Happy Mardi Gras! Riverbend Bar Restaurant Review

Happy Mardi Gras, St. Louisans!!!  One of my favorite things about St. Louis is our amazing Mardi Gras celebrations, and there is no better place to celebrate in St. Louis than in Soulard.  But if big crowds and cold weather isn't your thing, no worry, because Riverbend Bar down in South Soulard brings New Orleans cuisine to St. Louis year round.  Riverbend is almost a year old, and was started by a true New Orleanian.  It was recently listed in St. Louis Magazine, naming their shrimp and crawfish etoufee as their best dish.  Jessie, Joe and I love good, authentic, Cajun food and we knew we had to try it!

When we first got there, we noticed a neon sign in the bar window advertising Abita beer.  Jessie and Joe had just gone on a trip to New Orleans last year and they got really excited because they drank Abita when they were down there.  Nothing better than authentic New Orleans beer!

Abita Amber

The atmosphere in Riverbend is pretty much like any dive bar/restaurant, with dark wood paneling, pretty low lighting, and with seating in the front and up on a platform in the back.  They don't take reservations, but I heard the waits aren't usually long, and you can always sit at the bar while you wait.  We went on a Wednesday night (they are closed on Tuesdays) and we immediately seated ourselves up on the platform area.  Note that the single room can get really noisy and Jessie and I were literally screaming to each other just to have a conversation.  Once a couple group of people at the tables around us left it got a lot quieter though.

For an appetizer we ordered crabmeat stuffed shrimb.  It was six jumbo shrimp (tails already off!) with a dollop of toasted crabmeat in the curve of the shrimp, all sitting in a buttered sauce and lemons in a hot casserole dish.  It was delicious!!!  I definitely recommend it.  And if crab isn't your thing, I would at least get an order of the jumbo shrimp, because they were really flavorful.

Crabmeat stuffed shrimp

For our entree we ordered the dish that we came there for... shrimp and crawfish etoufee!  I would normally get crawfish etoufee, but the shrimp one sounded good too.  I just couldn't decide, but luckily I didn't have to, because you can get a combination of the two!  It was an easy decision, and a good one!  Jessie and I came to the restaurant planning to split and entree, but we took one look at the etoufee at the table behind ours and we knew we had to have our own.  It was amazing!  Tons of crawfish in each bite, the perfect amount of seasoning, but without being too spicy, and a good amount of rice packed in a small mound in the center of the plate.  I was in heaven.  It brought back really good memories of my trips to New Orleans.  Riverbend definitely does Cajun food right!

Shrimp and Crawfish Etoufee

We were so happy with our meal, we decided to split their House-made Creole Bread Pudding with Whisky Sauce for dessert (for $4, it was hard to pass up!).  It was pretty good and the whisky sauce was really sweet.  It had some hidden white raisins in it, which I didn't even notice until I looked closer.  It was interesting.

House-made Creole Bread Pudding with Whisky Sauce

Overall, I highly recommend Riverbend Bar in Soulard!  It was such a great experience, and the food was amazing!  I'm always wanting to have some authentic Cajun food and I can't wait to go back and perhaps try one of their Po-Boy Sandwiches (that is...if I have the strength to not order their etoufee again).

Bar Review: Boogaloo

This past weekend, I was out with friends and we decided to end our night somewhere different.  We ended up at Boogaloo in Maplewood.  Now you may be asking, what's different about a bar called Boogaloo except it's weirdo name... Answer: SWINGS!  Yup, instead of bar stools at the main bar, there are swings suspended from the ceiling where you can sit, swing and enjoy a drink.  And the drink of choice at Boogaloo is definitely their Mojito.  So if you want something different, or you just want a really good Mojito, I'd swing by Boogaloo for a nightcap and a flashback to grade school recess time ;-)

The Josies on the swings at Boogaloo

Restaurant Review: Nora's in Dogtown

Jessie and I had to run to Dogtown for an errand over lunch one weekday, and we wanted to stop and grab something to eat nearby.  We weren't feeling Seamus McDaniels and wanted to try something new.  Luckily we discovered Nora's, which is on Tamm avenue right across from Seamus on the other side of Clayton Rd.  It's a small intimate sandwich shop with about 10 booths/tables in one single room and a large chalkboard menu on the side wall.  It is super laid back and surprisingly pretty popular for lunchtime and dinnertime.

What really impressed us was their weekday lunch special: any half sandwich, either soup or small house salad, side of chips and a fountain drink, all for $7.29.  When Jessie and I stopped by last week, the soup of the day was a crawfish chowder, which was awesome!  I ate the entire cup of soup before I even touched my sandwich and now I am really excited for crawfish season this Mardi Gras holiday!

