An Old Depot Transformed + More Stuff

Continuing with yet another new restaurant near our home…and yet another neighborhood estate sale.

This is Monkey Town Brewing Company’s new restaurant in Loudon Tennessee.  It is located in Loudon’s old railway depot just about 3 blocks from US Hwy 11.  Monkey Town has 2 other locations, one in Chattanooga Tennessee and the other in Dayton Tennessee.  

Why Monkey Town as the name for this small local chain of restaurants?   Well, the first restaurant using this name is the one in Dayton Tennessee.  That town was home to the famous or infamous Scopes Trial, and the struggle over teaching evolution vs. creationism in 1925.  It was termed the Monkey Trial…hence Dayton became ‘Monkey Town’ in the popular press of the day.  William Jennings Bryan was the prosecutor and Clarence Darrow was the principal defense counsel.  Oddly enough, Bryan died in his sleep in Dayton only 5 days after the trial ended.

These 2 interior photos of Monkey Town Brewing in Loudon give you an idea of the ‘look’ of the restaurant.  It’s basically an open space with brick walls, high ceilings and a concrete floor.  There is that accent wall of wood.  At some time in the past the interior of the building was ‘gutted’ and none of the charm of an old depot remains.  Even though there isn’t anything wrong with space, we like ‘old stuff’ and we were disappointed by its appearance.  The ambiance of Monkey Town was enhanced during our meal when a freight train rumbled past the back of the building...

This used to be Loudon’s passenger station.  It was built by Southern Railway.  The railroad first came to town in 1855 when a bridge spanned the Tennessee River near here.  At that time, the town was known as Blair’s Ferry...

We started out with the House-Made Beer Cheese accompanied by house-made potato chips. ($7.95) The beer cheese dip was very tasty and it was complemented by nicely done house potato chips.

No photo…but Laurie did have a Monkey Town brew with her appetizer.  It was a 16 oz. “Road to Mordor”, an India pale lager. ($5.50) It was easy to drink...

There are a wide variety of appetizers on the menu.  They include Honey Butter Biscuits ($6.95); Mexican Sweet Corn – 3 half cobs ($6.95); Potstickers ($9.95), Irish Nachos with corned beef ($12.95) and; Chicken Wings…easily the most expensive price per wing we’ve seen yet, $12.95 for 6 wings, or $2.16 each.

For her dinner, Laurie ordered the Thai Chicken Lettuce Wraps…4 ‘wraps’ for $13.95.  Sesame pulled chicken with peanut sauce, red cabbage slaw, sweet Thai chili sauce, sesame seeds and fried wonton were stacked on top of pieces of bibb lettuce.

The only issue that Laurie had with her entrée was that the bibb lettuce sections were way too small to ‘wrap’ anything in…much less the stack of goodies that overwhelmed the lettuce.

For my entrée, I ordered the Shrimp Scampi with angel hair pasta, roasted tomatoes, fresh basil, white wine, garlic butter, parmesan cheese, and garlic crostini’s. ($13.95) It was OK but like many other dishes in East Tennessee that say they contain garlic…I struggled to find any garlic flavor in the meal. 

OK…Service was a huge problem for us at Monkey Town Brewing in Loudon.  We were seated and got our drinks fairly quickly and then we were ‘abandoned’ for quite a while.  Finally our server showed up again and we ordered our appetizer, foolishly holding off on ordering our entrees until after we received the appetizer.  Bad move…yet another wait!  When I got my entrée, there weren’t any crostini with it and you can see how little parmesan cheese was sprinkled on top.  I asked for the crostini and more parmesan…but I ended up finishing my entrée with neither request ever being delivered.  We won’t be in any hurry to return to this restaurant…

The Monkey Town Brewing Company in Loudon Tennessee is located at 318 Angel Row.  They are open for lunch and dinner Thursdays through Sundays.  Phone: 865-657-9624.  Website: Monkey Town Brewing Company - Loudon - Loudon, Loudon, TN.  FYI...the menu at Monkey Town has a wide and imaginative varied number of entrees and appetizers...

Living in a community that is primarily comprised of retired folks, there are always estate sales going on.  As a matter of fact, we will be trying to go to another sale either today or tomorrow.

In any case, the last one we ‘explored’ was in the home shown above…after all, we 'need' more stuff!

This was my big purchase!  I spent a dollar for this book, “The Best Little Stories from the White House”.  If nothing else, it should be entertaining and the price was right.

Laurie went a little bigger with her estate sale purchase.  We paid $50.00 for this nicely done and very old ‘postage stamp’ pattern quilt for a double bed.  It was perfect for our 3^rd bedrooms antique double bead!  Even I like it…

That’s all for now… Next time I’ll start covering yet another road trip, this time, in mid-July, we traveled to southern and northern Missouri on our way to Omaha for a family visit. 

