky. The tin bucket of chips was delightful. I  tried one, quickly decided that I could not eat just one, so I grabbed a few more. They were house-made and dark. Like those delicious 'overcooked' chips you find in a bag once in a while if you are lucky. I loved them, he did too. They disappeared.
His beans were of the vinegar style, none of us are fans of that style. We understand that many people like that, just not us.


Summary:
The food was fantastic. Fresh, same day fare. The people at the smoking equipment know what they are doing. All the meat was exceptional, simple, perfectly cooked. Of the sides, the chips were the clear winner, though none were bad. The price was very reasonable at just above forty bucks, more than a Mexican or Asian place, but . . . slow cooked meat. . .
We were disappointed that the mac and cheese was not available. Earlier in the week I'd answered a Food Network Facebook query "What's your favorite pasta dish?" I responded just as you  think I did. 'Mac and Cheese'.  I doubt that this was what Food Network was going for.
Brian delivered the check and earned her name. At the top of it was the name 'Brian'. in the spot where the

server's name usually goes.
I asked her about it at the counter. "What? Oh, no, Brian's the owner."
About the drinks, unsweetened tea with no sugar for me, sweet tea for the lovely bride, and Pepsi for the boy. Nothing remarkable, at least it wasn't nasty.
We highly recommend the place, even without the mac and cheese. We'll probably go back 'in season' though.
BTW When I grilled chicken this weekend, we made a run to KFC for a tub of mac and cheese. We haven't figured out how to make it right ourselves.

Taytro's Bar and Bistro

343 North Creek Drive
Festus, MO
On Facebook

Still tethered to my work tasks, I assigned my able co-reviewers, Angel and Adam, to take pictures, make observations, then report back their findings. They were not alone, Tyler, Angel's oldest son, his lovely and charming wife Tonya, and their two year old daughter Kensington, were their guests. They were in town to take the lovable little brat to the zoo.
Yeah, I know, I usually say I don't like kids, but this is family. Kensington was a little shy, but I helped her bond with me a bit better by stealing her teddy bear, twice. This at least led to animosity, which is in my experience, the crucial first step in any lasting relationship.
I've been to this place several times, I didn't need to see it again just to write about it.
When they got home I approached them one at a time for their assessment.
The Place:
Taytro's is one of our favorite joints. It's not large or fancy, but the food is usually pretty darn good. We've been trying to get Tyler there for a while. He's of Cajun descent. Though he's never been to Louisiana, his father and grandfather carried remnants of that culture their entire lives. BTW, Tyler is the young man that created the logo for this blog site. He was kind of tough as a stepkid, but he has grown up to be a very decent, respectable, responsible man, a loving and devoted husband and doting father.
They were seated and waited on by a young lady who Tonya said reminded her of Tara Reid. I made note of that and looked it up later. It turns out that Reid is some sort of celebrity that even I might have seen at some time.  She was in several movies I'd heard of, mostly ones that I never bothered watching.
The Food:

Shrimp Etouffee

Tyler had the Shrimp Etouffee and the fries. "Delicious, but I don't really have anything to compare it too, I've never had etouffee before."
I found that hard to believe.
"I find that hard to believe." I said. "Too bad, it's true." he replied. "I also had the house salad with the poppy seed dressing. I really liked that." He added, verbally italicizing that word just like I wrote it.
Tonya had the Fried Shrimp Po' Boy, one of my favorites. "It was good, not overly shrimpy." She said, with that charming, heart-warming smile of hers.

Pulled Pork

Kensington had the chicken strips and fries. Pressed for a comment, I finally got her to tell me "Not good for you." about the chicken. Her way, according to her mom, to say she doesn't like something. Tonya added that the fries were seasoned and the baby girl didn't seem to like that either.
Adam had the pulled pork sandwich and the house-made chips. They'd put the barbecue sauce on the side this time, add as much or little as you like. He of course, liked it, it's what he always gets there. "The chips were a little too spicy." he added, no too spicy, but more than I usually like."
Angel pushed the envelope, asking for something not even on the menu.
"The menu said to ask about the oysters, so I did. I wanted a fried oyster Po'

Fried Oyster Po' Boy.

