Speaker 1: Hello again and welcome to Arch Eats. I'm George Mahe.
Speaker 1: And across from me is, hi, it's Cheryl Bear. And
Speaker 1: today we're gonna talk about, well, we've got March Madness
Speaker 1: on the doorstep. So we thought we'd suggest some of
Speaker 1: our favorite sports bars in town. But also what items
Speaker 1: would be on our table if we were tasked to
Speaker 1: host a college basketball watch party or any sports watch party,
Speaker 1: they all are the same.
Speaker 1: Let's be honest here, maybe a master's party or a,
Speaker 1: you know, maybe an opening day party, a Derby Day party,
Speaker 1: all these are coming up and we have ideas. All
Speaker 1: these will work, I think for those just because party
Speaker 1: and we will end up as we always do with
Speaker 1: a rant. And this one is about menu pricing and
Speaker 1: a recent development that we are less than enthused about.
Speaker 2: This episode of Archie is presented by Explore Saint Louis.
Speaker 1: But first, as we always do, it's what we can't
Speaker 1: stop thinking about this week. Let's, let's talk about the
Speaker 1: basque cheesecake at Bar Moral. We, we've touched on that before, uh,
Speaker 1: basque cheesecake for those that don't know, it's cooked in
Speaker 1: a super hot oven.
Speaker 1: And, uh, consequently the top gets kind of caramelized and
Speaker 1: almost burned and the inside is almost, uh, it's really
Speaker 1: not quite cooked. It's kind of like a mousse inside
Speaker 1: and it's just, it's incredible in some places they call
Speaker 1: it burned. Busk cheesecake.
Speaker 1: But I think that's, I don't think that's fair because
Speaker 1: it's caramelized. It's burned in a sense that blackened fish
Speaker 1: is burned or burned in a sense that, uh, Neapolitan
Speaker 1: pizzas are burned. I don't think it's fair. Let's just
Speaker 1: say it's caramelized. It adds some flavor
Speaker 1: and it's, it's incredible because there, it's, it's a little
Speaker 1: crispy on the outside and the inside is like eating
Speaker 1: a cloud. It's just so magical. You've had that I have.
Speaker 1: It's lovely and I've actually had it, it, it seems
Speaker 1: to be like a very hot dessert right now. I
Speaker 1: would say like, if we were doing something on dessert trends,
Speaker 1: I would definitely put that on the list. Um, I've
Speaker 1: had it at bar Mro, I've actually had it right
Speaker 1: across the street as well at Bistro La Flore Song.
Speaker 1: So I didn't know they had it. Yeah,
Speaker 1: they do. And it's excellent there as well. You're right. It's,
Speaker 1: it's almost custard like, like creme brulee or something in
Speaker 1: the center. And, and what I like about it, this
Speaker 1: is maybe the best part. It was paired with a,
Speaker 1: a madea that said you've got to have this Madea
Speaker 1: and I go madea, I cook with, I make chicken madea,
Speaker 1: you know, is that a cooking wine? No, this is
Speaker 1: a 10 year old madea by Henrique and Henrique. I've
Speaker 1: never had it. It was the best dessert pairing I've
Speaker 1: had in a long time. This
Speaker 1: madea had the same kind of Carly notes that the
Speaker 1: cheesecake had, it, had some, you know, kind of nut and,
Speaker 1: and dried fruit. Back notes to it anyway,
Speaker 1: I had this a while ago and I'm still thinking
Speaker 1: about it. The basque cheesecake at bar moral. Don't forget
Speaker 1: the madeira. That sounds great. I'm such a huge dessert
Speaker 1: wine fan. Anyway, I'm usually a port drinker, but I
Speaker 1: will definitely try it with the madeira. It's in the
Speaker 1: port family. It's those oxidized wines that are so, you know,
Speaker 1: they don't go bad because they're oxidized. That's what I
Speaker 1: like about them.
Speaker 1: I'm going to cheat today and I'm going to have
Speaker 1: two things. I can't stop thinking about that are very different.
Speaker 1: And the one I will just mention very quickly, I
Speaker 1: finally got the chance to go out to root food
Speaker 1: and wine in Augusta and you have not been there,
Speaker 1: but you know about it, right. I know about it.
Speaker 1: We've written about it. Dave Lowry has been there and
Speaker 1: raved he loved it. He just loved it. Uh Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's out in Augusta. The chef there. Philip Day has been,
Speaker 1: I believe it was he nominated for his place, was nominated,
Speaker 1: the place the place is nominated for a Beard award
Speaker 1: this year. So, um I felt like I had to
Speaker 1: go check it out and it's absolutely delightful. Everything is
Speaker 1: well executed, but the service is just, and just the
Speaker 1: approach to everything. It's so earnest, you know, there is
Speaker 1: not some sort of air that they are, you know,
Speaker 1: putting on or looking down on you as a diner or,
Speaker 1: you know, anything. It is just this earnest, lovely, warm
Speaker 1: inviting place and it's rustic. I mean, it's 100 plus
Speaker 1: year old home.
Speaker 1: It's a house. It's not like you would miss it
Speaker 1: if you were driving by. So highly recommend that they
Speaker 1: had this mushroom dish. It was like a mushroom soup
Speaker 1: and I can't stop thinking about the flavor. It was
Speaker 1: just this intense distillation of smoked mushroom. So that was fantastic.
Speaker 1: But the other place I went to this week, I
Speaker 1: guess it was a decadent weekend. This is the one
Speaker 1: that has just blown my mind. Do you know of
Speaker 1: Sarah's cake shop? And this place is actually called Sarah's
Speaker 1: on Central, which is in downtown Eureka.
Speaker 1: You know, she makes great like cakes and desserts, but
Speaker 1: she has this darling little restaurant. It's so wonderful. I mean,
Speaker 1: great breakfast. Like they do a biscuit sandwich, but she
Speaker 1: makes the biscuits from scratch and she's a pastry chef.
Speaker 1: So they're perfect. But let me just tell you this
Speaker 1: cinnamon roll is the cinnamon roll to end all cinnamon rolls.
Speaker 1: I can't get over the sink. Them words, my friend. Oh, boy.
Speaker 1: I, I can't even, like, describe it to you. It's
Speaker 1: kind of one of those massive square shaped ones. It
Speaker 1: almost looks like a Zarro or whatever. I wouldn't call
Speaker 1: it a pyramid. But, um, you know, it's kind of
Speaker 1: like peaked at the top a little bit. They have
Speaker 1: a lot of white icing. Oh, my gosh.
