Cubs, Cardinals, 100° weather and an awesome dinner..

[squirtthecat]

6 of us trooped down to sweltering St Louis tonight to watch the Cards host the Cubs.    Heat indexes of 110 during the afternoon, but the game didn't start until 7 - so we hoped it would be tolerable.

Had a light dinner (of sorts) at Mike Shannon's restaurant near the ball park.    Everything is al la cart, and large.  So most of us just ordered appetizers and a salad.  Who wants a 20 oz porterhouse and bake potato, then go sit in 100° heat?


Saw this in the menu and laughed..




MrsSTC got cajun shrimp.




I got a jumbo COLD shrimp cocktail.




Now this was interesting...   My Caesar Salad, served on a cutting board.




The guy next to me just had to have a steak, so the 'special' was a 16 oz ribeye, marinated for 72 hours in cajun spices and oil.   He couldn't eat it all, so I got 5 oz chunk of it deposited on my cutting board.

Wow.  It was fantastic.   





Looking at it again, I don't think it was a ribeye.   Doesn't matter - it was great.   Huge flavor, all the way to the middle.


Nice view of the field..




And the Arch.




It was hot.  92° at the start of the game.  There was some breezes here and there..  But it was pretty toasty.

Hydration is key..

[classicrockgriller]

Food shots look Fantastic!

Looks like fun, except for the Heat!

[squirtthecat]

Funny...   Hal was a block or 2 away from us the entire time...    It's their wedding anniversary, so they were in St Louis the same time we were.

He sent me this pic from the street, as they were walking to a jazz club near the stadium..

It's hard to make out the little red circle above the white van - but that is where we were sitting.   Might have been a few camera flashes going off in front of us.

[FLBentRider]

It looks like a hot time STC.

And Happy Anniversary Hal!

[beefmann]

looks like all had a good  time

[SouthernSmoked]

Hey I loved the way the Caesar Salad was served... Looks awesome!

Did you have a good time watching the ball game??

[squirtthecat]

Yeah, that salad was very cool.   They had (lightly) dressed each layer of the romaine, then stacked it all back up nicely.

You ate right off of the cutting board.
It came in handy for the steak hand-me-down...

The game was hot.  I'm not that huge of a baseball fan...   Would rather watch it on TV in the A/C.    But, we trooped down with some friends (1/2 Cub fans 1/2 Cardinal fans), so there was some friendly banter going on.


Hal was at a Jazz club about a block away, trying to lure me out...

[TestRocket]

Looks like a good time (except the heat) was had by all! That Cajun shrimp looks yummy!   

[TTNuge]

Food looks great, so do the seats.  We sat in a box right around there as well for a vendor event.  I'll be in St. Louis for a few days, Aug 25-27th, unfortunately the Cards aren't in town.  I got one evening free and one evening (morning) of work from about 1am-5am.  Usually we hit the casinos for a night but I could go for a good dinner like that.

[squirtthecat]

Food looks great, so do the seats.  We sat in a box right around there as well for a vendor event.  I'll be in St. Louis for a few days, Aug 25-27th, unfortunately the Cards aren't in town.  I got one evening free and one evening (morning) of work from about 1am-5am.  Usually we hit the casinos for a night but I could go for a good dinner like that.

Where you staying at?  I might be able to suggest some things to do/eat that isn't the standard casino fodder..

1-5AM??   Yikes.

[TTNuge]

We're staying at the Hilton by the Ballpark this time around.  Our Data Center provider is also about a block from the ball park so everything is within walking distance.   This is our 6th or 7th trip to St. Louis since last year but as usual we only have a day or two with a fairly busy schedule.  I'd love to find a hole in the wall restaurant that the local loves, especially if there's a BBQ joint.

[squirtthecat]

Well, for BBQ in St Louis, you'll need to jump in a cab and head to Pappy's Smokehouse.   Get there early, as they run out of food as the day goes on.   Grab a t-shirt.

Walking distance - wander up 6th Street to Charlie Gitto's.  Mike Shannon's is right across the street from the Hilton. (bring lots of money, as it is a bit pricey)   Hal sniffed out a few Jazz clubs about a block S of the stadium.   In fact, a 11PM picture from inside of one is the last I've heard from him...    :D

There are a lot of neat places in the Soulard district as well. (will need a car to get there)

Lots of Italian dining options on The Hill.

[hal4uk]

I'm alive!!!  We had a great time!  Had some bbq shrimp and a cowboy ribeye at Ruth's Chris before heading out to party..
(sorry --- phone pics were blurry as heck)

We went to "BB's Jazz, Blues , and Soup" http://www.bbsjazzbluessoups.com/ across the street from the "Boadway Oyster Bar" http://broadwayoysterbar.com/index.html

I really wanted to check out the latter place, but their band was playing on the patio, and we wanted some A/C...

BB's was fun (probably because they mix drinks pretty much like I would do it myself!)..
Kept texting Squirt..  I knew he was a block away sweating to death and drinking "NOT MILLER LITE"...
"A/C, Blues, Miller Lite...   Luuuuuuuuke...  Come to the cool side.."

[squirtthecat]

If they had gone into extra innings, I would have been right over..

[TTNuge]

We did a steakhouse in the Soulard district last year that was pretty damn good.  It was a fairly small place with an upstairs and a downstairs.  It was well worth the cab ride. 

I definitely got Pappy's on my list for this trip.  The burger joint in the fancy casino downtown isn't bad either, especially after playing the bandits and drinking Fat Tire for about 5 hours straight.

If anyone is interested in meeting for dinner and a few drinks let me know.  The evening of Thursday the 26th would probably work best but the 25th would maybe work as well.