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My biggest plan for this month is a trip to St. Louis. I will certainly eat a lot when I go home. I also have a day in Providence and hope to get at least one interesting meal out of that. Otherwise, I'm trying to eat light this month and get back into shape before summer.
April 3
I never made the salad I intended for Easter, so tonight I made some steak and turned that into the salad I had planned to serve on Sunday. I tossed spinach in a homemade dressing and topped that with feta, cranberries, and my pickled onions.
April 4
Thomas came to work with me today. The weather was too bad to walk over to DeNo's so we drove to Brother's instead. I had roast beef. Thomas had pizza. We shared some french fries.
For dinner, I made the leftover sausage from Easter along with some scrambled eggs. I also shredded a potato and fried it up, but I over salted it.
April 5
Since I didn't make it to DeNo's yesterday as I planned, I went today. I got the chicken parm sub - solid but I wish they did a better job melting the cheese.
April 6
In June of 2022, we went to Asta for the first time. For dinner, they serve an amazing, culinary-adventurous tasting menu. But they also occasionally have a chicken sandwich popup. I've wanted to go for a while and today I finally made it happen. They opened at noon and we arrived about ten minutes after and had to wait for about twenty minutes to get a seat. Then menu was small: chicken sandwich, drinks, a brownie. The chicken is fried, topped with lettuce and sauce, and served on a biscuit. By 12:57 they had sold out. Thank god they still had brownies because they were perfect.
That night I had an event for Concord's Children Center. I had some nice wines and a few simple hors d'oeuvres and after went with some friends to Karma. There we had a sushi boat and some basil fried rice.
April 7
We had Anthony and Katie over for dinner. I broke out the smoker and cooked up the ham I didn't end up making for Easter along with some chicken. I also roasted carrots and made a potato salad. It was delicious and I ate too much.
April 8
I had to go to Providence for a work conference and I didn't want to pass up the chance to get a good meal. I started with a shrimp cocktail at Fleur in the Omni Hotel. For dinner I went to Oberlin. I started with a Brandade served with herbs and grilled bread. I followed that up with a beautiful lasagna. I also tried a new gin, Bordiga Occitan Gin from Italy. After dinner, I had one more drink next door at Gift Horse, ISCO Ornamental Gin. It is the first Rhode Island gin I have tried.
April 9
I didn't get a chance to have lunch so I was starving as I drove back from Providence. We decided to go to Bandoleros. I did not like the salsa as much as I did the last time, but the Emoladas and the tres leches were delicious.
April 10
I've been eating too much and need to scale back. Tonight I made a nice salad with spinach, ham, red onion, and cheddar. I also had a little leftover pasta from Kelly's dinner while I was away. The salad was damn good, but I'm still hungry.
April 11
I was at the State House for a lobbying day today. There was a breakfast provided by a Kosher caterer. I had a pita stuffed with scrambled egg, avocado, tomato, and greens. It was so good that after the presentation finished I had another.
April 12
Today was the start of vacation week and the start of a new food project. I'm on a quest to find great clam chowders around New England. We went to dinner at Row 34 and I taste tested my first chowder. I also got some shrimp and french fries. For dessert we had carrot cake. It was good but heavy on the ginger for my taste. I also would have liked more cream cheese frosting.
April 14
We arrived in St. Louis this morning. Lunch was planned well in advance because my son wanted to play pinball at Imo's. I got a 16" sausage and pepperoni and between me, my mom, and my wife, we ate the whole thing.
For dinner, my brother and his family came over. I grilled a ribeye, a flank steak, and a pork steak. Pork steak is a St. Louis specific cut of pork that I haven't had in more than a decade. I also made corn on the cob and a salad. The pork was my favorite. It was so amazing.
April 15
We went to Bowood by Niche for brunch today with dad and Elias. I got the Reuben and Kelly got the Blueberry Pancakes, but she didn't finish them. So I did. I also had a Blackberry 75 which was very nice.
April 16
This morning we stopped at Bello's Bakery. I got Thomas a chocolate donut. For Kelly I got a cheery danish and a cheese one, but I ended up eating most of that. Mom and I got a paradise danish which is a gooey butter danish with glaze and powdered sugar. They said it had nuts, but I couldn't tell.
After breakfast we went liquor shopping. We stopped at the Wine and Cheese Place. They had a great gin selection, but not the bottle of rum I was looking for. So we went directly to the Naked Spirts distillery. I didn't think they would be open but they were. We had a great visit and tried three of their rums. We ended up getting the Toasted Coconut Rum and the Gooey Butter Cake Rum. I highly recommend to all my St. Louis readers to check them out.
For dinner we went to Llywelyn's Pub in Webster Groves. We had wings and a burger with cottage chips. The service was really friendly and we even got some free plastic cups to restock home.