Boy."  Tara went to the back to conference with the chef and came back saying yup, they could do that. "The breading was a little heavy, but not too bad."
Tyler added "I tried one of the oysters, it was pretty good, mainly because it was heavily breaded."
He'd said he'd never had an oyster he actually enjoyed before.
I'll take them at their word.

Gator Bites and Fried Ravioli

For appetizers, they'd ordered two, the 'Gator Bites' and since this was near St. Louis, the Fried Ravioli. All agreed that the gator bites were good, a little chewy, but not too much so. They also all agreed on the ravioli. Nothing to write home about. Tonya even added that they tasted 'canned'.This is what you'll find at most places though, only a few in my experience put a lot of effort into this tidbit.

Summary:

Shrimp Po' Boy

Taytro's is a sure thing. It's just good. They don't have a huge menu, but what they do make is mostly above par. I failed to mention the drinks, Tonya and Tyler, to my disappointment had water, Angel had sweet tea, and Adam had a Coke.
"For what it's worth I wasn't very impressed with the water." Tonya said, sensing my disapproval with their non-committal drink choice.
The service was great, Tara kept the drinks filled and the servings timely. "If we lived here we'd certainly go back." Tyler concluded.
Full Disclosure, a confession: I'm probably part of the reason Kensington didn't eat anything. Earlier in the day, while still trying to establish a relationship with her, I applied step two in my secret formula for getting girls to like me. Bribe them with food. We'd shared several peanuts, even after her mom had told me that the little tot didn't like peanuts. I know this works, my own granddaughter, Caprice, remembers us sharing barbecue potato chips back when she wasn't much older. Even Angel remembers where we went on our first date. Burger King, 'cause I know what the ladies like.
Taytro's is good, better than just good.
More to that point, I'm not at all nervous about sending people there.

Captain D's

Festus, Mo.

Something came up here, or almost came up, that may affect my ability to review certain places objectively. I will try to continue, but we may have to alter our course a bit. More on this later.