Speaker 1: It's not cream cheese. It's that, you know, just very
Speaker 1: classic white icing and it soaks into every corner because
Speaker 1: that's always my big problem with it is I feel
Speaker 1: like you get pockets of like goo and sugar and cinnamon,
Speaker 1: but it's not distributed throughout this. You had it
Speaker 1: generously on every single bite. I love it. I will
Speaker 1: go eat more of them and I will probably be
Speaker 1: a good cinnamon roll and you can't beat the smell
Speaker 1: of a good cinnamon roll. That's, that's where it starts. Exactly.
Speaker 1: We'll be right back.
Speaker 2: Discover the vibrant culinary scene of our city in the
Speaker 2: flavor of Saint Louis. A 30 minute film produced by
Speaker 2: explore Saint Louis. Discover the innovative flavors and talented chefs
Speaker 2: that make Saint Louis a must visit destination for foodies,
Speaker 2: culinary mastermind such as Nick Bogner of Sado and Indo
Speaker 2: Michael and Tara Galina of Take root hospitality and Simone
Speaker 2: four of La Piso will share their stories and passion
Speaker 2: for food. Don't miss this mouth watering motion picture visit,
Speaker 2: explore Saint louis.com to watch the film and taste the
Speaker 2: flavors of Saint Louis today.
Speaker 1: And now back to the show. So we're going to
Speaker 1: go from cinnamon rolls to different sports bars in town.
Speaker 1: Uh We came up with a little list. You and I,
Speaker 1: and we're going to tag team this a little bit.
Speaker 1: You've got some favorites. I've got some favorites and let's
Speaker 1: just say
Speaker 1: we had to stop somewhere. We could, this is like
Speaker 1: the Lenten fish fry thing where there were 100 and
Speaker 1: 30 we got to draw a line somewhere. So we've got,
Speaker 1: I don't know, we've got a handful that we're gonna
Speaker 1: recommend for various reasons. Some of the ones on my list, I'm,
Speaker 1: I'm recommending because the food's so good. I don't know
Speaker 1: what your parameters are, but that's where I started. What,
Speaker 1: what do you got to start? Good food is definitely
Speaker 1: key but
Speaker 1: find good food to me. You know, if I'm soaking
Speaker 1: up a little too much amounts of beer, a little
Speaker 1: too much at the bar, then, uh, I guess maybe my, uh,
Speaker 1: definition of good food changes. I, I get it. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I've been there and, uh, it was a very difficult
Speaker 1: one for us to research. Let's just say that, you know,
Speaker 1: we had to go and, uh, go to places like
Speaker 1: one of my favorites.
Speaker 1: Should we just go ahead and jump in and get started? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 1: I was going to say, let's, let's get started because this,
Speaker 1: there's just too many and I'm, I'm, I'm excited about this.
Speaker 1: These are great places and you know, it's TV S
Speaker 1: and beer and good food. And you go first. This
Speaker 1: place is iconic. It's the Village bar out in De Pair,
Speaker 1: an absolute West County institution.
Speaker 1: Uh It has the character to it. It's the kind
Speaker 1: of place where you're watching your burger get cooked and
Speaker 1: your onion rings, which their onion rings are fantastic. And
Speaker 1: you're watching that all get dropped at the little station
Speaker 1: behind the bar. That to me, the mark of a
Speaker 1: great bar, the extension of the bar. That's, that's the
Speaker 1: quintessential
Speaker 1: sports bar joint. You've got the flat top right next
Speaker 1: to the bourbon. It, what more do you want? It's
Speaker 1: just great. So, I love the Village Bar for that reason.
Speaker 1: And I've got one at the Village Bar. This is
Speaker 1: the only place in town that I order mushrooms, fried
Speaker 1: mushrooms because they're like the onion rings. They hand
Speaker 1: them to order and they fry them to order and
Speaker 1: it's a whole lot different than any other mushroom. So
Speaker 1: they don't have that mushy. It's not like, you know,
Speaker 1: the ones you get in most other places come from
Speaker 1: other places. These are really noticeably better. I'm not a
Speaker 1: fried mushroom guy, except when I go there. Now I
Speaker 1: was talking to the manager out there the last time
Speaker 1: I was there
Speaker 1: and I said, you know, I, I tend to slip
Speaker 1: into the same crack. You know, I, I, I'll have
Speaker 1: myself a burger. I'll have some mushrooms and a beer.
Speaker 1: What would you suggest? And his suggestion, he didn't even hesitate.
Speaker 1: And I don't know if you've had this out there
Speaker 1: or not. They're pork tenderloin sandwich, which they fry and
Speaker 1: then they crisp up on that flat top. So they
Speaker 1: start
Speaker 1: and then he adds jack cheese and bacon and he
Speaker 1: just gives me that look like, thank me later. Yes.
Speaker 1: So anyway, that's on my list of things to do
Speaker 1: for the Village Bar. I thought you were going to
Speaker 1: say they're chili, which is also really good there. I mean, but,
Speaker 1: you know, you can't go wrong with chili. So Village
Speaker 1: Bars on my list. I love it. I do love
Speaker 1: the shuffle
Speaker 1: word out there. I love, you know, the old, I
Speaker 1: think we all know my love of the old Clydesdale
Speaker 1: chandelier at this point. It just has that feel to it. Well,
Speaker 1: and they've got that new room now. It's a whole
Speaker 1: lot bigger than it used to be. So it's, it's,
Speaker 1: it's bigger and brighter in that second room. So, what's on,
Speaker 1: what's on yours? Do you have one that you're particularly
Speaker 1: excited about? Let's see, I think, let's see. I'm going
Speaker 1: to start with one of the newer places. It's the
Speaker 1: pitch athletic club in Tavern, downtown corner to City Park.
Speaker 1: It's this giant uh sports bar. And soccer bar. And, uh, it's,
Speaker 1: it's really hard to describe. It's like a, it's like
Speaker 1: a very well maintained Irish pub. Uh, but it's new,
Speaker 1: but all their wood in there is distressed. You know,
Speaker 1: it came in distress. So it looks old, looks weathered
Speaker 1: and that's all by design. And there's, you know, there's
Speaker 1: green wood, uh, uh, green painted wood and there's some,
Speaker 1: some, some beautiful, uh, tile white, uh, subway tile above.
Speaker 1: It's got this, this classic lines and classic look. But
Speaker 1: the coolest thing about the place is around the perimeter,
Speaker 1: they've got little seating groups
Speaker 1: and the seating groups are leather couches, leather chairs, nice
Speaker 1: carpet below. And you've got a customer control TV for
Speaker 1: you just for you. And it's, you know, groupings of
Speaker 1: 46 and eight and it's, it's just really cool and it's, it's,
Speaker 1: you know, your own little private party there, there is
Speaker 1: one area behind, directly behind the host to stand. They've
Speaker 1: got this massive walnut back bar. It's the Tony Faust
Speaker 1: restaurant back bar from back in the day. And it
Speaker 1: is
Speaker 1: ornate and it's beautiful and right where all the liquor
Speaker 1: bottles were stored, they've cut it out and they put TV.