Crawfish Chowder

Nora's sandwich selection is also impressive, and somewhat refreshing.  Jessie ordered their "For Pete's Sake" sandwich, which they are best known for.  It consists of apple smoked pork loin, caramelized onions, melted brie, bacon and apple sauce.  It was really good and the melted brie was really fun and flavorful.  I ordered a sandwich called "The Hangover Club" which has smoked turkey, genoa salami, provolone, bacon and country mustard.  It was really good and I would definitely get it again.  Both sandwiches came on wheat bread which was perfectly toasted, but still light and fluffy.  Overall, really enjoyable!

For Pete's Sake Sandwich

P.S. Jessie loved Nora's so much she took Joe there for dinner the next night (Soup of the Day: Beef Stroganoff Soup) and took her boss there for lunch the next week.  Now that's dedication! :-)

Involtini Recipe

When Jessie and I tried Peel Wood Fire Pizza on our staycation in September (see blog post here) we fell in love with their spinach artichoke involtini appetizer.  It was yummy pizza dough wrapped around a spinach artichoke dip.  Delicious!  I wanted to recreate it for a Holiday party appetizer and I couldn't find a single recipe online!  I did some further research on "Involtini" and found out that in Italy, Involtini is a type of dish where you wrap a food layer (typically meat) around a filling and then cook/bake it.  Sounds simple enough to me!  I grabbed a tube of my newest obsession, Pillsbury Thin Crust Pizza Dough (which I now always keep in my fridge for a last minute pizza dinner) and whipped up a traditional spinach artichoke dip.  Unfortunately I am marrying into a family of picky eaters (we're talking meat and cheese only) so I also made an alternate involtini with pepperoni and shredded mozzarella cheese.

Involtini out of the oven

First you roll the pizza dough out on a pan and then spread the filling over the entire piece of dough (spinach artichoke dip or pepperoni and cheese).  I didn't heavily fill the edges of the dough because I didn't want to have trouble rolling the dough and having it ooze out all over me.  After the filling is spread out, roll the dough longways into a spiral.  I usually bunch the ends to completely enclose the filling inside the dough.  I then brushed the top with olive oil mixed with Italian seasoning and sprinkled Parmesan cheese on the top (this turns out great once baked!)  Throw it in the oven at 400 degrees for only 10 minutes (or until it turns golden brown).

Pepperoni and Mozzarella Involtini slice

Once baked, I let it cool a big before cutting it into bite sizes slices.  I reheated when I served it later at Ryan's aunt house, and added marinara sauce and a Parmesan cream sauce for dipping.  They were gone instantly!  Super easy, Super Italian, and Super Good!

Last weekend I also tried a similar quick appetizer when I tore up pieces of pizza dough and made individual stuffed dough balls with pepperoni and cheese.  Those went fast too ;-)

Pasta Plus!

My name isn't JosiePasta for nothing... I love my pasta!  That's why one time during a summer internship at my current law firm I fell in love with a place called Pasta Plus.  We were having one of those LexisNexis tutorials during lunch, so they catered from the local Italian Diner in downtown Clayton.  I'm pretty sure I got back up 3 times for another scoop of their pasta con broccoli.... it was so creamy and decadent, and the shell shaped noodles were perfect to capture the sauce.

Two years had passed and I never had the chance to eat it again.  All I knew was that catered tub of pasta, I wasn't quite sure how the restaurant would be and I was too chicken to go by myself.  Finally, Jessie called me one day and asked to meet me for lunch in Clayton and pasta was on my mind (when is it not?!) so I suggested Pasta Plus.  We went at the perfect time and there was no line.  It was a walk up counter and the menu was full of every standard pasta dish you could think of: spaghetti and meatballs, fettuccine alfredo, mostaccioli, toasted ravioli... the list goes on and on.  It also has classic Italian sub sandwiches as well.  Very casual, with classic Italian checkered table clothes and framed posters of The Sopranos on the wall.  I already knew what I was getting before I walked in... Pasta Con Broccoli!!!  Jessie had the same.  They brought out our food to us, and just in time, because only 5 minutes after we ordered, the line got really long.

Pasta Con Broccoli

The pasta con broccoli was so good and just as creamy as I remembered; however, maybe I've grown up since being a summer associate, because I could almost taste the unhealthiness of each greasy bite.  Oh well, it was amazing, and was a great treat!  It also came with two slices of the softest Italian bread I've ever eaten.  I saved it for the end and used it to sop up the leftover sauce.

Pasta Plus is a great idea for a fun catered event, and I really enjoyed stopping in for a quick, casual bite to eat.  Whenever I can't resist my pasta craving, I'm definitely heading up there again!