A few weeks ago I started my barrage of blog posts focusing on my favorite sandwich, The Reuben. It was my birthday lunch with my mom and little bros as the arrived in town to help me celebrate the occasion a day early. We decided to pop into the Field House near SLU’s campus to throw back some brews, grub it up, and watch some football on their ridiculous surplus of televisions. I spotted a reuben on their menu made with blackened grouper. Here’s what I thought:
Rye. Check! Swiss. Check! Thousand Island dressing. Check! So, far they’re on track to make a great reuben. It’s those quality items that come next that can really make or break this sandwich. They replaced the corned beef with blackened grouper and the sauerkraut with a creamy slaw. The slaw lacked the tangy bite that I crave in a sauerkraut, but compliments the spice on the blackened grouper quite well. It didn’t take but a few minutes until I had finished of this fish reuben. On the whole the sandwich was quite good. However, it isn’t going to receive any nods from me on the list of great reubens. Creative. Yes.
For the fans of reubens who consider themselves to be pescatarians, this sandwich is worth a try. Though, if you are true reuben fanatic, stick to the corned beef or pastrami versions. Now, this is my opinion and you don’t have to agree, but FORK U if ya don’t!
For the record, I’m aware that these things aren’t really for foodies. They are consumer driven and cater to every palate imaginable offering up whatever they think you’ll buy. So, disgusted by what these so-called food festival offer I have to rant. I want more out of something called the ‘taste’. However, all I’m exposed to here is a big waste of time.
I entered this event greeted with a host of TUMS representatives handing out their bowl fixing remedies. Good ploy on their part as you will surely need a handful of these discs for the after meal. I made my way through the crowd of hungry hipsters and half dressed hoosiers to find myself at the feature food stands to which I came for. Disappointment coursed through my veins as I saw one after another chain restaurant dotting the landscape. This is not the taste of saint louis. Chain restaurants are the taste of every city and town they can make a profit in. When I come to feast, I want to eat something local and new. Not the overdone dishes dropped on the menu in every location in which they reside.
Even when I finally found some local dives, about 1/3 of the menus offered either wings or sliders. Each of the stands offered a little twist on the latter and I found a few inspired dishes of lamb and short rib. I picked up the short rib slider and truffle oil popcorn as a side. The short rib was good and the popcorn was drenched in the oil to an inedible point. I later had to find a stack of napkins to rid myself of the oil, grabbed a beer. This was, also, a drag and only one distributor had its greedy grasp on the beverage selection. Where are all of the local micro brews which should undoubtedly be added to a festival such as this?
It wasn’t soon after I polished off my beverage that I began weaving my way towards the exit. I left behind the sad mix of food and drink and made my way back down to my downtown dwelling. I was dissatisfied and still my stomach needed some nourishment. Bailey’s Range was luckily on the path home and I sat down for a boozed up shake to drown my sorrows.
It’s official! I have entered the world of journalism, sinking my teeth directly into the pages of one of Saint Louis’s most underground publications. It’s almost been a month since I started writing about food and someone is taking a chance on me by allowing to post my opinions about restaurants in the Saint Louis metropolitan area. It’s a monthly blurb you will see in the back half of the St. Louis Sinner as I take my fork and stab it deep in some of the most interesting dishes offered.
My focus for this article will be on the weird. Since just about everyone out there writes on safe, palate-friendly dishes, I will aim to set myself apart from the flock of food writers by offering up my indiscriminate taste for international and inspired fare. Don’t worry about me huffing around expensive joints that only the elite can afford. I’ll be out scoping for budget friendly stops, that get creative with their culinary fare.
This is a great opportunity and I’m more than excited to dive right in and give you all the seductive selections coming out of kitchens across the Lou. Join me in my adventure and pick up next month’s Sinner. I’ll have something really special for you. In the meantime, follow me here or on twitter @forkustl. If you don’t — well FORK U!
I wasn’t quite sure how I would feel about munching down a pumpkin flavored bar for breakfast, but then I recalled that I had consumed my fair share of pumpkin muffins for my morning meal. Another pumpkin creation from Trader Joe’s has hit the market and nestled it’s self right in the mix of fruit filled breakfast bars that they carry. My curiosity was spiked and I had to see if this stacked up against all the other pumpkin provisions lining the shelves.
The bars resemble Nutrigrain bars in appearance, with the box stating that they are low fat and contain no hydrogenated oils. Great, they’re safe to eat then. I quickly perused the ingredients and was delighted to see that they contained actual pumpkin, although diluted with things like apple powder and brown rice syrup making the bar sweet. There was plenty of pumpkin flavor to go around, and the bar wasn’t too heavy or rich. They were good, however, I still prefer a warm pumpkin muffin to the dry on-the-run breakfast bar. The price was right on cue with all of the other reasonably priced items at TJ’s and sold at a mere $1.99.