Speaker 1: S in there. Again, customer control TV. S again, these
Speaker 1: are reserve areas. Takes it to a whole different level.
Speaker 1: I mean, that sounds like a fancy sports bar. It's
Speaker 1: not a, it's not a dive sports bar. And I
Speaker 1: think we talked about this, this the other day, the, uh,
Speaker 1: they've got a frozen Irish coffee that's just, it's just
Speaker 1: really good made with real, it's made with soft serve
Speaker 1: ice cream and
Speaker 1: it is, and they're not telling you what's in it,
Speaker 1: but it's really, really good. That sounds like if we
Speaker 1: were compiling like the best frozen drinks in town, I
Speaker 1: think that has to be high on that list there.
Speaker 1: It's right there. So that's from the LHM Guys,
Speaker 1: you know, their other sports bar which is really kind
Speaker 1: of the opposite end of the spectrum is out in,
Speaker 1: in Westport, Westport social. I mean, it's this massive, this
Speaker 1: place is really huge. It's like 13 or 15,000 square
Speaker 1: feet and they've got every game that you can ever
Speaker 1: want to play and it's, I don't know if you've
Speaker 1: seen it but it's, it's uh they could have probably
Speaker 1: put twice as many seats
Speaker 1: in there, but it's this kind of generously seated place.
Speaker 1: So everybody's not crammed in there. They do a really
Speaker 1: good job with food out there. They've got a smash
Speaker 1: burger that's killer. They do some wings that are brined
Speaker 1: smoked and then flash fried. Those are my three favorite
Speaker 1: things to do to wings and it's just, it's just
Speaker 1: AAA superlative experience.
Speaker 1: Mathis did all the cocktails out there before he joined
Speaker 1: up with Tim Wiggins and did the bangers only. Those are,
Speaker 1: these guys are like the 22 cool cocktail dudes in town,
Speaker 1: you're gonna get a good drink, you're gonna get a
Speaker 1: good drink in there. That's what it means. So, anyway, that's,
Speaker 1: that's Westport social. Staying out in West County, the corner
Speaker 1: pub and grill. There's several of those out there. One
Speaker 1: reason I like that place
Speaker 1: is it appeals to families and there's a gluten-free menu
Speaker 1: on there and not just a couple of gluten free items.
Speaker 1: They've got the biggest, I think gluten free menu in
Speaker 1: town that the owner's daughter is a celiac has celiac
Speaker 1: disease and thought it was important to do that part
Speaker 1: of it, right? And it's
Speaker 1: that menu is called Hannah's at Corner Pub after Hannah.
Speaker 1: That's sweet. So that's very sweet. But what I, what
Speaker 1: I like about this place is they've been doing this
Speaker 1: a while and I was talking to the owner and
Speaker 1: he said, oh, you're doing, you know, something on March Madness.
Speaker 1: Let me give you some March madness, etiquette.
Speaker 1: Oh, there's etiquette for Mark. Well, I didn't know there
Speaker 1: was until I talked to him. So he says, he says,
Speaker 1: you know, cheer on your team, you know, go crazy.
Speaker 1: We want you to get there early and have a
Speaker 1: good time. The first weekend is the craziest, which I
Speaker 1: didn't realize all those games were going on.
Speaker 1: You know, there's how many games the first night they're,
Speaker 1: they're everywhere. And he said, what happens is everybody wants
Speaker 1: to watch their game and they have to kind of,
Speaker 1: you know, be the traffic cop here. So, if you,
Speaker 1: here's the rules, if you want to watch the game,
Speaker 1: you want to watch, get there early because the first
Speaker 1: guy gets to control the remote. So don't come in
Speaker 1: in the middle. Yeah. Yeah. Don't come in in the
Speaker 1: middle of the game
Speaker 1: and say, I'd like to watch this because somebody has
Speaker 1: already come in and said they want to watch that. Well, that's,
Speaker 1: I mean, it's only fair. That might be a rant
Speaker 1: for a later episode. But the TV, changing in the
Speaker 1: middle of, of games. That's a, that's a pet peeve. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I just think that's, uh, it just makes sense. So,
Speaker 1: uh again, at Corner Pub, the Sleeper Dish, Mahi mahi
Speaker 1: tacos
Speaker 1: really good. Again, you think, let's have a burger, let's
Speaker 1: have some fries. Let's have some, no, no, go with
Speaker 1: the mahi mahi tacos. So there you go. Another similar
Speaker 1: place like that out in West County is Three Kings Pub.
Speaker 1: There's several of those around. The one in the loop
Speaker 1: is getting rebuilt and that's gonna be opening, I think
Speaker 1: in a couple of months. What I like about that
Speaker 1: is kind of the same thing. It's upper level. It's
Speaker 1: Gastropub fair. It's just a step above. They do everything
Speaker 1: in house, homemade, which I appreciate most. A lot of
Speaker 1: bar and grills don't, they don't have to.
Speaker 1: So these guys have taken it up a level and, um,
Speaker 1: the the, the hot item there, the sleeper item, there's
Speaker 1: a muffaletta. Would you ever order a muffaletta at a
Speaker 1: sports bar? No, probably not. You should at Three Kings Pub. Oh, wow,
Speaker 1: that sounds great. Well, I'm going to go a little
Speaker 1: bit further west as well, but this time I'm going
Speaker 1: to go west of the Missouri River. There is a
Speaker 1: little place out in the Cottle area called J P's Hideout.
Speaker 1: I guess I shouldn't call it a little place. It's,
Speaker 1: it's not, it's not divey at all. In fact, the
Speaker 1: name does make it seem like maybe it's some like
Speaker 1: little dark dive bar and it's not kind of like
Speaker 1: what you were saying. It has this gastropub type fare.
Speaker 1: They have everything from these really great Sicilian meatballs as
Speaker 1: an appetizer. They do a fantastic Monte Cristo sandwich, their burgers,
Speaker 1: great. They do smoked meats. Uh They usually do a
Speaker 1: brisket and I feel like they've done ribs and stuff
Speaker 1: in the past. It kind of just depends on the
Speaker 1: day out there, but I just love it. They have
Speaker 1: plenty of tvs that dark wood bar. Just a festive atmosphere.
Speaker 1: They have a cute little outdoor covered patio with a
Speaker 1: television
Speaker 1: vision. You were talking about corner pub. I also like
Speaker 1: that about them where when you can sit on the
Speaker 1: patio but you still have TV. Si love that. That,
Speaker 1: that's so important on a nice day. There's nothing better, right?
Speaker 1: The corner pub has that and JP does too. They do. Exactly.
