Reeds American Table
Reeds American Table is currently open for dinner, but they plan to open for Brunch in early April. Yes brunch! (my favorite meal)! Reeds American Table is located right off of S Big Bend on Manchester road (it used to be Home Kitchen and Wine bar). Although new, the restaurant is already so busy, and thats because the food is so good!

Executive Chef, Matthew Daughaday, previously the chef at Taste in the Central West End, together with beverage director, Andrey Ivanov, and Pastry Chef Summer Wright have put together an outrageous menu. Another Food Blogger Whiskeyandsoba (Spencer) introduced me to some of their most delicious dishes. We ordered strictly from the small
plates/sides.

Bacon Fat Fried Cornbread: I was hesitant to try this because I thought it would be soaked in the bacon fat, however he insisted and I was pleasantly surprised to see that the cornbread was not drenched,  rather it was nicely coated (crispy) on the outside and soft and light in the middle. Mushroom Toast: In all honesty this was my least favorite dish. The bread was overwhelmingly buttered, but the mushrooms were incredible (so I ate them off the top). Vegetable Hash: doesn’t it sound boring? It wasn’t, the vegetables were cut thinly and fried… delicious (frying vegetables is the best way to make them really delicious, OH and the veggies were top with bits of bacon duh). Finally we ordered the Chinese Five spice, citrus and Beer Braised ribs: the meat fell off the bones! Enough said right?

When it came time for dessert, I felt I needed something lighter (healthier) so I ordered the Roasted Pears: the pears were perfectly sweet and deliciously caramelized. Due to Whiskeyandsoba’s connection with the chefs they also brought over some Lavender Pana Cotta: reading the name I thought it would taste like potpourri, and it sort of did, however it was paired nicely with a lemon curd, which did a really nice job at complimenting the lavender and combating its overwhelming taste.

Overall, I really suggest this place, its young, new and within the next two months it will be one of the best brunch places in the Lou. (mostly for their exciting new coffee inventions- STAY TUNED!

Boundary

First let me say, this restaurant was by far one of the trendier places I’ve been in STL. The Boundary opened just a little over three weeks ago in place of The Restaurant at the Cheshire. With just three weeks of practice, their kitchen staff and waiters/waitresses were phenomenal. The Chef, Rex even came out of the kitchen so that I could meet him. In meeting him I found out that he was also responsible for the menu and food at Bar 360, but the food at Boundary was far superior. Even though this place is so new  I wasn’t  able to get a reservation for a table in the dining room (it was a saturday night and I called around 3pm for a 6pm reservation- my fault), I settled for a high-top bar seat. (Everything happens for a reason: the tables were only lit by several lights and a big fixture in the middle of the room, while my high-top table at the bar had its very own spot light — perfect for food pictures!). 

Immediately after sitting down I eyed a pink drink in a martini glass, which was enough to make me curious.The drink was called Ain’t no Ferns Here: tito’s vodka, grand marnier, cranberry, lemon, lime and melograno. It was the perfect start to my dinner. On an empty stomach the drink was super strong! After I ordered the toast: Flash Fried Brussel Sprouts, stracciatella, local honey and walnuts. (It was unreal, but the picture would never do it justice so take my word for it… its great!) I also ordered the Tuna Poke:yellow fin tuna, soy, ginger, sesame and Cassava. I could have gone without the Cassava, since I am not much of a fan of it, but regardless the taro chips married with the tuna was perfect!

For my main course I ordered the Brisket, my Jewish heritage taught me always order the brisket! This brisket, however, was nothing like my grandmothers nor anything I had tasted before. (It wasn’t Jewish and it wasn’t BBQ).  It was glazed in a red wine Jus, which gave it this sweet, but also sour taste to it. The brisket was perfectly pink inside and it pulled apart when I touched it with my fork. My only critique about this brisket dish was the lentil, kale and carrot salad that came with it. While it was delicious, if I’m ordering red meat I expect to have a more
hearty side. The Roasted Heritage Chicken, on the other hand, came with shoe string fries! When you add a little bit of the lemon to them, they were incredible.  (side note: I am not the biggest chicken fan unless it comes fried or with fries….)

At least the lentil salad allowed me to not feel guilty when I, as usual, had to order dessert? Maybe its my parents fault for making me love dessert so much, I was always taught “If he doesn’t order dessert it wasn’t a good date.” So womp womp I ordered the first thing I saw Local Apple Crisp: with cardamom ice cream. Lets just say the apple crisp did not last very long. I have no regrets (even with spring break less than a week away). This was a special dessert, it was one of those perfectly proportioned apple crisps–the bottom had evenly sliced apples covered in brown sugar, cinnamon and flour and the top was adorned with a perfectly golden oatmeal crust. The ice cream was somewhat cinnamon, which did wonders for the bite that had mostly apple crisp, but alone I wasn’t the biggest fan :(. The apple chip on top of the ice-cream(super healthy, jk i know its sugar coated but we can pretend) was really good! I wanted to take home a bag of them! YUM!

Overall, I cannot suggest this place enough. I like it SO much better than the restaurant downstairs, Basso. The options were plentiful and the food was clean. Nice job Chef Jax, I look forward to coming to the brunch!