STL DPL IN IRELAND - LOVE HOTEL

We were looking for someplace interesting for dinner on our last night in Dublin. A short walk from where we were staying was a small, expensive boutique hotel with a terrace restaurant on the top floor. Dublin is booming, and I counted no less than thirteen construction cranes scattered across the horizon. This is the hotel’s lobby. Shouldn’t the romance be established before you check in?                

STL DPB IN COSTA RICA - RATE OF EXCHANGE

 

Somehow I think this supposed to be a joke. Seen at a little taco restaurant in Tamarindo which is, in fact, cash only. By the way, the ahi tuna tacos were smashing.                    

STL DPB ON THE ROAD - DINNER IN MANHATTAN

 

Well, we’re back in the place I love the best and like to pay for the least. We just got here and so many images! We went to dinner at a new restaurant in Grand Central Terminal, the Grand Brasserie. I thought it might resemble Le Train Bleu at the Gare d’ Ést in Paris. No. A lot louder. This is NYC. The food was pretty good, at New York prices.           

STL DPB IN MADRID - LATE DINING

When North Americans arrive in Spain, they learn quickly that local dining hours are much different than ours. For sit-down restaurants, lunch is served from 1 to 4 PM and can be the main meal of the day. They don't open for dinner until 8 or 8:30 PM. At that hour the customers are mostly Americans, Brits and Germans. The locals start rolling in about 9:30 or 10. This picture was taken after we had finished our dinner (8 PM booking, of course) a few blocks away and we went for a walk. The place was plenty busy.

I apologize that this hasn't been much of a St. Louis photo blog lately. I might pick up some images on Saturday but then Sunday it's off to New York for a five day street photography workshop, Packing it in while I still can.              

STL DPB ON THE ROAD - TÊTE À TÊTE

Las Vegas has lots of great places to eat, if you have the price of admission. Here, two elegant young women dine at Mon Ami Gabi in the Bellagio Hotel and Casino. It describes itself as a typical French bistro. I'm certain a similar meal would be cheaper in Paris.

Lots going on here this weekend. Son Andy and granddaughter Audrey are in from Michigan. She and STL granddaughter Ellie are good friends. Sure to be pictures to follow.           

STL DPB ON THE ROAD - WHAT A NIGHT

Located in the woods a half hour out of Tamarindo, Noam Kostucki presides over the culinary experience of a lifetime. Noam is Polish Jewish, grew up in Belgium and has lived in many  parts of the world, now in Costa Rica for nine years. Her culinary skills are self-taught and they are extraordinary. The meal is a seven course tasting menu, more about which tomorrow. There are a maximum of twelve guests at a communal table but, in low season, there were only four of us last night. This experience is worth a journey. See https://www.elmundodenoam.com/hirfinedining  

By the way, if you go, do not drive yourself. Use one of the car services Noam recommends.      

STL DPB OUT TO DINNER

Out to dinner in NYC with the young, monied and maskless. This is Amelie, a favorite wine bar and French restaurant in the West Village where, as is normal in crowded Manhattan, the tables are elbow to elbow. This sort of thing may have led to my wife and my infections. However, we're both good as new by today. The protocol says my granddaughter can jump on me by Sunday.      

LOVE THY NEIGHBOR, AND THY CUSTOMER

More sunflowers pushed back another day. I was too drained after another open-air opera matinee in STL summer heat to do editing, although the performance of The Barber of Seville was fabulous. Before the show we had lunch at a place called Olio. https://www.oliostl.com/. It's been around a few years but we had never tried it.

Locals who are interested can see my rave review at https://www.yelp.com/biz/olio-saint-louis?q=public%20health. The sign in the photo seemed to reflect the attitude of the owners and staff.                                    

BEER FOR DESSERT

The window of a downtown restaurant. Some jurisdictions (we are politically fragmented) have allowed them to remain open with much-reduced seating. Mrs. C and I wouldn't cross the threshold of any and it's too cold for outdoor dining, no matter how many gas heaters are around. We do take away, Thai last night.

I'm tempted by this combination, though. Schlafly is one of our excellent small breweries. Anyone up for a pilsner float?        

IT MIGHT BE LONGER

Not exactly the best cuisine but this restaurant has been a fixture in downtown STL for a long time. A couple of windows away there is one of those "for information call" realtor's signs.

As I wander around the city I see a large number of out-of-business restaurants. The local newspaper just ran a story about 40 popular restaurants around the metro area that have gone under in the last year. We really liked some of them. It's hard to imagine a phoenix rising from these ashes.         

ARCHITECTURAL DIGEST

Still in the Grand Center arts district. This somewhat strange building has been around since I was an undergraduate at nearby St. Louis University (which, recall, was in the Pleistocene).  It was some kind of burger place then. It went out of business and became a take-out Chinese restaurant. I never see anyone in there.

The architecture puzzles me. Is it supposed to represent something or just bizarre and eye-catching?        

BRUNCH AT THE ART MUSEUM

There's a show going on at the St. Louis Art Museum called Dutch Painting In The Age of Rembrandt. There are two works from the great master for comparison but everything else is by other painters of the era, from names you probably know (Frans Hals) to those you've never heard of (uh, I forget). The collection is exquisite and locals should get there before it closes in mid-January.

Afterward we had brunch at the museum's restaurant. Since I had forgotten my photo hard drive at the office (the reason this is a late post) some new material was needed. None of the still lifes in the exhibit were monochrome (that's for sure) and all were very ornate, but maybe I got some of their high contrast style. That roll looks like an asteroid.        