Speaker 1: So that is definitely, if you're in the Saint Charles area,
Speaker 1: that is my pick for, uh, places out there for sure.
Speaker 1: You were talking about Westport Social. And, uh, the pitch,
Speaker 1: the other place on my list is the armory. I mean,
Speaker 1: the armory is just this sprawling.
Speaker 1: It is the biggest sports bar in town. I want
Speaker 1: to say it's 250,000 square feet, which is head and
Speaker 1: shoulders above anything else. That's just staggeringly huge. They have
Speaker 1: six bars, they have good food, they have those massive TV. S.
Speaker 1: Do you know who has the biggest TV in town?
Speaker 1: The armory get out. I was going to say maybe
Speaker 1: the district, but you're right. I think the Armory is bigger. That's,
Speaker 1: that's what I've been told. The biggest in town and
Speaker 1: the second biggest is at ballpark Village, which is on
Speaker 1: my list. It can hardly not be. I mean, you
Speaker 1: have to put that on your list like these major
Speaker 1: complexes like that. I mean, it's, it's a complex,
Speaker 1: it's, it's like a bullpen in there with, with everybody watching.
Speaker 1: But what's interesting is that TV, they have increased the
Speaker 1: size of the TV. So there are so many screens
Speaker 1: in a row now that I'm told you can watch
Speaker 1: every March Madness game. Everyone that's played at the same time. They,
Speaker 1: you know, the first weekend they're playing them all at
Speaker 1: the same time. Well, you can watch them all at
Speaker 1: the same time
Speaker 1: at ballpark Village. Wow, that sounds like a good time.
Speaker 1: You know, everybody goes there, they think about it. Yeah,
Speaker 1: we'll go there before and after the Cardinal game. But
Speaker 1: they also televised the, the UFC fights for free, which
Speaker 1: I didn't know that a lot of bars will charge
Speaker 1: you for that. I'm not a big fight fan but
Speaker 1: I thought there's a lot of people that are. So
Speaker 1: that's kind of interesting, the, the, the Blues Battle Hawks
Speaker 1: and city games,
Speaker 1: you know, there are free shuttles. That's another thing that
Speaker 1: a lot of people don't know about park there. You
Speaker 1: can usually park there for free if you have a
Speaker 1: beer and get your, you get validated, you know, have
Speaker 1: a beer, have a burger, do whatever you want to
Speaker 1: do and then you can take a free shuttle to
Speaker 1: any of these things. The shuttles are here, parking can
Speaker 1: be as, you know, a pain downtown and very expensive.
Speaker 1: So don't forget about that if you're a ballpark village
Speaker 1: and then there's, there's sports and social which is part
Speaker 1: of ballpark village, but it's kind of,
Speaker 1: I want, it's kind of a respite. It's not as
Speaker 1: wild and crazy. It's not this kind of scrum which,
Speaker 1: which is fun, but if you want something a little quieter,
Speaker 1: a little more sedate sports and social is the place
Speaker 1: for you. It's, it's in that same complex and overlooked
Speaker 1: by a lot of people because they, they just, they're
Speaker 1: just not in that zone. Exactly. No, that is, that's
Speaker 1: a definite place to put on the list to watch games,
Speaker 1: for sure. I'm going to head the opposite side of
Speaker 1: the stadium here. I'm going to go to SARD because
Speaker 1: have you,
Speaker 1: have you been to Duke's Sports Bar yet? I have
Speaker 1: not been to Duke's Sports Bar. You talk about our
Speaker 1: good time. Duke's is just the place to go. It's
Speaker 1: kind of if you could combine the embodiment of a
Speaker 1: sports bar with this perfect caricature of a soulard bar.
Speaker 1: So it's a sports bar, but it's got great Cajun
Speaker 1: food and they have dance parties and they have, you know,
Speaker 1: 30 plus t
Speaker 1: they have three bars. They have two levels. They have
Speaker 1: a patio. It is this festive atmosphere. You're going to
Speaker 1: have a good time there and they do um like
Speaker 1: I said, their Cajun food is really good. They do
Speaker 1: this um their house specialty is called the voodoo soup.
Speaker 1: It's um oh my gosh, just think this like glorious
Speaker 1: spicy Cajun Cauldron. I would say, yeah, I would say
Speaker 1: I like spicy Cajun Cobble. That's what we should call it.
Speaker 1: Maybe closer to Halloween or what have you. But they
Speaker 1: apparently um
Speaker 1: either they run out or I don't know if they
Speaker 1: offer it all the time, but it goes pretty quickly.
Speaker 1: So put that on your list. That's the place to
Speaker 1: be in Suard. There's a place that I, I know
Speaker 1: was kind of on both our lists because it should be.
Speaker 1: And it's Lesters out in. We do. Yes, there are
Speaker 1: tons and tons of TV. S no matter where you
Speaker 1: are in that restaurant, you see, you know, they, they
Speaker 1: position those TV. S
Speaker 1: very, very well. Again, that's a sports bar where the
Speaker 1: food is very good. You've got a few favorites there. Well,
Speaker 1: the TV s are great. The bar is great. That
Speaker 1: corned beef there. Their Reuben, I love it. I love
Speaker 1: their Reuben so much. It is piled so high. Did
Speaker 1: you get the big one? Oh, I do. I do.
Speaker 1: I don't eat the whole thing, but I just like
Speaker 1: the spectacle of ordering the big one. So you have
Speaker 1: to do it.
Speaker 1: I would argue that probably the biggest sporting event going
Speaker 1: on at Lester's is watching people try and tackle you
Speaker 1: negotiate the sandwich. It's like an Olympic feat. If you
Speaker 1: can take down the whole thing without injuring yourself. They
Speaker 1: have great matzo ball soup there. Have you ever had
Speaker 1: their matzo ball soup? I've not had that, but I've
Speaker 1: had the chicken noodle and that is really good. Their
Speaker 1: soups in general are soothe your soul.
Speaker 1: So somebody's Jewish grandmother is making that soup as we speak.
Speaker 1: What do you love the other? There's a, there's a sandwich.
Speaker 1: They have that again. Everybody's eating burgers and fries and things.
Speaker 1: But there's a rye club. You don't see clubs put
Speaker 1: on rye bread very often. Three kinds of meat, two
Speaker 1: kinds of cheese and it's on grilled rye with ranch dressing.
Speaker 1: It's not a triple decker. It's just a nice compact sandwich,
Speaker 1: but it's the only place that I know that has
Speaker 1: a club sandwich on rye bread and it's darn good. Oh,
Speaker 1: that does sound especially with the ranch because I'm sure
Speaker 1: they make their homemade ranch. I bet it's really delicious.
