Friday, July 4, 2014

Family Visit and a Corner Bar – St. Louis Missouri

Whenever we visit Laurie’s family in St. Louis, we always see a lot of her family.  She has 3 sisters, nieces and nephews and a plethora of grandnieces and grandnephews…as well as a number of cousins.


We always stop and visit with Laurie’s Aunt Lois who celebrated her 100th birthday back in January of this year.  Aunt Lois is sharp as a tack and has a great memory!  She loves to play card games and she does a great job of staying up on the comings and goings of her extended family.


Eating always seems to be one of the key social events of our visits… We went to Pat’s Bar and Grill with Laurie’s sister Bonnie, her husband Bill, one of their family friends and her granddaughter.  Pat’s Bar and Grill, an Irish Pub, is conveniently located right across from Forest Park and the St. Louis Zoo.


Patrick Connolly, the original owner, originally came from County Galway Ireland.  He started Pat’s Bar and Grill in June of 1942.  Pat's longtime bartender purchased the place in the 60's.  Pat Connolly's daughter, Teresa, and her husband took the helm in the early 1980s…and they put the original name back on the place.  After her husband passed, Teresa returned to teaching and passed ownership on to her long-time bartender…and Joe Finn runs the place to this day.


For some reason, it took forever to get our food…

Bonnie ordered Pat’s Cheeseburger with Provolone Cheese, with onion rings as her side item. ($8.00) The burger was OK if a bit overcooked but the onion rings were pretty good. 
 


I ordered the Chicken Dinner with the Breast and Wing and I chose coleslaw as my side. ($8.00) The dipping sauce for the chicken had a little bite to it…interesting for sure.  The chicken was decent bar food… I liked the coleslaw.


Laurie likes dark meat so she went with the Chicken Dinner with the Thigh and Leg. ($7.00) She substituted cottage cheese for the usual choices of French fries or coleslaw.  She agreed with me…this was decent if not great bar food.


The best food item that we encountered was our beautiful platter of homemade potato chips! ($3.00) They were indeed addictive!

We were fairly negative by the time we got our food… A couple of beers helped us cope but it wasn’t like the restaurant was very busy.  We do like these kinds of joints…neighborhood bars, diners, etc. and Pat’s is very popular with park goers and locals in general.  We would try it again…

Pat’s Bar and Grill is located at 6400 Oakland Avenue in St. Louis. Phone: 314-875-0400.  Website: http://patsbarandgrill.com/.

Just click on any of the photos to enlarge them…

Thanks for stopping by for a visit!

Take Care, Big Daddy Dave 


6 comments:

  1. I noticed right away that Laurie really favors her Aunt Lois. How wonderful that she is sharp and alert at one hundred.A beer and a plate of those crunchy homemade chips would have made me happy.
    Sam

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  2. My heavens, what a young 100 Aunt Lois is! She looks great, and good for her! And, Laurie is a lucky lady with her large family! The food all looks delicious! Have a Happy 4th!

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  3. It can be disappointing when the local establishments disappoint we expect so much more from them. Still your visit looks like it was good fun with family.

    Velva

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  4. What lovely post David! I love Aunt Lois she is adorable!!;)

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  5. I love Pat's onions rings! Look delicious!

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  6. What a large family, just like our Sicilian families here. Happy Birthday to Auntie! That food looks so delicious, I really miss American food. Have a nice Sunday Dave!

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