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

Two Railroad Depots and a Lighthouse

While on our late summer trip to upper New York State we drove along NY Hwy. 3 which runs parallel to the eastern shore of Lake Ontario.  The problem is that for most of the drive, the road isn’t close enough to the road to get a look at the Lake.  Well, that necessitated a drive down a side road to Selkirk Harbor…

Much to our surprise, my eagle eye co-pilot spotted this old depot sitting back off the road in the woods on private property.  It had obviously been moved to this location and placed on a concrete block foundation.  While the Baggage Room and Waiting Room signs are still hanging over the doors, there was no indication as to where this little depot had come from.  It is very old though…note the center chimney for the old potbelly stove or dual fireplace.

Just up the road from the little depot, we came to Selkirk Harbor and its lighthouse.  This stone lighthouse has 18” thick walls and it was built in 1838 at a cost of $3,000.  The lighthouse was deactivated in 1858.  That turned out to be a positive factor for lighthouse historians as the structure and the light itself avoided modernization.  There is only one other lighthouse with a birdcage lantern room left in the USA and it is located on Prudence Island in Rhode Island 

Subsequently, several people and/or families have used the structure as a private residence.  In the early 1900’s it was incorporated into a larger hotel and restaurant complex…with the latter becoming well known for its excellent German cuisine.  During our visit, it appears that the hotel/dining/event catering operation has faded away.  It is interesting to note that in 1989, the Coast Guard installed a solar powered light in the historic lantern room and the facility was reactivated as a Class II navigation aid.

This is Selkirk Harbor… This area at the mouth of the Salmon River was settled in 1801.  For a while, the settlement was called ‘Port Ontario’.  Early settlers were drawn to the harbor by the huge annual runs of salmon.  At one point, a government engineer determined that the river mouth had sufficient depth and breadth for anchoring around 30 ships.  That report led to the construction of the lighthouse.

Shortly after the lighthouse was finished, 2 long piers were built here to improve the harbor and to facilitate shipping.  At that time, 1.5 million feet of pine lumber, 5,000 bushels of potatoes, 50 tons of butter and a large amount of potash were shipped via Selkirk Harbor.  A canal was proposed which would have linked the Salmon River to Lake Oneida and the Erie Canal…opening the harbor up to several major markets.  But the plan fell through and, as you can see from the photo, the importance of the harbor quickly faded away.

This is the Rail City Historical Museum.  It’s housed in one of the many structures that once comprised the Rail City Railroad Museum.  This depot is from Deer River New York  and was built in 1873.  It was bought, moved and reassembled by Dr. Stanley Groman, the patron and founder of the original museum.

In its day, this place must have been a star attraction.  Dr. Groman started accumulating rolling stock and related artifacts 1n 1952 and he opened the Rail City Museum on July 4, 1955.  He had the foresight to preserve rolling stock and historic structures from the steam era of railroading…just as the changeover to diesel was being completed.  At one point, the collection included 16 full-size steam locomotives.  During its first full year of operation, the museum had more than 30,000 visitors!  The Rail City Museum was in operation until 1974.  Since then, the rolling stock has been sold off and, with the exception of the depot, the buildings are gone too. 

I traced one 1927 Baldwin 2-8-0 to what appeared to be its final resting place…a burned out storage building owned by a railroad salvage company in Kane Pennsylvania.  Arsonists set fire to the place in 2008.  Fortunately, old #38 was subsequently purchased by the Everett Railroad Company in Claysburg Pennsylvania where it’s currently being rebuilt. (as shown above) Everett operates a rail tourist operation in addition to its short line freight business. 

Currently, the old depot is open by appointment only.  It’s called the Rail City Historical Museum and it’s really a museum about the original Rail City operation.  There are some great photos as well as a lot of history posted on their website.  Just go to http://www.railcitymuseum.com/.

Just click on any photo to enlarge it…

Thanks for stopping by for a visit!

Take Care, Big Daddy Dave

A Mexican Grill – East Tennessee

I’m not a huge fan of Mexican/American food… True upscale Mexican cuisine is another matter, but those upscale spots are few and far between.  In any case, we’re always open for trying a new place.  We finished a round of golf with our friends Karen and Charlie and they suggested that we try a new Mexican restaurant that had recently opened in the area.