Speaker 1: One place that and, and you and I have kind
Speaker 1: of gone back and forth about this. What constitutes a
Speaker 1: sports bar?
Speaker 1: You know, I would argue that sportsman's park, whereas not
Speaker 1: a sports bar in the sense where you're going to
Speaker 1: be inundated with massive screens, you might have to crane
Speaker 1: your neck to actually like get a view of uh
Speaker 1: the television. But there's just something about the feel of
Speaker 1: this as a neighborhood gathering spot that you just, when
Speaker 1: there's something going on, you wanna gather with your friends.
Speaker 1: I love it. It's an institution. And
Speaker 1: the reason I put it on the list is there
Speaker 1: is a legend that they are the first place to
Speaker 1: ever offer buffalo chicken wings in ST Louis. I heard
Speaker 1: that that's right after I wrote that cul peppers was
Speaker 1: the first place and then they said, I don't think so.
Speaker 1: It might have happened out there in Leo. And I
Speaker 1: don't know if Jackie Smith owned it at the time,
Speaker 1: the Jackie's place at the time,
Speaker 1: the legendary Cardinal, uh, Jackie Smith owned it. So, yeah,
Speaker 1: that's something you can discuss while you're out there. But
Speaker 1: don't expect 95 inch screens because you won't see them there.
Speaker 1: But it's the food's good. It's a legendary mid county
Speaker 1: watering hole. Yeah, I guess we'll call it Mid county.
Speaker 1: So there's a couple more, I think that, uh, we
Speaker 1: shouldn't forget about. They're almost so obvious that they should
Speaker 1: have been at the top of the list. Ob Clark's
Speaker 1: in Brentwood, that place is busy all the time and justifiably. So, again,
Speaker 1: you know, uh, you talk about what constitutes a sports
Speaker 1: bar to me. You know, there's, there's a lot of things,
Speaker 1: you know, it's service, it's, it's a good beer, it's
Speaker 1: cold beer and, and it, at places like, uh, Ob Clark's,
Speaker 1: you know, the food is really good and they, they'll
Speaker 1: turn the volume up. Right.
Speaker 1: That's very important to some people to hear the game and,
Speaker 1: and some people say it's not a sports bar unless
Speaker 1: they've got the volume turned up. So, I think that's,
Speaker 1: that's important there. The other one again, so obvious that we,
Speaker 1: we dare not forget it is the Post, the Post
Speaker 1: Bar and Grill and in that place, uh, there, there's
Speaker 1: three of them, I think.
Speaker 1: And, uh, again, they just, they've been there for, gosh,
Speaker 1: I think 15 years doing, doing a really good job. Uh,
Speaker 1: I love the fact that they've got a progressive happy hour.
Speaker 1: Did you know about that? No, tell me about a
Speaker 1: progressive happy hour. What is this? So, from 2 to
Speaker 1: 6 they discount, uh, beers. So, from 2 to 3,
Speaker 1: I think they're a dollar 50
Speaker 1: and then they ratchet up and from 5 to 6,
Speaker 1: I think they're $3 surge pricing. Didn't Wendy's just get
Speaker 1: in trouble for that? So, but you can do that
Speaker 1: at uh at the Post. You know, if you want
Speaker 1: to have beers in the afternoon, they're really cheap between
Speaker 1: two and 30, wow, that's, that's good. So that is good.
Speaker 1: Intel. The Sleeper item there is the French onion cheesesteak sandwich.
Speaker 1: Their cheesesteaks are great and this one has uh has,
Speaker 1: has rib eye and it's got American cheese and it
Speaker 1: has brie. It has balsamic onion jam and horseradish. Wait
Speaker 1: a second. There's brie on a cheesesteak.
Speaker 1: I know, I know it's, it's a sin but it's
Speaker 1: a good sin. We will forgive them for their sins.
Speaker 1: So that's at the post. That's a dish that's not
Speaker 1: super popular, but should be. So the Post ob Clark's,
Speaker 1: you know, where we should mention is top golf downtown.
Speaker 1: A lot of people haven't been there yet, but they've
Speaker 1: got a two story bar and you sit up on
Speaker 1: the top level and kind of look down to the TV.
Speaker 1: S
Speaker 1: the other place I like is the field house for
Speaker 1: a lot of Billikens fans. It's their, you know, it's
Speaker 1: their home bar, but it's also a venue to consider
Speaker 1: when you're attending an event at Grand Center because there
Speaker 1: aren't a lot of places down there to eat and
Speaker 1: you can go there before or after and get some,
Speaker 1: some pretty decent bar food at the
Speaker 1: house. I had a great beer cheese soup there one time.
Speaker 1: I was down for that music in the Intersection Festival.
Speaker 1: And you're right, you're kind of searching a lot of
Speaker 1: times in midtown or that part of like Grand Center,
Speaker 1: I would say for places. And they were fantastic. I,
Speaker 1: I really enjoyed that.
Speaker 1: Um, one place that we have to mention that is
Speaker 1: out in my neck of the woods and you just
Speaker 1: went there recently is Mulligan Grill out in, is that Ellisville?
Speaker 1: I believe that's Ellisville. I think it's Ellisville there.
Speaker 1: That is just this, it's a massive gathering place. I
Speaker 1: couldn't believe. Apparently it's busy all the time. And when
Speaker 1: we were there, they said, oh, you just missed the
Speaker 1: hour long wait, which was, which was great. And this
Speaker 1: was during the week. It was insane. How many people
Speaker 1: were there?
Speaker 1: Massive, huge glasses of wine. I've never seen such. It's
Speaker 1: a two handed, you know, when you pick up the glass,
Speaker 1: it's like a two hander. I've never seen that. That's
Speaker 1: probably why there's so many people going there and there was, yes,
Speaker 1: there's a lot of beers getting consumed and a lot
Speaker 1: of wine and, you know, the wines we had were decent.
Speaker 1: So I was immediately impressed with that. But what was
Speaker 1: most interesting is their chicken wings
Speaker 1: and they do this on purpose and it's somewhat controversial.
Speaker 1: They're smaller wings than most and, and, you know, they, they,
Speaker 1: some people love them and some people say, I don't
Speaker 1: think so. Uh, they serve them nine count, 18 and
Speaker 1: 27 count. I got a nine count and they were small.
Speaker 1: And if I had to do it again, I would
Speaker 1: have gotten 18
Speaker 1: because they were that good. And that small and one
Speaker 1: of the comments I read was, they are hilariously small.
Speaker 1: And so I ordered some hilariously small wings when I
Speaker 1: got there and they were really good. I didn't think
Speaker 1: I'd like them but they were, they were quite tasty.