The Place:
Sharing the lot with Home Depot and Tanglefoot, et al.
Generic, plastic, ubiquitous. The lighted sign towering above the place was not lit, the dim lighting inside made us think for a moment that it was closed. there were a few cars around it though and  as we pulled in we saw some people inside. There were also a couple  of cars in the drive through. Once we found the door, we went right in. The rope lined maze put us face on to a couple of posters on the wall showing some special meals. We read through them then headed toward the counter. Above it were the regular offerings, disjointed and not comprehensive. Scattered around were other photo'd menu items, here there, everywhere. I chose this place since I hadn't had fish and chip style fish in quite a while, and the weather was hot and weighing us down, burgers or steak or pasta seemed too heavy. Angel ordered first and quickly, one of the earlier specials. My train of thought exploded and I ordered without really thinking, one of the other specials. Adam was the only one of us that ordered pretty much what he knew he would going in.
The Food:
Angel had asked for the crab cake, fish and shrimp plate with corn on the cob and coleslaw. Adam got the chicken dinner with fries and slaw. I ended up with the eight piece shrimp and fish. When asked about sides I looked up at the menu, couldn't find them, and heard the counter lady tapping the counter in front of me, there it was, a small list. This selection would be my second mistake in the first sixty seconds since I stepped up to order. I asked for slaw and hush puppies. Stupid move.
The problem with that became stunningly obvious when I picked up the order. But I'm jumping ahead of the story. First we would have to wait for the order. To facilitate this we were handed one of those pager thingies with flashing lights. We gathered up our cups, poured our drinks and grabbed a few condiments and a bottle of malt vinegar. On the way we saw a couple more posters with offerings that sounded much better than what we'd ordered, these were past the place where orders were taken.
We found a booth by the window and waited. In a few minutes the pager started it's noisy and flashy orgasm. I rushed it up to the counter and was handed two trays.
We sorted it all out and I saw my big mistake. The eight piece shrimp and fish came standard with two hush puppies. The wasted side I ordered added four more to the hush puppy pile. My plate looked like an assortment of deep fried bread with a dollop of slaw. The one piece of fish, the thing I actually craved was tiny and thin in comparison to everything else. The pile of shrimp and hush puppies stood in stark, glaring contrast to my intentions of having a light meal. I like hush puppies, but two would have been fine. I really wanted more fish, less shrimp, if any.
Sure enough the puppies and shrimp were tasty, but really, really filling. I don't really like breaded shrimp very much. I prefer steamed/boiled/grilled shrimp, no breading, just with a little butter garlic and Old Bay. The fish was okay, but a little greasy.
Adam dunked his chunks and seemed to like them. The slaw was a problem though. "Is there celery in the slaw?" He asked his mom. She poked hers, I poked mine, didn't see any. "There might be celery seeds, they're tiny and have a strong celery taste." She said. This baffled me, I didn't know celery actually had a discernible taste. I said as much to which Adam replied "I guess I have  more refined tastes. I like celery by itself just not as an ingredient." This made Angel's eyes roll. She blamed me since I have the same opinion about nuts.
It was enough for him though, the rest of his slaw went untouched. I thought the slaw was fine, creamy and crisp. Angel said it was good "But it's not as good as KFC" she said. KFC's slaw is the gold standard for her. Hardly anyone's slaw measures up to that high bar.
Angel buttered up her corn and went to it like a buzz saw. I asked her about the crab cake. "The taste was okay, but it was mushy on the inside." She didn't seem too disappointed and I knew why, lowered expectations. We lived in Maryland for five years, THE place for crab cakes. Nowhere else, absolutely nowhere outside that state gets it right.
 Meanwhile I was starting to struggle, I felt uncomfortable, irritable. My meal had disappointed me and worse, it wasn't settling well. I left four puppies and three shrimp behind. I still felt I'd over done it. And here's why.
The Problem:
A few months back my doctor advised me that I needed to change my diet. My caveman style selections and habits were not rewarding me with any favors. Unlike the last twenty times I'd been told that I decided that he was probably worth paying attention to, that I'd go ahead an finally take strides to pay attention to what and when I ate.
This was quite a radical change for me, but I was/am committed. It became an adventure, a quest, a puzzle, a journey, a challenge, a dare. I started reading labels, learning about carbs and cholesterol, calories and sodium, etc. I established an area of the pantry that I would personally keep stocked with a variety of safe options. I doubled, even tripled the amount of fruits and green vegetables. I abolished sugar, enriched flour and starches (potatoes). I changed my haphazard/scavenging lunch to a measured amount of portable portions including raisins and a banana, every day. I completely gave up white bread, chips, pastries, and just about everything fried. Except for this one meal on Saturday evenings.
Its caused a problem though. I knew this going in to Captain D's, it's one of the reasons I chose fish. I didn't want a fast food burger because of my recent experiences with fast food burgers. They now make me ill, physically ill. Not critically, but they do jack up the ick factor enough to where I am useless for quite a while afterward. Even my much-loved sausage biscuits at Hardee's now have that sickening effect.
As we left Captain D's the problem manifested itself quickly. My mouth felt and tasted like I'd just had deep-fried road kill. My tummy knotted up. This may affect future choices of places to go on Saturday. I don't think I can be objective about fast food places anymore. I don't even like the look of them. One whiff of the grease and I start getting queasy.
However, I can't convince myself that this is a bad thing.
Summary:
Like I said, I can't be objective. The place made me sick. I'm sure though that it was me that was the problem. The initial taste was satisfying, I just ordered very poorly. I ordered the breaded shrimp and I don't even like breaded shrimp very much. I think some fish and slaw, and maybe a hush puppy would have been fine.
         As we were leaving Angel said to me: "I think Adam is the only person under forty in the entire place." I hadn't noticed, but a quick scan confirmed it. There were thirty or forty people eating there as we left all of them were our age or older. No kids, no teens, no young couples. I have no idea what this meant. Maybe just a coincidence, I can't be sure, just something we noticed.