This is Cielito Lindo Mexican Grill.  It’s been open for a few months and we’d heard mixed reports about the food, ranging from OK to Good… One of our blogging buddies told us that it was passable but both he and his wife felt that the owners would have to improve the food quality to survive. (There are a large number of Mexican restaurants in the area around Knoxville Tennessee)

Keep in mind that we stopped in for an early dinner…too late for lunch but before the normal dinner hour.  The owners of Cielito Lindo certainly spent a lot of effort to creat a colorful, happy ambience!  Very nice…

Like most Mexican restaurants, Cielito Lindo automatically brings chips and salsa to the table for a snack while perusing the menu.  One nice touch at this restaurant is the ‘Salsa Bar’.  This ‘bar’ features a wide variety of salsas that you can sample with your chips and/or your food.  Flavors range from mild and exotic to blow your brains out!  I like hot and spicy…but I stopped sampling the salsas when I tried one that qualified as ‘damn hot’.

This was my favorite part of the whole meal…the Queso Fundido appetizer topped with chorizo.  While it was too spicy for one member of our group, it was generally well received. (I just added a little more hot salsa to mine)  

In addition to 4 different kinds of Nachos, 8 other appetizers and 2 soups are offered.  Seven different dips are available as well.  They include guacamole, bean, spinach, cheese, chorizo, black bean and cheese and cheese with ground beef and pico de gallo.

We tried several different dishes.  This is the Chile Relleno with Mexican rice and refried beans.

I ordered the steak tips with Mexican rice, tortillas, salsa, cheese and beans…the latter with a nice bit of sausage added for flavor.  It was OK but the steak tips were a bit overcooked.  They were more like beef ‘nuggets’.

Another member of our little group ordered the Nachos Supremos for their ‘entrée’.  No complaints on this one…

This is a Spinach Quesadilla…a flour tortilla grilled and stuffed with spinach, mushrooms and cheese.  According to my table mate, she enjoyed this vegetarian dish.  

This is a chicken taco with lettuce and cheese.  Per the diner, it lacked much flavor and the chicken was a little dry.

The same diner ordered a ground beef enchilada with white cheese sauce.  She reported that the ground beef  had a ‘mushy’ quality to it which sort of spoiled it for her.

OK… in general, we felt that the food was OK, pretty average but not worth going out of our way for.  In other words, in my normal parlance, this restaurant primarily best serves as a ‘fuel stop’.  Cielito Lindo was clean and inviting.  Service was polite and efficient.

Now I must say that the menu is 7 pages long.  There are many, many choices for the diner to choose from.  With the exception of my steak entrée, everyone else worked off the lunch or ala carte menu.  Perhaps the seafood specials, the fajitas or the Special Orders are more representative of what Cielito Lindo are all about.  We will give it another try when we’re in the neighborhood…

Cielito Lindo Mexican Grill is located at 1265 Highway 411 in Vonore Tennessee.  Phone: 423-884-2885.  I could not locate a website for this restaurant.

Just click on any photo to enlarge it…

Thanks for stopping by for a visit!

Take Care, Big Daddy Dave

2011 Road Trip – Railroad Depots (#5) NY

Continuing with our photos of active, 'repurposed', deserted and derelict railway depots, here are 2 more for those readers and followers who might be interested.

This is the former Lehigh Valley Railroad Depot in Ithaca New York.  It was built in 1898 in the classical revival style with a bit of a Romanesque feel.   Note the great old 4-sided clock.  For 40 years, the building was utilized as the Station Restaurant.  Now it’s been converted and its being used as the Chemung Canal Bank.

There are 5 pieces of rolling stock permanently in place beside the old Lehigh Valley Railroad depot.  This is an Alco Cooke 0-4-0T locomotive built in 1928 for the Solvay Process Company.  This company was an early US chemical firm that produced soda ash for industry.  At one point, the Solvay Process Company was a major employer in central New York State.

This postcard shows how the depot appeared early in the 20^th century.  With the exception of the rails that the 5 pieces of rolling stock sits on, the track has been removed and the area around the station has been completely built up.  For some really great photos of the Lehigh Valley Railroad Station and additional detail about the rolling stock on static display, go to http://www.railroad.net/forums/viewtopic.php?f=128&t=66280&p=731909.