Speaker 1: There was, you know, there's really, there's less meat on
Speaker 1: a small wing. So you've got a higher percentage of sauce,
Speaker 1: which was just fine with me. And, you know, I
Speaker 1: like the little flatties. That's kind of what I like.
Speaker 1: And they were just kind of,
Speaker 1: you know, dainty and they were just, I guess I
Speaker 1: haven't had a small wing in a while. I was
Speaker 1: gonna poo poo it till I had it. And, um,
Speaker 1: you know, even the drummies were, you know, I'm not
Speaker 1: a drummy person but these drummies, you're a drummy person.
Speaker 1: I'm not, I think you and I share this, that
Speaker 1: we are both
Speaker 1: flats, like we prefer the flats. And the reason why
Speaker 1: I typically go for the flat over the drummy is,
Speaker 1: you know, you kind of like crack it open and
Speaker 1: you get that really succulent piece of meat right in there.
Speaker 1: But the problem with the drummies is especially when you
Speaker 1: get them on these larger ones is, um,
Speaker 1: it looks like it's going to be a lot of meat,
Speaker 1: but it's actually very chewy. You don't get a lot
Speaker 1: of meat and you're saying it was not the case. No, these,
Speaker 1: these smaller drummies is the way that people like me
Speaker 1: want to eat drummies. They were really good. It was,
Speaker 1: they were cooked through and it was all meat and
Speaker 1: no cartilage,
Speaker 1: any of this other stuff. And again, the, the sauce
Speaker 1: to meat ratio was delicious. Anyway, I get the small
Speaker 1: wings thing and I didn't think I was going to
Speaker 1: be that guy. Oh, no, the bigger, the better give
Speaker 1: me those big wings. No, the small ones are good.
Speaker 1: Just get twice as, just get, just get twice as
Speaker 1: many as you think. That's Mulligan's grill out in Ellisville.
Speaker 1: Nice job. And thank you for that wine pour. Well,
Speaker 1: that's great. Well, you and I spend a lot of
Speaker 1: time talking about where we would go if we were
Speaker 1: going to be out and about. But I think we
Speaker 1: talked about this in the past that
Speaker 1: we both love to just spend time in our own
Speaker 1: homes and we like to entertain or maybe we just
Speaker 1: don't even feel like going anywhere. There's always a fun
Speaker 1: way to bring a festive atmosphere into your own house.
Speaker 1: If you're watching the game, let's face it. A lot
Speaker 1: of people don't like sports bars. There's just too rowdy,
Speaker 1: too crazy, too insane. I get it. So we entertain
Speaker 1: at home. You've got a few ideas. You're an entertainer.
Speaker 1: That's what we thought it would be fun to, you know,
Speaker 1: kind of put together a little,
Speaker 1: a little peek into like what our dream table would
Speaker 1: be like if we were putting out like our spread
Speaker 1: of the things that we wanted to for uh watching
Speaker 1: the game. I can't wait. What's on your table? Oh, gosh. Well,
Speaker 1: I am going to start with
Speaker 1: Bauman's wings. Have, have you been to Bauman's out in? Uh,
Speaker 1: not only have I been to Bauman's, I brought Bauman's
Speaker 1: wings to a Super Bowl party and you know what?
Speaker 1: They were the first things gone and everybody said, what
Speaker 1: is that wing? And I, I should have brought more.
Speaker 1: But I didn't. These smoked wings are legendary. Bauman's
Speaker 1: with their wings is a, one of those, if you know,
Speaker 1: you know, places they are just so tender and you
Speaker 1: said there's a secret. That's the, that's what I found out. It's,
Speaker 1: it's the seasoning that they put on. It's a dry
Speaker 1: rub it's ac, they're chicken and pork rub, which they
Speaker 1: sell in tubs and I have tubs of it in
Speaker 1: my pantry right now. It's really, really good and that's
Speaker 1: what makes it better.
Speaker 1: There's a, there's a lot of brown sugar in there
Speaker 1: and some other spices anyway. It is a really, it's
Speaker 1: a little bit darker than most because of the sugar
Speaker 1: in there. But, oh, my gosh, it is a great wing.
Speaker 1: They have them all the time. Uh, Bauman's got a
Speaker 1: couple of new young owners out there in Brentwood. Yeah, I'm,
Speaker 1: I'm with you on the Bauman's wing. So far. So good.
Speaker 1: They're an institution for sure.
Speaker 1: I am going to, I know another one you're going
Speaker 1: to be with me. We've talked about them before is, uh,
Speaker 1: the smoked shrimp from Annie Guns. I will take any
Speaker 1: reason to have smoked shrimp on my table. They're just
Speaker 1: such a gem. We, we are huge fans of that
Speaker 1: because they're huge shrimp too. They're the biggest shrimp in
Speaker 1: town that you can find that are smoked. I've tried
Speaker 1: to do it at home. I can't do it. You
Speaker 1: just buy them from Annie's. Exactly. You know, you're guaranteed
Speaker 1: a good thing. The other thing that's on my list
Speaker 1: is the, um, like a party size, like one of
Speaker 1: those gigantic, several foot long sandwiches from mom's deli.
Speaker 1: I'm getting the mom special, which is basically their club sandwich.
Speaker 1: It's what? Turkey roast beef and ham. The key though
Speaker 1: is you have to get extra sauce. Their 1000 island sauce.
Speaker 1: It's homemade.
Speaker 1: It's the best 1000 Island out there. And it's so
Speaker 1: wonderful and I always get so much of this dressing
Speaker 1: on there that it's embarrassing. But whatever, that's a good,
Speaker 1: that's a good call because there are other big sandwiches
Speaker 1: in town. Other places that sell them. I didn't know
Speaker 1: about moms. It's the dressing that, that's what's key on it.
Speaker 1: Thanks mom. Yes, exactly. Um,
Speaker 1: also on there, Nikki slices pizza. It's one of those. Uh,
Speaker 1: you know, he, he's on Instagram. You order from there.
Speaker 1: It's kind of a take and bake pizza. He always
Speaker 1: has these fanta, he'll do anything from like, you know,
Speaker 1: a really fiery pepperoni and sausage to right now. I
Speaker 1: think he's doing kind of a barbecue, inflected one.
Speaker 1: You have to order these in advance and it's kind
Speaker 1: of like he calls it a pizza club. It's a
Speaker 1: boutique pizza. So you have to follow him on Instagram.
Speaker 1: You have to, you know, kind of go that route there.
Speaker 1: He releases new specials once a week. Um That's a
Speaker 1: fun spot. But if you don't want to actually put
Speaker 1: that much leg work and you want to get a good,
Speaker 1: just
Speaker 1: a frozen pizza you can grab at the store. I
Speaker 1: love as far as local goes. I love Katie's black
Speaker 1: garlic pizza. Had it. It's delicious. Oh, my gosh. That
Speaker 1: black garlic is like candy on there. So good big
Speaker 1: black splotches. And you go what? It's like, I'm not
Speaker 1: sure about that. And then you take a slice and
Speaker 1: you said I'll have another one, please. This is just fantastic.
