Bachelorette Week: The Morning After

I am ending Bachelorette Party Week with our morning after: waking up at the Moonrise Hotel in the Delmar Loop.



Moonrise Hotel

with rotating moon up on the rooftop



The Moonrise Hotel is famous for it's Rooftop Terrace Bar sitting on its 8th floor.  The rooftop terrace is entirely outdoors (so it is only open in the warm months), is super modern and has a gigantic moon rotating on the edge of it (one half painted dark and one half painted light).  From the bar you have a great view of the Arch downtown, and it is not too high up so you can still people watch along the Loop.  It is very trendy and fashion forward and I've never had a bad time up there.



Light-up stairs leading up to hotel area
"I'm in an Usher video!"

The hotel rooms in the Moonrise are very spacious and modern as well.  As I told Josie Hughes that day, I've never seen so much "Moon Art" before in my life... they really stay true to the moon theme when it comes to decorating.  On the first floor, the Moonrise Hotel also has a restaurant and bar called Eclipse.  Eclipse is staffed with top notch chefs (used to have Wes Johnson from SALT), including Josie Hughes' sister Beth, who also acts as a hostess there some nights.  It is always fun for a drink and was a great hangover breakfast spot for the morning after our bachelorette party!

Beth was in the kitchen that morning and had just told us that she made fresh biscuits.  I was craving something greasy so I immediately went to my favorite hangover breakfast go to... biscuits and gravy!  The rest of the girls had the same craving so we ordered up... "5 biscuits and gravy, please!"  The biscuits were different than the normal puffy and flaky biscuits you would expect, they were thinner and were really dense and doughy... perfect to sop up the delicious sausage gravy.  It definitely hit the spot and made me feel a lot better.  So good!

Biscuits and Gravy at Eclipse

Thanks for reading up on Jessie's awesome bachelorette party this week!  I hope we touched on some new restaurants and bars that you can try for a fun time!  Next week we'll bring you some more original recipes and some new restaurant reviews! 

Bye Bye, Bachelorette Party Week!

Remember, this week is Downtown St. Louis Restaurant Week and a bunch of downtown restaurants are having really great deals and fun 3-4 course menus!!!  Click Here for a list of the participating restaurants and their fun menus!  It ends this weekend!



Bachelorette Week: Jungle Juice

Continuing Bachelorette Party week...

Also on the party bus, I had a cooler full of jungle juice, yet nobody drank it because we had so many jello shots and beer.  However, Jungle Juice really takes me back to my college days and the turtle creek parties that the boys used to throw.  We would always drink the juice very cautiously because we knew that despite its pure Kool Aid taste, that thing was loaded!  Below is the recipe I used:

Ingredients:   
 
     Alcohol
          2 Liters (approx 1/2 gallon) of Everclear
     Mixers
          1 Gallon of Orange Juice (no pulp)
          4 Liters (approx. 1 gallon) of Sprite
          2 Quarts (1/2 gallon) of Cranberry Juice
          2 Quarts (1/2 gallon) of Ice Tea (sweet, preferably flavored)
          1 Gallon of red Hawaiian Punch or Kool Aid
     Fruit
          4 Oranges
          4 Apples
          2 Limes

Directions:    

     1. Pour all the Everclear into your cooler
     2. Add all the mixers and stir while adding them
     3. Perform a taste test and add more liquor or juice as desired
     4. Cut the fruit into bite sized pieces and add them into the mix
     5. Viola! You’ve got jungle juice!

Definitely not drinking water...

Bachelorette Week: Bar Hopping

Today's post features our Bachelorette Party bar hopping and the party bus that got us there.

After SALT we headed over to the Moonrise Hotel to grab our decorations (veil, beads, hottie whistles, etc.) and gear (Beer, Jello Shots, snacks) for the party bus to pick us up.  We rented a party bus from STL Road Pony (the "Colt" is the name of the type of bus) which pulled up with music blaring and lights flashing... it's definitely a bus you have to party in.  It picked us up and drove us around for an hour so we could enjoy beer, jello shots and dancing on the bus.  What really makes Road Pony buses stand out, is the fact that there are two "stripper" poles in the middle of the bus's walkway (great for holding your balance too when the bus is making sharp turns).  It just made dancing way more fun and added to the party.  Overall, great party bus choice!




inside view of our bus from their website

  FIRST STOP: Double D Lounge (Karaoke!)

