Meet Me in St. Louis

This is more of an addendum to my post yesterday about the brewery tour, but I wanted everyone to know more details about St. Louis like the food and the hotel. Hopefully, I will be able to see more of it on my next trip but work comes first right?

November 3, 2009

We stayed at the Westin near Busch Stadium, home of the Cardinals. It's a nice hotel although the lady at the front desk was neither intelligent nor motivated. They were also out of contact solution - boo. They did honor my Starwood points though - sweet.


The room was also quite nice although there wasn't much of a view.


On the otherhand, dinner there on Tuesday night was quite good. The restaurant is called the Clark Street Bar & Grill and the first night we ate in the bar.


We split the chopped iceberg salad which had Mandarin oranges which added a sweetness to contrast the sharp taste of the blue cheese dressing.


We also split a margarita pizza. They have a huge wood oven so the pizza was thin, crispy on the edges and gooey in the middle...mmm.

Lastly, we had the key lime cheesecake for dessert. When it came out I was a little afraid of the stunning green but it still tasted like good ole key lime. Delicious.

We spent the rest of the night preparing for our meeting at Anheuser-Busch the next day.

November 4, 2009

We were up early and off to Anheuser-Busch headquarters for our meeting. Afterwards we stopped at the hotel for lunch before going on our tour of the Anheuser-Busch Brewery (see my previous blog) Lunch wasn't very good. The "Simple Green Salad" was too simple and the white bean chili was thick and pasty. Not a great lunch considering how good dinner the night before was!


We spent the rest of the afternoon touring the brewery and then went straight to dinner with the client at Mike Shannon's Steak and Seafood restaurant. Mike Shannon is a famous Cardinal baseball player so the restaurant has a major baseball theme with bats carving into the walls and rows upon rows of back-lit baseballs. It has an upscale, yet fun atmosphere which was perfect.


We split the Tuna Two Ways appetizer, which featured an Italian tuna dish and an Asian tuna dish. It was okay.


I also had The Wedge salad which also was okay.


Then I had the Sweet Potato Fries with smoked ketchup which were delicious and the Tenderloin Filet which was very good. It was a little rare for a medium steak I thought but still delicious.


We were much too full for dessert but I did get a shot of the client's Lobster Ravioli which looked incredible (I'm allergic to shellfish so I couldn't tell you how it tasted).


From there we walked back to the hotel ready to work late into the night to prepare for tomorrow's meeting.

November 5, 2009

Another day of meetings and food. For lunch we took the client to Sage Urban American Grill, which is right next to the brewery. One of my favorite things about St. Louis is that Shock Top is on tap everywhere you go - it is by far one of the best A-B beers around but usually hard to find. Except in St. Louis.


Sage is a great little restaurant bar. For appetizers, we shared a plate of Gus' Pretzels with mustard dip. They were piping hot and had just the right amount of salt. No wonder Gus is so famous in St. Louis!


For my entree, I had the Trio of Mini Sandwiches. I choose the Tuscan Chicken, Beef Tenderloin, and Buffalo Crispy Chicken sandwiches. They are really more like sliders. The Beef Tenderloin was delicious, the Crispy Chicken was a little too spicy, and the Tuscan Chicken was totally bland.


Here's a look at what the rest of the group had.

Greek Chicken Wrap with hummus, tomato, cucumber, red onion, olives, spinach and romaine with balsamic dressing and feta cheese. This wrap was huge!

Baby Spinach Salad with sliced mushrooms, almonds & sun-dried tomatoes tossed with warm bacon dressing and garlic herb croutons. She also got it with grilled salmon on top which she said was nasty because it had clearly been thawed and then grilled.

Mardi Gras Quesadilla with blackened chicken, andouille sausage, Cajun rice, and cheese. This looked amazing.

Overall, I thought it was a good lunch but not a spectacular one. I am still dreaming about the pretzels though. So good.

From the restaurant, we grabbed our suitcases and headed towards the airport. On the way I was able to get a quick glimpse of the famous St. Louis Arch.

Overall, St. Louis is a fun city for a couple days but definitely a little small to live in. I hope to be able to see more of it on my future work trips.