Speaker 1: So those are definitely on my list. Um
Speaker 1: I'm going to get a pan of salt and smokes,
Speaker 1: mac and cheese. You know, because why not, why do
Speaker 1: it just for a sporting event? Maybe I've had a
Speaker 1: bad day. I'm going to get a pan of a cork.
Speaker 1: You get a, you get a pan of addiction in.
Speaker 1: Speaking of you're also going to get a
Speaker 1: gallon of frozen margaritas from Taco buna, you know, 12,
Speaker 1: you know, it comes in a milk jug so it's
Speaker 1: so great. So we're going to get that and those are,
Speaker 1: those are hefty margaritas. So those are margaritas like you'd
Speaker 1: make at home. But no, they make them for you. Oh,
Speaker 1: they make them for you and it's fantastic. Um
Speaker 1: If it's Sunday, if the games happen to be on Sunday,
Speaker 1: I am getting the beef ribs from stellar hog. Those
Speaker 1: to me are probably the last thing I want to
Speaker 1: taste before I, I meet my maker. They are my
Speaker 1: favorite food in town.
Speaker 1: Um but I will be happy with their brisket if
Speaker 1: it's not a Sunday and uh I'll be happy with
Speaker 1: beast brisket as well. I always love, you know, I'm
Speaker 1: a huge brisket fan. Salt and smoke. Beast. Stellar hog.
Speaker 1: Those are my, but those beef ribs, they're like, they're
Speaker 1: like Fred Flintstone size ribs so good. And
Speaker 1: you have to know how to cook a beef rib.
Speaker 1: You know, if you're going to do them right. And there's,
Speaker 1: I'm telling you, you could butter a biscuit with these
Speaker 1: beef ribs. They're just extraordinary. I've got a couple more
Speaker 1: things on there. I've got two more is filling up,
Speaker 1: it is filling up. We're very indulgent. I've got crab
Speaker 1: Rangoon from some tea house. This is a little boba
Speaker 1: tea shop in University City. But they make the best
Speaker 1: crab Rangoon. What makes them different?
Speaker 1: I don't, never had them. Well, they do, they put
Speaker 1: crab in them. They, uh, I don't, people don't, they
Speaker 1: don't put crab in there. It's just basically sweet cream
Speaker 1: cheese wrapped up. But I don't know, there's something about,
Speaker 1: they just get this ratio of like sweetness and savory
Speaker 1: just right. So, I love those. And then last on
Speaker 1: my list, I love La Grands for their brats. I
Speaker 1: know there are a lot of great brat places in town.
Speaker 1: But Lagrande Classic brats are my go to. Yeah, I've
Speaker 1: never had them from there. Oh, they're wonderful. A little,
Speaker 1: maybe a little on the sweeter side. I'm not typically
Speaker 1: a brat person but La Grands is where I'll go
Speaker 1: for them. You got me thinking about wings when you
Speaker 1: started talking about bans. And, um, the other one that
Speaker 1: I like and I'm not a big breaded wing guy.
Speaker 1: But the ones at Three Kings Pub have won
Speaker 1: many, many wing thing. They're great. And if you're gonna
Speaker 1: get a breaded wing, that's the one you want to get.
Speaker 1: And recently they started with a, a marinated smoked rib
Speaker 1: and the marinade is called Panca and pink is a
Speaker 1: Peruvian smoky fruity pepper. Oh, that, it's a sweet pepper, uh,
Speaker 1: that they marinate it in. So they, they do their
Speaker 1: smoking thing and then they serve it with a sweet
Speaker 1: chili habanero sauce. So you get this little kick at
Speaker 1: the end. So it's got a lot of different pepper
Speaker 1: to it. And they're really
Speaker 1: good too. I think a relatively new item out at
Speaker 1: Three Kings Pub. I just put together a couple of, like,
Speaker 1: here's my favorite things and some, you make yourself right.
Speaker 1: Most of you make yourself some I do. But, but,
Speaker 1: but some, I don't. Um, one of my favorite things
Speaker 1: that I think this was on, on your list too
Speaker 1: is the little pretzel bites from pretzel boys. I love those.
Speaker 1: And they are, the pretzel bites are good but the
Speaker 1: little pups, you know, the little smokies that they wrap
Speaker 1: in pretzels. They just, it's just like the best thing ever.
Speaker 1: You bring those to a party. Those are the first
Speaker 1: thing to go. Uh, the best fish dip in town
Speaker 1: I think is the, for me is the white fish
Speaker 1: dip from the Annex Frisco. It's just really good. The
Speaker 1: smoked trout spread from stars is really good too. I
Speaker 1: love those smoked fish spreads. I'm with you on best
Speaker 1: cheese dip. There is a brie gorgonzola tort
Speaker 1: that Strobs makes. Have you ever had that? No, but
Speaker 1: that sounds fantastic. Unbelievable. A really good, that's always one
Speaker 1: of the first things to go pick up their chicken
Speaker 1: salad while you're there. Pick up a quart of chicken
Speaker 1: salad and they've got plenty of it there. You don't
Speaker 1: even have to ask. It's ready for the taking the
Speaker 1: best uncooked dip.
Speaker 1: This is one I do make. It's called the Neiman marcus'
Speaker 1: Million dollar dip. Have you ever had this shredded, shredded cheddar, almonds,
Speaker 1: green onion and bacon. And it's just like the perfect
Speaker 1: dip ingredients. And you'll just sit there with a crack
Speaker 1: with crackers and just go at it. I mean, dip
Speaker 1: to me, it gets no better than that.
Speaker 1: So those, those are the ones that I kind of
Speaker 1: will buy. But, you know, I was thinking about this
Speaker 1: and it's so easy to make some things too. I
Speaker 1: would make buffalo chicken meatballs, you know, using ground chicken,
Speaker 1: doing it a buffalo style and then you dunk those in,
Speaker 1: in blue cheese or ranch.
Speaker 1: You can do buffalo chicken in crescent rolls, rolling a
Speaker 1: little bit of that into a crescent roll and it's
Speaker 1: just delicious. Um, maybe like a buffalo chicken crab Rangoon
Speaker 1: like buffalo chicken dip in a crab. Rangoon. We're thinking
Speaker 1: the same thing. You just get a wonton wrapper and
Speaker 1: you can put anything in there you want. Uh Remember
Speaker 1: we talked about Steve Gru's shrimp burger. I do during
Speaker 1: our Linton piece. And that got me to thinking about
Speaker 1: shrimp meatballs. You could do the same thing and make
Speaker 1: little meatballs out of shrimp.