The menu, broken up and spread out all over the place, made picking something very difficult. I regretted my choice immediately as I passed more offerings I was not aware of at the time of ordering.
I can't really give an opinion here, figure it out for yourself. My experience, though mostly my own fault, was lousy. 

Taytro's

343 North Creek Drive
Festus, Mo
http://taytros.com/
On Facebook


Boy's night out!
Angel was attending a dog training seminar, or so she said, on Saturday and Sunday. It would keep her from going out with us.
Last week I'd been alone, this week I was alone plus one. Adam was taking care of dog duties while she was away, he was working much harder than I did the week before since we had a few client dogs in. Rotations were nearly constant.
I decided to reward his efforts and hard work by letting him choose where to go. "Anywhere at all, even if you think or know that I won't like it."
This did not have the desired effect, he stressed about it.
I didn't.  I sucked in my personal preferences, likes and dislikes and prepared myself for what I assumed would be Taco Bell.
Angel and Adam go there sometimes when I'm at work. They know I can't stand it. That was okay, I told him, I would be objective while I gagged and spat afterwards, if that is where he wanted to go.
He surprised me. I arose from a well deserved afternoon nap and asked him to declare.
"Taytro's" he said.  I don't know why it surprised me but it did. In fact it sounded pretty good.
The Place:
They opened a year or two or three ago and we've been a handful of times. They do New Orleans primarily, gumbo, jambalaya, po' boys. They throw down a pretty good steak as well.
It's on the hill above the intersection of A and 61/67, in a newer, small strip mall. It has a well stocked bar and a small section in the back corner for the frequent live music. It's popularity has grown quite well since opening, it was busy when we got there.
As the day was gorgeous, there were people sitting out on the patio (sidewalk) at umbrella topped tables sipping buckets of beer.
One table held five or six skirted young women dressed to the nines in light, short spring dresses for partying and or dancing. There were no men with them, they were ripe for the picking. Lucky for them Adam and I are both terribly shy or we'd have been all over that action. We'd show them a party like they had never seen, if only we weren't so bashful, and faithful.
We went straight in, passing them by, flirtatiously staring at our own feet all the way in. They were lucky.
Inside, the tables were nearly filled as well. Busy, bustling.
We were shown a middle table and were seated and handed the simple two sided menu. I asked for tea, Adam asked for Coke/Pepsi. Overhead a raspy old timer was belting out some soulful delta blues.
The Food:
It didn't take me long to choose, any chance for a good po' boy and I'm in. I had my first two or three po' boys in New Orleans a decade or so back. I'm pretty sure I know a good one when I come across it. Simplicity is the key. There's nothing fancy about a po' boy, at all. Shredded lettuce, optional cheese and tomato, then shrimp or fish on a good roll. Taytro's tops theirs with a spicy mayo of their own design. It's not overpowering. I asked for fries with that.
Adam ordered the pulled pork and house-made chips. An excellent choice as well.
We sat and sipped, watched the people come and go, and really put ourselves out there on the edge by deliberately not making eye contact with the ladies outside. This always drives the babes crazy. To be completely ignored is the ultimate mating call. We were at the top of our game, they didn't stand a chance. One of the gals even walked by our table to get to the bar. In a bold and disarmingly charming way Adam and I stared at the overhead TV.
She left the bar went back to her friends and though I couldn't hear what she was saying I assume she was talking about those two fetching men inside that had laid on all the right moves. It was enough to scare them away. They all piled into a SUV and drove away. I smiled and nodded, proud and confident after yet another conquest.
The food came after a while, piping hot. The shrimp was fat and lightly spicy, the fries seasoned just right. Adam shared a pull off his pork, it was smoky and not too sweet.
I cut my sandwich in half, I was going to box it up and save it for Sunday lunch. Adam finished his completely and without complaint. "Pretty good" he summarized.
Overhead the TV's were playing a gal's softball game. We made fun of it as a fake sport, soft ball, girls, not like a real sport at all. We were guys, out for the evening, watching sports. We laughed at the underhand pitches, which privately impressed me. We both knew that if somehow confronted with a fist fight between us and any two of those soft-ballers, we'd loose, quickly. Neither of us should make fun of any athlete at any level, of any gender. We're wired for cerebral, not physical challenges, on a real physical obstacle course we'd be best suited to be minor obstacles rather than capable challengers.
Summary:
Taytro's is a winner by any measure. It's a bustling, busy place with great food and a professional and friendly staff. I'm willing to go there just about any time, I know I'll get good food. The price isn't bad either, our bill came to nineteen and a half bucks, which paid for enough food to easily fill us up. Even the tea was fresh and bright.
Taytro's has picked up quite a following and its popularity is well deserved. They are certainly a step or twelve  above the fast food places. They don't offer a thousand choices but they know what they are good at  and deliver it time after time.
Adam and I headed back home, we didn't talk much, we didn't have to, we're dudes.