STL DPB On The Road - Pura Vida Una Vez Más

Greeting from our more-or less home from home, the northwest coast of Costa Rica. If you have ever visited, you know that the national slogan, pura vida, means much more than pure life in English. It's a pervasive attitude, a way of life.

Yesterday was a tough travel day. Those of you who know me personally know that my spine and joint problems have been up and down over the last year and at the moment they are really UP. We usually spend a week near the busy town of Tamarindo but we started this trip with three nights down the coast at the much smaller town of Sámara. This is out in the sticks and impossible to navigate in the dark. The hotel clerk recommended a few restaurants, none of which we could find (we got pretty lost on the dirt roads). We chanced by what looked like a Mexican restaurant and tequila bar. Ho hum, but we were tired and hungry. And so we went into La Catrina, which was a blast. Wonderful people, wonderful food. In our opinion, best margarita and daquiri we've  ever had.

Maybe I could say more later, but for now let me note that they have a miniature pet pig named Simone, who loves to squeal loudly. 

After Elvis Left The Building . . .

. . . in Las Vegas, presumably, it appears he ended up at a bar and restaurant in Grafton, Illinois. It's a nice little river town with some marine services and attractions for people driving on the Great River Road along the Mississippi. You quickly notice that most of the buildings below the bluff are built on pillars. The river sometimes floods big time.

We were looking for a lunch place with something Ellie would eat. (Classic chicken nuggets and fries were fine.) You walk up stairs from the parking lot and are greeted by the host.  He neither expects or accepts tips.           

New York Restaurants - Soleluna

Breathes there the man, with soul so dead, 
Who never to himself hath said,
   This is my own, my native land!

         - claptrap poetry by Sir Walter Scott

Back in my old neighborhood, Sunnyside, Queens. It still has a hold on me. Quiet when you get off Queens Boulevard; safe, unpretentious, plenty of services and very close to Manhattan. When I grew up it was a mix of Irish, Jewish and Italian. Now it's Irish, Jewish, Italian, Vietnamese, Colombian, Korean and I don't know what.  It's still just as pleasant. 

Wouldn't it be nice to have a small apartment there, a pied-a-terre so we could visit New York more often? So I looked online for one bedroom apartments. A fully rehabbed one-bedroom costs well into the 300's. That's thousands of US dollars. Sigh.

So to console ourselves, we went to our favorite neighborhood restaurant, Soleluna. Very tight storefront Italian place with just delicious food, wonderful people and good prices for NY. They have a gumball machine out front, which I think is charming. We got acquainted with the people at the next table, whose story is too long to repeat here. It was the third time I've been there in the last year, once with the family and once with Olivier. We may return when we are back in town in July.                 

New York Restaurants - Santina

When Mrs. C and I left the Whitney last Monday we had an hour to kill before our dinner reservation. Right around the corner from the museum, sort of jammed under the end of the Highline, is a restaurant called Santina. We went in and sat at the bar.

The place seemed to have some fizz. They gave us the drinks list and the first was a negroni. I love negronis. The price was absurd by STL standards but, what the hell, I love negronis. Down the hatch. (See last photo.) It was the best I've ever had, light on the Campari.

The staff whipped up all kinds of exotic cocktails. The one above looked like - what? - an avocado volcano.  The place was fun and had an eclectic staff. The hostess on the right was taller than me. The wall art below is made of broken painted plates. We would go back to try the food.      

Hardware Failure

My new Fujifilm camera, for which I had such high hopes, has been taken out of service. A few of the autofocus features just don't work and a couple of other things are malfunctioning. Looks like it needs warranty repair or replacement. I spent hours yesterday trying to troubleshoot it. No luck.

So it's my trusty little Olympus for the rest of the trip. Took it out with me to dinner tonight. We'll see what can do in the blinding sunlight tomorrow.  

Lunch And Math

There is a chain of upscale pizza restaurants based here called π. Clever. The family had lunch at the downtown branch after the women's march. I was more interested in a glass of iced tea, though, than the expression of a non-repeating, infinitely long ratio.

Once in a (very) great while I wonder how pi was discovered and calculated. The hunt has been going on for at least 4,000 years. Check here if you give a hoot. 

     

Macedonian Wine

I am really low on material but last night brought an opportunity. There is a hot restaurant in our town, Webster Groves, that's been open about a year. It's called Olive + Oak. We've never gone because you have to book about two weeks ahead and, frankly, it's a bit expensive for our trying-to-retire budget. But my staff gave me a gift certificate for Christmas so off we went last night.

It was a delight. No space here for a full review but there was an unusual treat. The wine list had a page of "no one would ever buy this" bottles at reasonable prices. Absolutely unknown stuff. The owner is also a qualified sommelier and gave us guidance. We ended up with this Macedonian red. Just terrific. Ever drink wine made from kratosija or vranec grapes?         

Goodbye, Julian. See You Later, Celina.

We usually spend the night in Kansas City, a very nice town, on our way to see Mrs. C's family farther out in Kansas. KC has a good restaurant scene and Julian has become our favorite in recent years. When I was about to make a reservation I saw online that it was closing after the Fourth of July! I quickly made a reservation on Open Table.

I got a call Wednesday night from chef and owner Celina Tio. Did I know that they had a special menu planned, a five course tasting menu that she prepared when she won on Iron Chef? With wine pairings? No, clueless, but don't cancel our reservation.

OMG, it was heaven. Food and wine that was simple on the surface but oh so subtle as you paid more attention to each course. The highlight was almost inconceivable, lobster shepherd's pie, seen below. We were so glad we stumbled into the occasion.

The last photo is the rare image of Mrs. C and me, along with Celina and the wine guy (never did get his name).  She has another place, The Belfry, that we hope to visit soon. We may be back here in a month.