India Palace in Bridgeton - St Louis Missouri

This location of India Palace is located at 4534 N Lindbergh Blvd, Bridgeton MO 63044 on the 11th floor in Bridgeton. I'm not sure if it's related to the location in downtown St Louis. The restaurant is located at the top of a low-rise at the end of a hotel - it was a bit difficult to get to based on the Google Maps directions from the main highway. Parking is in the regular lot then you go to the opposite end from the hotel lobby to access the elevator.

I was visiting our St Louis offices for a work summit with two members of our team. Having had limited success with Indian cuisine in other cities (see my reviews for Salt Lake and Providence) I figured we had a 50/50 chance of finding something good. The convoluted path to access this restaurant did not lend itself to my having much confidence in India Palace, even with a solid 4 star Yelp rating, however I was pleasantly surprised!

Walking into India Palace you feel more like you're walking into a tree-top grotto - there's a stone wall covered by vines and obligatory shrines. The main dining room features tatami covered ceilings and interesting rattan pendant lights invoking the George Nelson bubble lamps you see at Lambert airport - the room is a bit cramped (long and narrow) however the large windows more than make up for that. The view in a word, is spectacular providing great panoramas of the airport landing field.

We were seated quickly (it was a Sunday evening) and provided extensive menus. There's quite a bit on the menu to study including diner specials to towards the back (per-person preselected feasts that include multiple entrees).

I spotted something interesting from the beer menu - Flying Horse Royal Lager Beer - supposedly from Bangalore. Funny, the entire time I visited India I never saw any other local beer than varieties of Kingfisher (Blue, Premium, Draught, etc) - I even asked for Taj Mahal which can be found in many US Indian-food restaurants but no one I asked had ever heard of it. No mention of "Flying Horse" even while visiting Bangalore. The beer was a typical lager about on par with Kingfisher Premium and nothing special - that didn't keep me from drinking it. We were also brought a platter of pappadum with chutneys/sauces that were very good.

For dinner we selected:

Mulligatawny Soup - I decided to try it since I haven't in a while - it's basically a watery dal with a bit of coriander and cumin. This version was quite good.

Chicken Tikka Masala - this is the classic "stand by" that most Americans know as "butter chicken" (I found while in India that every different region had their own "butter chicken" and that all of them tasted different).

Kadai Paneer with onions and chilies - this vegetarian dish was very delicious with nice homemade chunks of paneer (cheese).

Garlic Naan - above par - none of that powdered garlic junk I found in St Louis

Came with jeera rice - not your usual long-grain basmati and without that yellow color - lots of whole cumin seed and very good.

We all enjoyed the food immensely - considering I was with two native Indians, I think that says a lot. There was a good level of spice to everything we tried - not that it was hot, but not as watered down and Americanized as you usually find in the states. If you're looking for Indian food that's fairly authentic you can do much worse than India Palace. In general the service was exceptional with frequent visits to the table and water/beer refills. Add in the great views and ambiance and you get one of the best meals we had while visiting St Louis.

-- John

(also posted in shorter form on Yelp)

Trailhead Brewing Co - St Louis Missouri

Trailhead Brewing Co is located at 921 S. Riverside Dr, St Charles MO 63301 right off the Missouri River and North-West of downtown St Louis. This is a rather expansive restaurant-bar-brewery concept similar to the ubiquitous Gordon Biersch with quite a bit more Missouri frontier flair. On this occasion I was visiting St Louis for a summit with members of our Atlanta team and decided to make this a destination one evening as it was close to the local office. The building is built on a street corner with a creek running along one side of the lot (we parked down the street) - gleaming stainless steel vats advertise the availability of the brew inside. The interior is part rustic-hang-artifacts-on-the-wall and part industrial with metal railing, wooden floors and lots to look at and admire.

As we walked across the gallery and into seating there's a riverboat hung above the bar. An immense multi-rider bicycle hangs above the stairs along with other bikes and boats beneath the exposed timber rafters and remarkable wooden ceiling. Since it was December the restaurant was decorated with garlands and lights and the mood was quite festive. Quite a lot of shoppers in for a snack and escape from the mall crowds, I presume.

We were presented a rather extensive menu and a list of available brews. I started with the Missouri Brown Ale to have with food. I prefer darker beer over the light stuff - actually have very little liking for anything very acidic like a Wies or Pilsner so I tend to gravitate towards the stouts and use IPAs with bitter hops as my version of a light beer. The Missouri Brown Ale was actually a bit disappointing to me - usually browns have a bit of sweetness that I didn't find here. I'm sure plenty will like it though.

Looking though the menu we opted on ordering some appetizers so we could sample many items. I think our favorites were the spicy wings and the fried asparagus.

Ale Battered Asparagus - these were really delicious.

Hot Crab and Artichoke dip with pita - I make something like this at home. Not bad at all.

Hot Soft Pretzels with queso cheese sauce - after having the giant Bavarian pretzel with beer cheese at World of Beer, these were a bit of disappointment.

Spicy Chicken Wings - I thought these very good - bit smokey and a little spice. If anything they could have been much hotter, but I wanted to make sure our small lot could eat them.