Fitz's

The Delmar Loop

6605 Delmar Blvd

St Louis, MO

fitzsrootbeer.com

A workday review.

 

The Delmar Loop is an upscale and quite popular area of the St. Louis metro area, located only a couple of miles from Forest Park, where can be found the St. Louis zoo, Botanical gardens, art museum, etc. The loop is actually in one of St. Louis’s many, many neighboring suburbs called University City, named so as it is home to world renowned Washington University.

It is called the loop because it once was home to the looping turn-around area for the streetcar lines. The streetcars and loop itself have been gone for quite a while though the name stuck. There is word of a possible trolley system in the future. Anyway it’s a really nice area, lots of stately homes, fashionable shops and eateries, theatres and performance halls. The sidewalks are home to plaques and statues of famous folks from St. Louis. Fitz’s has near its front door a bronze statue of Chuck Berry. Other folks commemorated on the loop are Nellie, Tina Turner, Ella Fitzgerald, Miles Davis, John Goodman and sexologists Masters and Johnson.  I’m not making that up. M&J started their filthy, sinful sex-work at Wash U.

Fitz’s itself is a brewer/bottler of Root Beer, first produced in 1947. The current old building it occupies was originally a bank, the bottling operation operates where the vault once stood.

We left work for lunch to meet up with a former co-worker who was in town for a spell. I’d never met him, he left the company before I started my current employ. There were four of us, Doug, Rob (with whom I’ve written about before) and Brenda, a very talented and often useful database administrator.

The Place.

None of us had been there before, so we had maps, three of them, each slightly different. They got us there without too much trouble. Street parking is a known issue in this area, but we lucked out that Fitz’s had a lot behind the building. There was construction netting up around the outside, workers were busy re-cobbling the patio areas. The place was busy but not packed, we told the lady that met us that we were meeting a party, she pointed us up the stairs. I appreciated this as kids are allowed downstairs, but not upstairs. It’s a kid-friendly place I’m told, with cardboard car-shaped serving baskets to utterly delight the sticky little tykes.

We met the guy, a handsome thirty-ish man with no hair on his head. That’s a look I’ve often thought about sporting, but Angel insists I look fine just the way I am. He turned out to be a nice, intelligent man despite his lack of hair. Brenda asked him where he worked, he replied ‘Avon’. She looked baffled. “You sell Avon?” she asked.

