Although I'm a bit tardy in posting May's Dating in 2014 challenge, we did make it out on a date last month...I just didn't get around to posting about it right away. I'll be honest, our participation in the challenge this year has been a little bit lackluster. We started off on a high note in January, February we luckily snuck one in the night before Brecken was born, we headed out in March...but with friends, and April was a total copout because the month got away from us! It was time to redeem ourselves this month, although I'll be honest...I was a little bit hesitant to head out on the town for an evening. I know, I know, parents are supposed to be jumping for joy at the thought of a night free of kid duties, but now that I'm back at work full time, I want to be with Brecken whenever I'm not at work! However, I realize how important it is to spend quality one on one time with each other (and our commute to and from work every day doesn't count!), so my friend Sarah graciously came to watch Brecken, and off we went!

Small Batch St. Louis

Our restaurant of choice this month was Small Batch, the newest creation of St. Louis restauranteer David Bailey (owner of a few of our other favorites, including Rooster!). Located in Midtown St. Louis, we immediately fell in love with the decor and ambiance, which manages to feel both airy and industrial. The premise of the place centers around vegetarian cuisine, featuring homemade pasta, and whiskey....lots and lots of whiskey. An interesting pairing, perhaps, but one that completely won us over!

Small Batch St. Louis (View from the 2nd Floor)

After a good fifteen minutes of poring over page after page of whiskey selections, Ryan finally settled on one of the whiskey flights and I went with the server's recommendation and got the Roasty (bourbon, cointreau, benedictine, cold brew coffee, bitters). All of the whiskeys on the menu have a description and we were impressed by how spot on they were. Similarly, our server described my drink as a combo of one of those chocolate oranges and spiked coffee, which might sound odd but totally hit the spot! I've already requested that Ryan attempt this at home!

The Roasty Cocktail

While we decided on food, we were brought an amuse bouche of rolled zucchini with a spicy black bean filling, which ended up being one of my favorite bites of the evening. I think they need to find a way to work this into the regular menu! Having read up on Yelp reviews before our visit, we couldn't resist the plate of Pickles and Ferments to start. Personally I preferred the pickled vegetables (okra, red peppers, and green beans) over the fermented ones (sprouts and cauliflower).

Pickles and Ferments

We decided to split two entrees and though the decision was tough, ended up with the carbonara (a popular choice, according to our server) and the fricasse, a vegetable dish featuring leeks, carrots, turnip, shallot, asparagus, and bell peppers. Though we mentioned we were sharing, we didn't expect them to evenly divide each entree for us, a nice touch! The carbonara, a traditionally rich dish, lived up to its name but without the bacon that's usually present. There was no mistaking that the pasta was freshly made and I would've been happy with a giant bowl of the smoked mushrooms that were included. The fricasse was much lighter, lots of veggies tossed with lemon, and a welcomed contrast to our pasta.

Fricasse

Entrees were fairly large and I never would've been able to finish an entire pasta on my own. Luckily by splitting I saved room for dessert...and though I don't doubt Small Batch's dessert selections are fantastic (Bailey does own the Chocolate Bar, after all!), we couldn't resist running down the street to The Fountain on Locust for Part II of our date. Ice cream cones for us and a brownie sundae to take home to Sarah made for the perfect end to our evening!

Cones at Fountain on Locust

Next time friends are looking for a restaurant recommendation, I'm definitely sending them to Small Batch!

(image source)

We went a little unconventional for this month's "Dating in 2014" restaurant, turning it into a quadruple date and taking Brecken with us! Still, the challenge is all about spending time together and (usually) trying new restaurants, so the mission (no pun intended) was definitely still complete!
Our friends Paige and Zach were in town and they mentioned wanting to go to Mission Taco Joint, which coincided perfectly with the plans I had to try it out. I'd been holding off until post-pregnancy because I wanted to get a margarita!
As it turned out, I skipped the margarita and went instead for the Paloma (tequila, grapefruit & lemon juice, agave syrup, and soda water with a sugar rim). As pretty as it was, I actually preferred Ryan's cocktail, the Rudy Valentino (mezcal, hibiscus syrup, orange juice, and sweet vermouth). I sampled a few of our friends' drinks, and another favorite was the Pueblo Cafe (tequila, cinnamon syrup, and a condensed coffee roast...sounds weird, tastes amazing!). 

Crab Taquitos

We enjoyed a few appetizers with our cocktails. The chips and two salsas of the day were okay--most restaurant chips aren't salty enough for me, and these were no different. One salsa was spicier and smokier, which I liked, but the other tastes too much like marinara sauce to me. The crab taquitos more than made up for it, however, and I would've happily finished the plate of those myself! 

TACOS!

Although Mission Taco has a number of interesting sounding burritos and tortas, we were there for their namesake-the tacos! Ryan and I opted to sample five, four off of the menu and then the special of the day, a mahi-mahi mango taco. The others included the duck, grilled baha fish taco, the carne asada, and the sweet potato & chorizo. Our friends also ordered tacos, all of which arrived at the table family style in fun taco holders. How do I get one of these for taco nights at our house?!?

Street Corn

Consensus across the board was that the sweet potato & chorizo was the best, and the duck was the most disappointing. I'm not a huge duck fan anyway, but the meat was unfortunately dry. The two fish tacos were excellent, and I was pleasantly surprised by the carne asada taco, which came topped with arugula, queso fresco, and an avocado serrano sauce. At only a few bucks apiece, it's affordable to essentially sample the entire taco menu. Next time I have my eye on the beef brisket and yucatan chicken tacos, both of which have come highly recommended! We also split a side of the street corn, which I dipped chips into and loved a whole lot more than either salsa. Don't skip it! My only regret was not saving room for dessert; the churros were calling my name! I'll be back...