Just click on any of the photos to enlarge them…

Thanks for stopping by for a visit!

Take Care, Big Daddy Dave

New Restaurant and More

Back home in East Tennessee… Not too much happening but we did go out for dinner and couple of times. 

El Senor took over and remodeled a building close to I-75 on TN Hwy 72 in Loudon.  It has served as the location for several different restaurants in the 14 years that we’ve lived in the area.  The exterior and the parking area have been refreshed…and it’s hard to miss the visual that is El Senor when driving past it.

Inside El Senor, there is plenty of color with matching decor everywhere!  It is almost ‘de rigueur’/required to see a portrait of Frida Kahlo in Mexican restaurants these days…and El Senor is compliant as regards this trend.  Plenty of other paintings, posters and colorful décor cover the walls.  Even the table tops and the front of the bar are highly decorated.  The only items lacking ‘color’ are the chairs and the seats in the booths.  Actually, those bland items, actually prevent color sensory overload… The effect is that this is a ‘happy’ and upbeat place to be.

We did imbibe… I had my usual Miller Lite ($4.07) while Laurie opted for a 20 oz. Lime Margarita. ($10.25) Laurie thought that her Margarita was a nice change from the usual…

Of course, our server brought us the usual corn chips and salsa.  We stepped it up a bit with an order of Choriqueso…cheese sauce topped with some spicy chorizo sausage crumbles.  It was excellent, one of the best we’ve had lately.

A total of 9 different appetizers are offered.  I made note of the Buffalo Wings, 10 for $13.99, which I will compare to another restaurant in my next post.  Tex-Mexi Egg Rolls ($9.49) and Shrimp Ceviche ($13.99) were a bit unusual and worth noting.

For her entrée, Laurie went ‘vegan’!  She ordered the Quesadilla Vegetariana stuffed with spinach and mushrooms. ($11.32) She topped it with a bit of the red salsa and she was a very happy camper.  Mushrooms don’t ‘happen’ at home…

El Senor has a huge menu.  In addition to the appetizers, burritos and quesadillas, there is a large selection of vegetarian offerings, nachos, steak, pork, seafood, chicken, house specials, combos, fajitas, salads and much more.

For my dinner, I ordered the Burrito Carnitas. ($11.93) My 10 inch flour tortilla was filled with shredded pork and then topped with cheese sauce and salsa verde/green sauce.  It was a very good burrito and there was enough cheese and green sauce to mix in with my rice too!

We were very happy with our dining experience at El Senor Mexican Restaurant.  It is hard for a Mexican Restaurant to really stand out in our area.  I can think of 3 or 4 other Mexican dining venues within 15 – 20 minutes of our home that also offer quality Mexican food.

El Senor Mexican Restaurant is located at 10058 TN Hwy 72 in Loudon Tennessee.  Phone: 865-657-3777.  Website: Home (google.com).   

Now onto our home and a family photo…

A prolonged cold snap this past winter resulted in the death of the 2 boxwoods which stood sentinel by our front entrance.  We recently replaced them with a pair of Japanese Cleyera Japonica.  These new bushes can get quite large but they can also be pruned to keep them from overwhelming the space.  The leaves change colors with the seasons and with age, so we’re expecting them to accent the entry to our home.

A couple of pluses include the fact that Japanese Cleyera Japonica are low maintenance plants…except for pruning…that is mostly pest and disease-free and they’re also deer resistant. 

The two planters between the new bushes are home to a selection of colorful flowers chosen for Laurie by our local plant expert at our local hardware, lumber and garden center.  They just keep blooming and don’t require much attention...other than water depending on the weather.

I thought I’d end this post with cuteness!  This is Elliot Jane, Laurie’s youngest great grandniece.  Elliot is holding her bunny, whose name is ‘Pistachio’.  With those ‘shades’ on, the bunny is looking really cool…

Just click on any of the photos to enlarge them…

Thanks for stopping by for a visit!

Take Care, Big Daddy Dave    

Redevelopment, Food and Beer

…continuing with our family visit to the St. Louis area.  Once again we were out and about with Laurie’s sister Bonnie and her husband Bill.  This is the last…and lengthy post…from this particular trip which took place back in June.

We love redevelopment…reuse of existing but ‘discarded’ or abandoned structures.  Several years ago, a developer in St. Louis Missouri imagined the transformation of the former Federal-Mogul/Century Electric foundry into a bona fide food hall…an attraction for locals and tourists alike.