Speaker 1: And the reason I'm thinking about that is they are
Speaker 1: on the menu at this place called Rouge Bistro, which
Speaker 1: just opened and it's their surprisingly big seller. Shrimp meatballs.
Speaker 1: It's like, OK, it's a meatball house,
Speaker 1: you know, meat, meatballs and beef veal and all these
Speaker 1: other kinds. And, but this is a shrimp meatball anyway.
Speaker 1: So that's something you can easily make at home. One
Speaker 1: of my favorite items though, in a home setting is
Speaker 1: tempura cauliflower bites. But the thing about tempura batter and
Speaker 1: I didn't realize this, it's equal parts flour, cornstarch water
Speaker 1: and vodka.
Speaker 1: That's it. And that's all you need. And if you
Speaker 1: use that recipe, it's almost see-through batter and it is
Speaker 1: just delicious. Four ingredients. People complicate it. You know, they
Speaker 1: put different uh club soda, different things like that. I'm
Speaker 1: telling you all you need is, is some cauliflower and
Speaker 1: you do it that way or you can do it
Speaker 1: if you really want to fancy it up, do it
Speaker 1: with lobster,
Speaker 1: you know, do some lobster bites and, you know, people
Speaker 1: think you've won the lottery, but it's, it's a good deal.
Speaker 1: It's a good way to go. And this other item
Speaker 1: that I've had and, you know, you always wonder these sauces. There's,
Speaker 1: there's sandwiches and, you know, they've got jerky and they've
Speaker 1: got mayonnaise. There's one that my friend calls Barb and
Speaker 1: I just thought it was an odd name. It sounds
Speaker 1: awfully fancy. It's not though. It's mayo and barbecue sauce
Speaker 1: and red wine vinegar and garlic and all those things together.
Speaker 1: I'm telling you it's like a magic sauce and it
Speaker 1: goes on any kind of sandwich you want and he
Speaker 1: named it Baron. I will give my friend credit for that,
Speaker 1: but it's really good. So, and again, just like the
Speaker 1: Tempura recipe, these are really simple things to make and
Speaker 1: you really hit a home run every time you do.
Speaker 1: What is, what is he put that? Like, what kind
Speaker 1: of sandwich would you just pretty much put it on anything,
Speaker 1: any kind of sandwich? Wow, that sounds wonderful.
Speaker 1: So, you know, we've gotten fancy and we've gotten basic,
Speaker 1: but I think something and you might just laugh at
Speaker 1: me for this, but something that I love to see
Speaker 1: at any of these parties is puppy chow. Do you
Speaker 1: know what I'm talking about? Chocolate chips, peanut butter, powdered
Speaker 1: sugar and chex mix. And it's just delicious and it's
Speaker 1: so silly and so tasty.
Speaker 1: And again, we're talking basketball. Why not make some sugar
Speaker 1: cookies or some shortbread cookies? Get some orange icing and
Speaker 1: you know, make make some basketball cookies. That's, that's my
Speaker 1: final suggestion. Very simple, happy basketball season or have Colleen
Speaker 1: at Colleen's cookies do it for you if you're, you know,
Speaker 1: maybe not artistic still, we'll be right back.
Speaker 2: This episode is supported by the Repertory Theater of Saint Louis.
Speaker 2: Brace yourself for a gripping family drama where love, betrayal
Speaker 2: and dark humor collide in Pulitzer Prize winner, August Osage
Speaker 2: County join an incredible cast, featuring performers such as Henny
Speaker 2: Russell from Netflix Orange is the New Black
Speaker 2: Sean Weiberg of HBO Search Party and beloved American and
Speaker 2: local actor Joe Neil Joplin. As he takes the stage
Speaker 2: for his 102nd rep production. Witnessed the Weston family's roller
Speaker 2: coaster of emotions running March 19th through April 7th at
Speaker 2: the rep, get tickets now at Rep stl.org
Speaker 1: and now back to the show. So we talked about
Speaker 1: homemade goodies. We talked about things in restaurants and let's
Speaker 1: face it, things in restaurants. We've talked about this before.
Speaker 1: It's gotten very pricey and that brings us to today's
Speaker 1: micro rant
Speaker 1: and it involves online menu prices and I love to
Speaker 1: see online menus. I always get upset when people don't
Speaker 1: put their menus online. But what upsets me even more
Speaker 1: is when they put the menus online and don't put
Speaker 1: the prices.
Speaker 1: Has that bothered you at all? Have you noticed that
Speaker 1: that used to be only like the super expensive places
Speaker 1: used to do that? It's like boy, if, if, if
Speaker 1: they don't put the prices on there. Then I know
Speaker 1: I can't afford this place. But nowadays I think restaurant owners,
Speaker 1: they're getting a little gun shy. They know people are
Speaker 1: very price sensitive and they have stopped putting their prices
Speaker 1: online and I think that's a problem. Yeah, I've noticed
Speaker 1: that recently as well. In fact, what I find my
Speaker 1: doing is I'll initially go to the restaurant's website and
Speaker 1: if they don't have it on there, then I'll just
Speaker 1: go on to like Yelp or somewhere where someone's taking
Speaker 1: a menu picture. So I can actually see what the
Speaker 1: physical menu looks like. You and I are definitely not
Speaker 1: begrudging restaurants from having to, they need to merge what
Speaker 1: they charge. It's expensive and they have absorbed so many
Speaker 1: costs over the last couple of years, they've absorbed everything from,
Speaker 1: you know, higher health insurance costs for their employees to
Speaker 1: higher wages. They've absorbed, you know,
Speaker 1: just dramatically increase prices for their product. And so there's
Speaker 1: so much that's going into this, that honestly, it probably
Speaker 1: should cost 30 bucks for a hamburger, but it doesn't,
Speaker 1: it costs 15 and certainly restaurants deserve to make a buck.
Speaker 1: But I think the consumer deserves to know how much
Speaker 1: he's getting into before he walks in the door. You
Speaker 1: and I have had that experience like, wow, I knew
Speaker 1: I was going out to dinner, but I didn't know
Speaker 1: it was gonna cost this much money. And again, I, if,
Speaker 1: if you put your
Speaker 1: menu prices online, we all have a better shot at that.
Speaker 1: It's just like, you know, give it to us upfront
Speaker 1: please and spare us that in-person sticker shock. You know,
Speaker 1: I mean, we know it's not going to be cheap
Speaker 1: to go out to eat, but we just need to
Speaker 1: know what we're getting, just let us know it. And
Speaker 1: with that little plea for restaurants to be upfront with
Speaker 1: us all, that's all for this week on RG eats,
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Speaker 1: Best dishes and see you next time.