”No, I work at Avon’s HQ in White Plains New York, still admin’ing IT systems, like I did when we worked together.”

“Oh. That makes more sense.”

The place was trying to look 1950’s-ish, retro stuff here and there, the walls were exposed brick, the ceiling open with exposed large, shiny vent pipes. Upstairs and down were booths and tables. A long bar lined the entire back wall. We were greeted and seated by a nice young lady with a very unfortunately located water stain on the front of her jeans. I tried not to stare.

There were three large flat screen TV’s flashing various sports shows, hockey, football highlights, etc. The sound was thankfully muted. We sat directly under a loudspeaker, a pretty loud loudspeaker playing a form of music that I can only equate to Velvet Underground style glam (imagine Andy Warhol influenced rock). It may not have been that at all, but it wasn’t too bad.

The Food:

We glanced over the menus, mostly burgers and sandwiches. They didn’t list a BLT, though they did offer a B.L.A.S.T which was a wrap with Bacon Lettuce, Avocado, Sauce (spicy), and Turkey.  I don’t do Avocado.  Rob apparently does though. I wasn’t in the mood for a burger either, Angel got lazy the evening before and picked up burgers from McDonalds instead of feeding me properly as a good wife should.

I did find a winner though, beer-battered fish and chips. ‘Chips’ is what the British call French fries, I don’t know why, maybe they’re just stupid. We aren’t in Brittany anyhow, it should really be called fish and fries, what’s so wrong with that?

By default I was going to order tea, but the three folks that ordered ahead of me all asked for the root beer. I thought for a moment and decided to do likewise since this place was a brewer and bottler of the stuff. To do otherwise would be like going to Steak and Shake and not ordering a shake. Come to think of it though, I have been to Steak and Shake and not had a shake. I’m not proud of that, I just don’t like cold, milky sweet drinks. Root beer, A&W specifically, like they sell at fairs and Demolition Derby’s always seem too sweet. I was afraid this might be the case, but because of my sense of obligation to you, my loyal fans, I went ahead and did my duty.

We were soon delivered frosty mugs, seriously frosty, like a windshield in January frosty. Cute, but it came at a price. The frost melted almost immediately when the root beer was poured into them, leaving large puddles on the table. It might also explain the waitress’ pants stain. The root beer itself though was pretty good, earthy, not hyper sweet. I’m not a big carbonated beverage guy, they tend to make me feel bloatey but in this case I refilled twice.

The food was delivered, the three fish portions looked like eggrolls. There was enough tartar sauce to overcome subjugation by the Mongols.* The slaw was generous, way too generous since it was completely bland. I had maybe two bites of it. The fish itself was quite good. The fries were fine, but nothing to write home about.

Rob said his BLAST was okay, but it was a little light on the turkey. I asked the others about their burgers, Brenda said “They’re like real burgers” Which I assumed to mean not like fast food burgers. Everyone but me finished everything off, I was left with a bowl of tartar sauce and a bowl of bland coleslaw.

Summary:

The root beer was the star of the meal though, without a doubt. In all the food was okay, but not excellent or outstanding. It was overpriced for the quality presented, meal came to $14.20 before tip. That’s not excessive, but I can certainly do better elsewhere, like at Hodges’ Chili Mac, Casa Gallardo or Maryland Yards.  Fitz’s may indeed have standout dishes, I might just have missed them. Let me know if there’s something they’ve got that’s good enough to motivate me to go there again.

* Subjugation by the Mongols:  The Tartars (or Tatars) are a Turkish speaking ethnic group in a wide area in Russia and the many ‘stans’ around the region. In the 13^th century Genghis Khan was pillaging and looting the area, enslaving a lot of defeated peoples, the Tartars included. They’ve been subjugated a lot. Tartar sauce is thought to be called such as the tartars were by legend very rough people, and as an adjective, ‘tartar’ was possibly once used to mean ‘rough’, as is the texture of the stuff.