We first stopped at Double D Lounge off Brentwood to enjoy some Karaoke.  Wash U and SLU kids must be back in town, because the place was wall to wall full of people!  The place was hopping, but luckily we found a spot right in the front near all of the singers and action.  The line for song requests was like 40 deep, so we had to bribe/harass our way onto stage so we could sing 2 songs before moving onto the next bar.  First song: Britney Spears "Hit Me Baby One More Time" (a classic).  Second song: Kelly Clarkson "Since You've Been Gone" (great for screaming).  Overall it was fun, but unusually crowded; however, I think it was just a fluke, because it is not usually that crowded.  Double D's is also known for their jello shots, so it can make for a fun evening.

SECOND STOP: Pepper Lounge (Dancing!)

Next stop is the Pepper Lounge downtown off Locust Street.  I have been in love with Pepper Lounge since I first went there the summer of 2008.  In Winston Salem for Law School I was always craving a good dancing club, but it seriously lacked there.  And in South Bend for College I pretty much spent every Friday night at the Backer for dancing and Tokyo Teas, so the Pepper Lounge brings back found memories of that (Except Pepper Lounge is like 20 times nicer!).  So of course we had to go to Pepper Lounge to dance the rest of the night away!  Unfortunately, this place was jammed packed too!  We could barely get in and we had to huddle in a tight circle and were constantly being bumped by people around us.  I swear... it is usually not that crowded!  We noticed Jessie was getting a bit sleepy so we took our party bus back to Moonrise Hotel and called it a night (and enjoyed some late night snacks on our very quiet right home).

Bachelorette Party: Dinner at SALT

Continuing on with Bachelorette Party week... this post focuses on our private dinner at SALT, in Central West End. 

Chef Wes Johnson (previously at The Shaved Duck and Eclipse) opened SALT this past May, and Jessie, the Viz girls and I had a chance to go opening week.  SALT has a very unique atmosphere and is in an old white mansion that used to be a funeral home.  After our May dinner, we got a private tour of the 2nd floor "Egyptian Room" and the private wine cellar in the basement.  Once I saw the wine cellar, I knew it would be the perfect setting for a bachelorette dinner to start the festivities of the bachelorette party night ("classy to trashy!" lol!).  That next weekend, I started emailing with Melody, SALT's event coordinator, and the rest is history!

Below is the custom made menu that I helped put together for the event:

Small Plates (Family Style):



Duck Fat Frites
with house made ketchup and garlic aioli



Mac n' Cheese



Scallop wrapped bacon

Pork and fennel meatballs in blackberry jam

Pear salad with smoked jowl, blueberries, mint in pork fat chili vinaigrette

Choice of Entrees:

Seared Trout (not pictured)

with potato, corn, pea hash, local greens, lemon vinaigrette

Pork Steak (not pictures)

with apple sauce risotto, guancale lardon

Overall, SALT's charm is in its small plates.  I suggest getting a bunch to share with the table.  Our top picks are their duck fat fries (unbelievable homemade dipping condiments!) and Chef Wes Johnson's trademark meatballs in blackberry jam.  We were also pleasantly surprised with the pear salad with the bits of smoke jowl (think pieces of chewy bacon).  And the chef made us our own version of Mac N' Cheese which was soooo good and has a wonderfully toasted bread crumb crust (unfortunately this is not a regular menu item, but it should be!).

Next on Bachelorette Party week... we go from CLASSY to TRASHY!!!  WOOT!!!

Bachelorette Party: Jello Shots

Welcome to Bachelorette Party Week on J + J Twins - Mangia Bene blog!!!

This past Saturday was Jessie's Bachelorette party and it was full of great drinks and food!

Today's post features the Jello Shot Syringes that Jessie and I made the night before.

RECIPE:

• 6 oz box of jello (either 1 big box, or 2 of the smaller boxes)
• 2 cups boiling water
• 2 cups cold vodka
• Jello shot cups or syringes

1. put Jello powder in large bowl
2. boil 2 cups of water.
3. Pour the boiling water into the bowl containing the Jello
4. Stir until all of the clumps of powder are dissolved
5. Let sit until cools down to room temperature
6. Pour 2 cups of chilled vodka and stir
7. Pour/suck up contents into Jello shot container
8. Keep Jello shots in fridge to solidify

It's that easy!  And using the Jello shot syringes make it really fun and easy to eat, especially on a party bus!

See pics below:

I over shopped on the Jello
we only used about 1/5 of this

4 flavors cooling in their bowls: Strawberry, Berry Blue, Grape and Orange

Sucking up the Strawberry into the syringe

166 jello shots cooling in the fridge