April 17
I found Honey Bee's on Instagram and since it is close to my mom's house, I wanted to check it out. It's a small shop with a small menu but a lot of outdoor seating. I went with the Sausage, Egg, and Cheese Biscuit. It was good but so big that there was no way to fit it in your mouth. For me there was too much biscuit. I'm not in a rush to go back.
Since I can't get one in Boston, I tried a Cardinals Frozen Fanta from McDonalds. I liked the strawberry part more than the blue raspberry part.
For dinner we went to Idol Wolf in the 21C Hotel, the former St. Louis YMCA. It's a Spanish-style restaurant with a selection of tapas. We had a lot and all of it was good. My favorites were the Pan Con Tomate and the meatballs. I also tried three new gins from the area. The surroundings were exceptional and I recommend a visit.
April 18
Kelly and I went out on our own for lunch. We went to Gus's Fried Chicken in Memphis many years ago and really liked it. So it's hard to pass up the chance to go there. I got a chicken thigh and collard greens. The chicken was great and the greens were even better. After that, I made her try White Castle. She had never had one and she never will again. To make up for that, I took her to Ted Drewes to get a concrete. I got a strawberry-banana. After 95 years, Ted Drewes is still amazing.
We went to StilL 630 for a cocktail class with my brother and his fiancé. It was an excellent class and I got to try two new gins and bought one to bring home. After cocktails, we went to Anthonino's Taverna. They have toasted ravioli that was featured on Diners, Drive-In's and Dives. They were so good we ended up ordering two orders. Kelly and I shared a gyro pizza that was also delicious.
April 20
I went out with my college roommate tonight. We stopped by Grendel's Den and I got the pastrami toast which is topped with brussels sprouts. It was excellent and I'd go back just to get that again. After that we went to The Longfellow Bar where I got steak tartare.
April 22
Karma tonight: chicken skewers and sushi.
April 23
I made split pea soup last night and had it for dinner tonight. It was amazing. In fact it was so good, that I'm going to give you a quick rundown of the recipe. Start with an onion and three garlic cloves and sauté that. Then add a ham bone (I had one left over from Easter that I froze until I was ready to make soup.) and a quart of water. Bring it to a boil and add a pound of split peas, thyme, oregano, and a bay leaf. Cover and cook at a low simmer for about three hours. Then remove the ham bone and puree the peas with an emersion blender. Next add in some chopped carrots and potatoes bring to a low boil and cook for 30-45 minutes. Finally add back in chopped ham from the bone. I'm telling you this was the best split peas soup I ever had!
April 24
I was at staples to get TSA precheck and noticed a new restaurant had opened next to it. KJ's Caffe was pretty empty, but I tried their Sandwich of the Month, a hot Italian sausage panini which was pretty good. For dinner, I went to The Bancroft to celebrate Michael's birthday. I got the Lobster and Smoked Haddock Stew. It was poured tableside from a copper pot. I really liked that, but as most soups at The Bancroft it probably won't last long on the menu.
April 26
On April 12, I mentioned that I'm starting my quest to find the best clam chowder in New England. Even though I started with Row 34, tonight the real work began. We went to Legal's to have their chowder. I think it is the chowder by which all others should be judged. So with that fresh in my mind The Chowder Quest can officially begin. With our chowder we got the blackened tuna, it had a new name now, tuna tataki, and it wasn't quite as good as it used to be. We also got the clam flatbread. I thought it was solid.
April 27
Niki and Sreyleak came into town and to dinner. I asked what they would like and they requested bbq. I smoked a duck breast, Pig Rock bratwurst, and turkey legs. I also made oven roasted brussels sprouts and loaded mashed potatoes. We also had shrimp cocktail and whoopie pies. It was a fun evening with very good food.
April 30
Last meal of the month. I watched a Jacques Pepin video on Instagram and happened to have almost all the ingredients, onions, garlic, ham, spinach, pasta. All I needed was a can of tomatoes. I also added a little feta even though that wasn't in the recipe. I really liked it. Kelly thought it tasted like hot dogs.
Best of the month
Last month my cooking was a little disappointing, not this month. I smoked twice and both were amazing. I really liked the smoked ham and the smoked duck. I made incredible split pea soup. The bbq pork steak I grilled at my mom's was fabulous.
I also had some great meals out. I ate really well in St. Louis. Almost everything there was great. The best thing I ate around home was the pastrami toast at Grafton Street. I also started the chowder quest which is already going great. The sleeper though is the breakfast pita I had at the State House. That thing shocked me with how good it was.
The top three dishes of April
3. Split Pea Soup
2. BBQ Pork Steak
1. Ted Drewes Concrete
hungrytommy links:
DeNo's Pizza & Subs
Brother's Roast Beef
Asta
Karma
Bandoleros (new)
Row 34
Bowood by Niche (new)
Bello's Bakery (new)
Idol Wolf (new)
Anthonino's Taverna (new)
The Longfellow Bar
The Bancroft
The Chowder Quest (new)
Legal Sea Foods Chowder (new)
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