If you find yourself in St. Louis, give Mission Taco a try. Be forewarned--they don't take reservations and the place was packed by 5:30 on a Friday night! There were a surprising number of kids there, so Brecken wasn't out of place at all, but those trying to avoid kids can just show up at a more respectable dinner hour ;) 

When we went out for ice cream on February 1st, we didn't know that would be our last pre-baby "date", although we figured it was a possibility. After spending Saturday February 1st running (yes, I ran 4 miles the day before my daughter was born), shopping, and cooking. In other words, it had basically been my perfect day, and the only way to make it more perfect was to finish the evening with ice cream!

Around 8:00 pm, we dragged ourselves up off the couch and I even changed out of the sweatpants I'd spent the last few hours in. We made the quick jaunt over to Serendipity Ice Cream (you might recognize the name from my January date post at Five Star Burgers!), despite the freezing rain and frigid temperatures. The weather might be inconveniencing a lot of things for me this winter, but I refuse to let it get in the way of my ice cream and me!
After sampling at least five different flavors and annoying the heck out of the poor worker who wanted to finish cleaning up and get the heck out of there, I finally settled on Cherry Bordeaux and Maple Pecan in a cake cone. It was kind of an unusual order for me; rarely do I gravitate to the fruity ice creams, and the maple pecan was just kind of random. I suppose it was fitting for the unusual next few days we were about to encounter!

Awkward selfie...totally clueless I was going into labor in a few minutes!

Ryan and I sat in the back room at Serendipity, eating our ice cream and chatting about an assortment of things. Despite the fact that baby's arrival was impending, we actually didn't talk about it that much, instead discussing the upcoming Olympics, our jobs, and other random topics. That is, until I was finishing up my cone and began to notice regular contractions! I'd felt crampy several times that week, but this was the first time I recognized a definite start and stop to them. 
Cautiously optimistic that this was the real thing, we finished up our final pre-baby date and less than twenty-four hours later, Brecken Marie had arrived!

We're closing in on the end of the year, which also means the end of our Finding Time in 2013 challenge. This month we were due for a restaurant post and we ventured out to one of the well-known fine dining establishments in the St. Louis area: Sidney Street Cafe. After having it recommended to us by several different people, we finally decided to head there for our anniversary. Although it was a chilly October evening, the restaurant itself was warm and welcoming, the perfect spot to sit at a cozy table and reflect on five years of marriage.

L to R: Starter Menu, Cocktails, Beignets

Sidney Street was a lot bigger than I anticipated. I had expected an intimate spot, but the restaurant was larger and brighter than I envisioned. The exposed brick and dark wood fit the space, however, and it still gives off a fine dining atmosphere (which explains why I only took a few, discreet, iPhone pictures!). Service aligned with this perfectly; our server was professional, attentive (almost overly-so), and enthusiastic, eagerly explaining the majority of the menu to us.

Beginning with the beignets which are served warm with butter, we knew we were in for a good meal. The cocktail menu is small, but Ryan--our resident cocktail snob--found something he liked, and the bartender was gracious enough to whip me up a mocktail. Although we were enticed by several of the starters on the menu, our server sold us on the veal dumplings which he claimed were his favorite. We immediately understood why; the meat inside each dumpling was extraordinarily tender and the cilantro salsa and teriyaki sauce the dumplings were sitting in introduced an entirely unique flavor to the dish. I probably would've been happy ordering another round of these for my entree!

L to R: Veal Dumplings, Menu, Butternut Squash Soup, House Salad

We pressed on with the next course. Each entree comes with a selection of soup or salad. Ryan opted for the butternut squash soup, and I selected the salad. Unfortunately, when I declined the anchovies on my salad, I mistakenly also declined the cheese, so my greens were rather bare and the salad wasn't anything special. I hardly had time to be disappointed, however, before my meal was brought out: the redfish. Served atop dirty farro, the combination of tastes and colors came together impressively. It was one of those dishes where you don't really know what's contained in each bite, but you don't care because it tastes so good! For the curious, the menu description of my dish mentioned cucumber relish, charred tomato gelee, raspberry glazed sungolds, and dill in addition to the fish and farro. Ryan ordered the Missouri lamb, which he decided was not the best lamb he's ever had in a restaurant, but certainly a stellar entree.

L to R: Snapfish, Missouri Lamb, White Chocolate Turtle Blondie

By now we were stuffed, but our server insisted on bringing us out the white chocolate turtle blondie with pecan brittle and vanilla ice cream for dessert in honor of our anniversary. Full as I was, I never turn down dessert, and managed to enjoy a few bites before crying uncle! The blondie was rich and buttery and exactly what you would expect, given the description. Next time I'd also love to try their "Snickers Bar" dessert!

How does this compare to other similar restaurants we've eaten at? For what we spent, we both agreed our meals at Girl and the Goat in Chicago were better, but it's a completely different type of restaurant. Sidney Street is probably most like Harvest, where we ate a few years ago, and if I had to pick a favorite of the two, I'd say Sidney Street wins this round! All in all, it was a lovely anniversary dinner and a fun way to wrap up the restaurant portion of this year's challenge.