I’m not quite sure that this will ever gain the tag ‘a classic item’, but for those of you who really crave some pumpkin on the go, this is sure to be a staple on your shopping list. Go grab a box and see what all the fuss is about. So, with a pumpkin cereal bar in hand, fighting your A.M. traffic jams, give that guy who just cut you off a big FORK U!
Give it to me straight. Give it to me black. This is how I like my coffee, with no added fluff. If you’re the type that drown your coffee in cream and sugar, you might as well get it at the gas station and save yourself a few bucks. But, for those of us who actually enjoy the taste of our coffee, and appreciate a locally roasted bean, there’s places like Northwest Coffee Roasting in Clayton.
Just to keep the control group consistant, I take a test drive on coffee by ordering up an Americano. For those of you who don’t know, an Americano is espresso and hot water. This ratio is typically 1 shot for small, 2 for a medium, and 4 for a large. However, Northwest uses a 2, 2, and 4 ratio for their blend. Their beans are roasted using a full city roast that gives the espresso a mild, smooth, and not too bitter flavor. I thoroughly enjoyed my Americano, although, a little expensive. It ran about $.50 more than Americanos at other shops. Thinking about it, if what their website states is correct and they use 2 shots for a small, this really isn’t too bad. It just means that for their medium, you pay an extra $.20 for a larger cup and 2oz. more hot water. This could be to offset the amount of extra fluff their customers might use destroying their coffee in a larger cup.
Now, coffee shops aren’t just about the product they put in your cup. They are about ambiance. This is where Northwest is lacking. Disappointingly, the decor is less than inspired and might as well be a hospital waiting room. The plain-Jane, monotonous spread of wooden tables, white and surgical ward blue walls aren’t the easiest to sit and stare at, or even the most comfortable place to sit. They’re not getting a spread in Better Homes and Gardens anytime soon. Also, the menu is a cookie cutter, plastic spread of even less inspired white plastic pieces that display what they offer. The saving grace here is the abstract art they were featuring at the moment as I did end up examining every piece in the collection.
So, what if you’re craving a bite to eat as you enjoy your locally crafted coffee brew? Northwest does offer up some nosh to curb your appetite. The pastries are a limited stock of muffins and a really nice selection of doughnuts rarely seen at a java joint. A pretty loaded menu of breakfast sandwiches line their morning selection with my eye resting on one with pretzel bread. I’ll be coming back for that one. Lunch has a run-of-a-mill selection of four sandwiches served with chips all at $6.50 which isn’t bad at all.
Great coffee, a drab interior, and a decent selection of edible items pretty much describe the Clayton location of Northwest Coffee Roasters. It’s not going to be a place you chill for a couple of hours, but come in to enjoy great locally roasted coffee. It has my vote as one of the best roasters in STL. Stop by and support your community, and if that’s not your bag, it should FORKIN’ better be.
Something Saint Louis isn’t short on is New York Style delis. Picking your favorite is half the battle. The Posh Nosh in Clayton is somewhat of a diamond in the rough when it comes to these delicatessens. They have charm and a neighborhood niche about them that gives them an edge when targeting the cream of the crop. Let’s face it, when we talk about these establishments, we’re looking for quality food and that certain unique something. The Posh Nosh does not disappoint. They offer up bison in a pastrami and corned form, and as you can probably guess, this is what dragged me in. I had to put the corned bison to the test as I finalize my journey to find some of Saint Louis’s best Reubens.
Corned Bison? Yeah, Bison. This is a foodie’s dream to find something a little off of the beaten path. The Posh Nosh deli offers up all of their pastrami and corned beef options with the alternative of the leaner cow cousin. I was quite excited to take my very first bite of corned bison as it was presented in Reuben form. The sandwich came with its typical companions of light rye, swiss, homemade Russian dressing, and sauerkraut. Just about everything was right concerning this Reuben, and all of the flavors hit their notes. I did, however, run into a bit of a road block. This is standard for most corned beef to be a little chewy and tough, but since the bison lacks some of the fat that makes beef perfect for corning, it was a little too tough. The flavor wasn’t all that different from beef either. I was pretty much consuming a more menacing version of the Reuben. Anyone who has ever eaten one can testify that Reubens are almost impossible to down with out a bit of a mess. This corned bison doesn’t make things any easier. When it comes down to it…I can’t blame the deli for the experience, but the bison itself. If you’re fine with the little bit extra work, this is a fine sandwich and really is a great Reuben. However, if I were to order again, I’d probably stick to the corned beef and leave the bison at bay. I will be back. There’s still another bison treat on that menu that’s calling my name. Bison pastrami will be in my sights for my return.
So, here’s the deal. That Reuben may not have been the best I’ve ever had, but how many of you out there can ever say they took a tango with corned bison. It’s a must on the check list of a foodie. A plethora of items are still waiting for us to consume on their menu. I urge you to give them a try. And, if you don’t…well then FORK U!
Fork U 