The food in general was good and of good quality and preparation - I think with a bit of tweaking the food here could be exceptional. As it is, nothing really special but filling. As to the beer - it was a bit "generic" to me but that might be a "for the masses" thing - as I recall the Seasonal selection was something fruity which is a place I simply won't go. I also sampled the Trailhead Red Amber Ale and ended up finishing with it - surprisingly it was my favorite of the three.

-- John

(shorter version posted to Yelp)

Thai Kitchen - St Peters Missouri

This location of Thai Kitchen is located at 3899 Veterans Memorial Pky, Ste B, St Peters MO 63376 towards one end of a strip mall. The rather unassuming exterior is fair indication of the interior, which was very busy for lunch - even so, our wait wasn't more than about 10 minutes. This was our second lunch spot as our team visited a local business location for a summit late last year. We did our usual Yelp search and Thai Kitchen was both close and highly rated with 4 stars. Personally I think the rating is pushing things slightly, but perhaps I'm spoiled with all the fantastic Asian food available near me in Atlanta along Buford Hwy. Don't get me wrong, the food here is above average, I'd call it 3-3.5 stars. From some of the most recent reviews this place seems to be in decline, but I'll reserve judgement and long talk about what I had.

The menu has several pages of typical Thai cuisine items - for me I always like to try the penang curry and see how each Thai restaurant handles the spices and turmeric - I'm happy to report that the ratio of spice to coconut milk in mine was quite good. It was also a fairly large portion for lunch. Some of the other dishes also looked interesting, like the Red Bean Curd Noodle Soup.

Other dishes we tried includes the Spicy Noodles with Chicken - this dish had wider noodles and green beans...personally I thought it a bit bland but my dining companion Sangam seemed to like it.

And the veggie fried rice for our vegetarian, Sid. I'm one of those that really doesn't like fried rice - if you grew up in an Asian family, you'll know that you fry up the left-over rice from the previous evening's meal the next day. Because I think of it more as being efficient than as a dish in itself, I never order it. And more, the only style I like is with egg, Japanese style - this usually has more of an umami feel due to the egg and pinch of MSG - it's also usually heavier on the soy and might have a little sesame oil in the mix, but I digress. Sid liked it and that's all that matters.

All the dishes were a bit mild - something that seems to be a trend in the US. Even asking for the spice level to be jacked up a bit does little but approximating what I experienced while visiting Thailand. Passing out the little dish of chili sauces really doesn't do it either - if you cook and the dish already has elevated levels (*to Americans) of spice, you have to increase all levels as you pile on heat or the flavors get muddy and lost.

Service was very good but as usual it was tough to get your water glass refilled. At least we didn't have to hunt down the waiter (like I did in Thailand)... In all, a very satisfying meal.

-- John

(shorter version also posted to Yelp)

Prasino - St Louis Missouri

Prasino is located at 1520 S 5th St, Ste 110, St Louis, MO 53303 in St Charles on the end of a community development. This small restaurant features a well stocked wine and craft beer selection and is beautifully designed using post-industrial modern and loft elements with high-end furnishings and finishes. The lighting over the expansive fully stocked bar is spectacular, sporting over-sized globes that harken old-fashioned exposed, hanging bulbs. Overall the space is large with high ceilings and great expanses of glass. I could see it being a well-occupied late night space for casual to serious craft beer and wine fans.

Having just hit St Louis on business my team did a quick search for a great lunch spot on Yelp and boy did it deliver. Prasino well deserves the solid 4 stars awarded, based on our overall experience, the food and the great service. We arrived shortly before the dinner crowd and were seated immediately. We were then pointed to the Happy Hour specials and were happily tempted to order one of the great $4 draft selections, for food we mostly selected items off the regular menu.

Wanting to sample the local craft, I had a very nice 4 Hands Resurrection IPA. It had great body, hoppy snap and great hints of citrus. Actually I was accidentally told this was included in the $4 drafts when it wasn't on the list, then given it at that price anyway. Love that!

The menu was simple and easy to understand with an understated, lower case sans serif font that made things easy to read and unpretentious. They serve breakfast until 3:00 PM and lunch starting from 11:00 AM. Prices seem fair considering the quality and portions were spot-on. Oh and did I mention the hormone and anti-biotic free meats, sustainable seafood, organic produce and eggs? I know, I had you on "hormone and anti-biotic free meats"...

Turkey Burger with Seasonal Veggies - we subbed ground turkey for the special Prasino Burger - smoked gouda, tomato jam, pickled onion, arugula and whole wheat. This came with a great side of roasted veggies made up of brussel sprouts and squash. The burger was cooked perfectly with a tender interior and crusty, seasoned exterior.

Turkey Burger with Truffled Potatoes - The other Prasino Burger came with truffled potatoes - the sauce was delicious.

Portabello Burger with Sea Salt Chips - little did my vegetarian partner know how close this portabello burger came to tasking like meat. I could eat this all day.

Between the bartender and the waiter, service was well above average and as a bonus, while clearing the table the waiter knocked over my water glass so my meal was comped. Prasino has class and knows how to treat its customers. I could see myself making Prasino a regular hangout - too bad I'm 550 miles away!

-- John

(also posted in much shorter form on Yelp)