Gourmet Dining – Maplewood MO

During a recent visit to the St. Louis area to visit Laurie’s family, we had the opportunity to experience yet another gourmet restaurant in the St. Louis area.  During our last visit, we’d enjoyed some very fine dining at the Farmhaus Restaurant. (http://bigdaddydavesbitsandpieces.blogspot.com/2010/10/small-plate-dining.html)

This time Laurie’s sister, Bonnie and her husband Bill, found a new place in Maplewood Missouri.  This is Home Wine Kitchen.  The restaurant is owned by a husband and wife team; Josh Renbarger, who handles the wine offerings and runs the front end of the operation and his wife, the chef, Cassy Vires. 

The interior of Home Wine Kitchen is warm and friendly.  Many of the tables are a little too close for my comfort, but as there were 5 of us having dinner, (Bonnie and Bill, their friend Patty, plus Laurie and I); we were seated at a large table toward the back of the restaurant.  It wasn’t too noisy and there was plenty of room.

We started out with the Combo Cheese and Charcuterie Plate to share. ($18.00) It included Salamino Calabrese, Salame Cotto, and Lonzo, with Val D’Aosta, Manchego and Heritage cheeses, accompanied with toast points, pecans, stone ground mustard and fig spread.  While everyone agree that this was a very nice way to start the meal…great flavors…I thought that another toast point and another piece or two of cheese and meat would have been more proportionate to the cost of this appetizer plate.

Bill started out with this Radish Salad…sorry for the photo but he started eating it before we took the picture!  Bill really enjoyed the salad! ($9.00) (I tried a bite of the duck egg…not my cup of tea.  I also tasted the radish.  It was very mild but I can’t remember what variety it was)

Laurie ordered the Gnocchi with mushrooms, sage and pecans in brown butter. ($18.00) She really liked this entrée!  The gnocchi were fairly light but the dish itself was very rich…and Laurie couldn’t quite finish her dinner.

Bonnie’s entrée was the Triggerfish with pancetta, shallot, apple, white wine and lentils. ($20.00) She enjoyed it very much.  Laurie tried a bite of it as well and she supported Bonnie’s evaluation…

One of the sides was the Yellow Wax Beans with bacon, mushrooms and garlic. ($6.00) How can you miss when bacon is part of the recipe!?

Bill and I both ordered the Dry Aged Strip Steak with white beans, garlic and Swiss chard. ($26.00) We both thought that the steaks were very good…tender and cooked just right with nice flavor.

As a side, Bill ordered a Sweet Dumpling Squash. ($6.00) The squash was filled with apple, onion, pork and sage.  Bill gave it two thumbs up!

For my side, I like turnips so I decided to try House Wine Kitchen’s offering with parsley, pecans, garlic and parmesan.  ($6.00) I thought that it was OK…but I’ve had other turnip offerings that I liked better.

These are the desserts that we shared to complete our gourmet meal… Clockwise from left to right, we have Sea Salt Shortbread Biscuits with Smoked Blue Cheese and Missouri Honey, the Apple Streusel with Brown Sugar, Oats, Honey and Cider, plus the Maple Pot de Crème with Fresh Fig, Caramel and Black Walnuts. ($7.00 each)

The Maple Pot de Crème was the Winner among the desserts!  Everyone thought that it was great.  The Apple Streusel was mostly apple…stuffed with a little filling.  It just didn’t do it for me.  None of us really understood the Sea Salt Shortbread dessert.  The shortbread didn’t taste like shortbread…very little sweetness…and the combination of flavors just didn’t register with our group.

Service was efficient, knowledgeable and friendly.  Josh stopped by our table on 2 or 3 occasions and talked to us about the restaurant and the food.

Home Wine Kitchen is located at 7322 Manchester Road in Maplewood Missouri.  Phone: 314-802-7676.  For more information and to check out the current week’s menu, just click on this link: http://www.homewinekitchen.com/menu.  

Just click on any photo to enlarge it…

Thanks for stopping by for a visit!

Take Care, Big Daddy Dave