This former depot is also located in Ithaca.  It belonged to the Delaware, Lackawanna & Western Railroad.  Passenger service to Ithaca ended in 1942 and the last steam locomotive came through town in 1951.  The last train leaving town was a 7 car freight train that departed at 4:20 PM on December 5, 1956.

The good news is that this depot has been repurposed.  It now serves as a bus terminal for Greyhound, New York Trailways and Shortline (Coach USA).  From what I read on-line, the interior of this depot has not been well maintained and there also seems to be a personnel issue. (Warning – Troll on Duty!)

Just a side note or two… Ithaca is the home of Cornell University.  It is also the North American seat of Tenzin Gyatso, the 14^th Dali Lama.  Famous citizens/residents include or have included Paul Wolfowitz, E. B. White, Alex Haley, Vladimir Nabokov and Carl Sagan.

Just click on any photo to enlarge it…

Thanks for stopping by for a visit!

Take Care, Big Daddy Dave 

Nice Breakfast in Clayton NY

Our host at the Channelsyde Motel in Alexandria Bay recommended a little place over in Clayton New York versus any of the restaurants in Alexandria Bay…but he thought that it was probably ‘too much of a drive’.  Well, we took his second choice in Alexandria Bay for dinner the first night…Riley’s.  As previously reported, it was just OK.  So, for breakfast the next morning, we headed back up the road to Clayton…where we had first stopped for the fabulous Antique Boat Museum.

This is the Koffee Kove Restaurant in Clayton New York.  Laurie took this photo after we finished eating.  When we arrived in late mid-morning, there was a line and the outdoor seating was full.  After about 20 minutes, we got a table.  I can’t even imagine how long the wait would be in mid-summer…

We didn’t get a great indoor picture… However, the dining area was warm and friendly.  Wait staff were running in all directions.  It was a very busy scene when we were first seated!

Laurie ordered the Koffee Kove version of Eggs Benedict with a side of sliced fried potatoes.  It looks good and it was good!  To accompany our breakfast, we also had coffee, (very good), and big glasses of orange juice.

As you can see, I ordered my ideal version of Eggs Benedict…with nice big flavorful sausage patties and those great fried potatoes.  FYI…those red spots on the eggs and fried potatoes represent my morning wake-up dose of Tabasco!  This was a very nice breakfast…

Koffee Kove doesn’t have a website.  Looking at other patron’s remarks on the Internet, most people really like this place.  Once in a while, service was noted as an issue.  Our service was just fine.  It is not a low cost restaurant.  Our breakfast cost $27.18 with tip.  It was worth every penny! 

The Koffee Kove Restaurant is open 7 days a week from 6 AM to 8 PM, year around, for breakfast, lunch and dinner.  It’s located at 220 James Street in Clayton New York.  Their phone number is 315-686-2472.  

Just click on any photograph to enlarge it…

Thanks for stopping by for a visit!

Take Care, Big Daddy Dave

A Room with a View…Ships vs. Friction!

Where to stay in Alexandria Bay New York?!  Sometimes you win and sometimes you lose… From my viewpoint, the little 14-unit motel that I chose was a winner.  The price was right and the view was great.  The more important issue is that I wasn’t the only person on this trip and if my better half isn’t happy…well, everyone knows how that saying goes!  

This is a photo of the Channelsyde Motel and the owner’s home as seen from the south shore of the St. Lawrence River.  There are a total of 14 units at this family operated motel.  Our room was on the first floor, right under the stairs to the second level.

The views from the motel or its front lawn are very relaxing as well as being easy on the eyes.  The main channel of the St. Lawrence River flows right in front of the Channelsyde.

I will admit that our room was very small.  I will also admit that there was an ‘odor’ in the bathroom… I still maintain that it smelled like a strong cleaning product, but Laurie was convinced that the bathroom, to be polite, wasn’t clean…  You know that I didn’t come out on top in this disagreement!

Here’s a dock side view of the river… The St. Lawrence River is also an integral part of the St. Lawrence Seaway.  Ships can bring cargo though a series of locks, rivers and the Great Lakes, all the way from the Atlantic Ocean, to a number of key inland ports, including Toronto, Buffalo, Cleveland, Toledo, Detroit, Chicago, Milwaukee, Green Bay, Duluth and Thunder Bay.

So, regarding the positive side of our motel…this was our view of the St. Lawrence Seaway at one of its most narrow points.  I like ships, (Plus trains, planes and automobiles), so this was a great place to be. 

The ship shown above passing in front of the Channelsyde Motel is the Tim S. Dool.  This 730’ Great Lakes freighter is owned by Algoma Central, a Canadian Company, and it’s managed by Seaway Marine Transport.  The Tim S. Dool was built in St. John New Brunswick in 1967.  In 2007, it was rebuilt and renamed in honor of a former Algoma Central President and Chief Executive Officer.  It has a carrying capacity of 31,250 tons of bulk product.

Laurie also liked the view…despite her dislike of the accommodations.  She took all of these photos, including this one of the Algoeast. (Yes, it’s another Algoma Central vessel) However, the Algoeast is a double hulled tanker.  She was built by a Japanese Company in 1977 for the Texaco Oil Company.  The Algoeast is 431’ feet long and she will hold 64,956 barrels of product.   

The Channelsyde Motel may or may not be open for business in 2012.  One of the owners told me that they had the house up for sale, (mid-$700K if anyone’s interested), and that when the house sold, they were going to close down the motel, tear it down and build themselves a new home on part of the property.

At this point, their website is still up and operational.  We noted that many of the guests/customers at the Channelsyde had stayed there several times over multiple years…probably a family vacation tradition.  This is a very family friendly motel.  To learn more about the Channelsyde Motel, just go to www.channelsyde.com, or call them at 315-482-2281.

Just click on any photo to enlarge it…

Thanks for stopping by for a visit!

Take Care, Big Daddy Dave   

Dinner – Alexandria Bay New York

One stop on our trip to upper New York State was in Alexandria Bay on the St. Lawrence River.  I always like to see if I can find a place to eat that’s popular with the locals…or at least with repeat visitors to the area.  In this case, my efforts at researching our food options via my restaurant guidebooks, as well as on-line through Trip Advisor, didn’t provide much help.  All of the restaurants were rated as just passable or as an overpriced ‘fuel’ stop.

So I asked our hotel/motel owner where he would suggest that we should eat dinner… He admitted that Alexandria Bay didn’t have the best restaurants and that they tended to be overpriced, but he had heard a couple of good reports on a new place, Riley’s By The River. 

The location was promising and the view of the St. Lawrence River from Riley’s window was OK too.

We ordered our dinners, which started out with a decent side salad and some passable soft bread sticks. 

Laurie had the Flat Iron Steak for her entrée. ($17.95) As described in the menu, it was a 10 oz. flat iron steak, grilled, cut on the bias, and then served with Riley’s special bourbon sauce and sautéed mushrooms. 

The dinner menu offered 6 appetizers, ($7.25 to $9.50), 3 dinner salads, ($9.75 to $10.75), 2 pasta dishes, 3 chicken entrees, 1 pork dish, 3 fish options plus a strip steak and prime rib.  Pricing for the entrees was reasonable, ranging from $13.95 to $19.95.  Dinners include bread, a side salad, chef’s choice vegetable and a starch…pasta or potato.  There was also another segment of the menu entitled ‘Lighter Fare’ that is served all day.  It consisted of sandwiches, a quesadilla plus fish and chips.  Prices for this portion of the menu ranged from $8.75 to $12.95.

For my dinner, I ordered the Chicken Bruschetta. ($14.95) This was described as a boneless breast sautéed in olive oil and minced garlic, then topped with diced tomatoes, fresh basil and shredded mozzarella cheese.  My entrée should have had a lot of flavor…but it didn’t!  It had texture though…crunchy bits of undercooked garlic…that didn’t have a chance to impart their flavor into the chicken and mozzarella cheese.  The baked potato was just OK. 

Conclusion… This was one of those places that we would go to just to fuel up...nothing special.  We might have done better if we’d just gone with a sandwich.  The good news was that Riley’s served OK if uninspiring food and it was reasonably priced.   

Riley’s By the River is affiliated with Captain Thompson’s Resort on the River.  Riley’s is located at 46 – 48 James Street in Alexandria Bay.  Phone: 315-482-7777.  Website: http://www.captthomsons.com/resort/index.php/rileys/. 

Just click on any photo to enlarge it… 

Thanks for stopping by for a visit!

Take Care, Big Daddy Dave