The preceding photos show the old railroad trestle and support columns that at one point were used to provide rail transport to and from the foundry. 

At the beginning of the project, ca. 2017, this nearly 100 year old structure, located near St. Louis’ Midtown, with its rust, rubble, chipped paint, and standing water had been completely abandoned for more than a decade.  Scrap thieves and graffiti ‘artists’ had left their mark as well. 

The old 15-acre foundry complex shut down completely in 2007 and, as recently at 2014 it was slated for demolition.  Century Electric Co. was once one of the ‘big three’ electrical manufacturers based in St. Louis.  The other 2 were Wagner and Emerson.  Electrical manufacturing was a major industry in the St. Louis economy following the advent of electricity.  The city was the site of early innovation in the field.  Century’s inventiveness made the development of early household appliances possible.  The first automatic electric home refrigerator was equipped with a Century Electric Motor.

As you can see from the photos above, The Foundry STL is huge and growing.  In addition to the growing Food Court, this multi-use facility now features 16 retailers, a drafthouse, a winery, a fitness center and a number of entertainment enterprises.  As regards retail, offerings range from Candles to Bicycles.  In the distance in that second photo, you can see that construction is underway for offices and high rise apartments...

Of course, ‘me’ being me and Bill being Bill, our main interest other than the redevelopment of this huge facility, was the still growing Food Court.

I bought some quality fried chicken from 4Hens Creole Kitchen.  No photo but I did get a picture of a pizza from Fordo's Killer Pizza.  I didn’t track what the others snacked on but I noted the Kalbi Taco Shack and the Kitchen Bar among many other dining or drinking opportunities.  Love the carry on of the industrial theme at the bar...

Here is one overview look of the Food Court area at The Foundry.  As you can see, the space for the Food Court is huge!  In addition to the 3 venues listed previously, here are your other current food options:

Buenos Aires Café; Berry Box Superfood Bar; Chez Ali – Afro-Caribbean Food; Good Day – soups and salads; Hello Poke; Intergalactic Burgers; Patty’s Cheesecakes; Poptimism STL – usual and exotic popsicles; Press Waffle Co.: STL Toasted – varieties of toasted ravioli; Subdivision Sandwich Co.: Sur Este – Yucatan Mexican cuisine, and Turmeric Street Style – Food from the Indian sub-continent. 

I really liked the way that The Foundry’s developers/owners utilized the industrial nature/original purpose and design of this big facility.  Love the large piece of industrial wall art as well as the incorporation of industrial features in the landscaping.

For fun beyond food at The Foundry STL, I’d mentioned the Drafthouse and the Winery.  The Sandbox VR (a virtual reality experience) and Puttshack offer opportunities for family and group recreation.  Puttshack is from the makers of Top Golf and it’s an upscale tech-infused mini golf game.

When we saw this wall with a touch of graffiti still in place at one of the entrances to the entertainment venues at The Foundry, it was only natural that I ‘had’ to take a picture of Bill at ‘his’ wall.

To learn more about The Foundry STL, you can just go to Home (cityfoundrystl.com).

From The Foundry STL, we headed over to another part of St. Louis.  This area used to be known as the “Manchester Strip” in the late 1800s.  Today The Grove is described as “St. Louis’ Bohemian Paradise”.  The area is diverse, colorful, on-trend and vibrant.  This thriving district stretches for about a mile along Manchester Avenue and it is home to more than 50 businesses that offer great places to eat and drink, several dance floors, spots to shop and more.  In addition, many apartments and condo buildings have been built in The Grove...

We stopped at Urban Chestnut, a brew pub/beer hall with large communal tables, designed for large groups or folks who just want to meet others.  As you can see, the bar itself is huge.  The beerhall wasn’t very busy in the mid-afternoon when we visited. 

We didn’t have anything to eat and earlier in the day, snacks and food options are limited.  When the kitchen opens, salads, a burger, chicken sandwich, pork schnitzel, brats, a currywurst, French fries, large pretzel sticks, a variety of pizzas and Berliners (donuts) are available.

Bill ordered some beer for our group from the printed menu available on clipboards.  Our group had a Bavarian Dunkel ($6.00), a Stan Musial #6 American lager ($6.00), an Urban Underdog Lime Beer ($6.00) and a Stutz Pale Ale ($5.00).

As I’ve mentioned previously, breweries must really have to stretch their imagination to come up with a name for their beers now that we have this hyper craft beer boom in place.  They weren’t too weird at Urban Chestnut, but Red Panda Zoo Bier and Balkan Treat Box were imaginative.  My favorite beer name on the menu was Oachketzlschwoaf…an Austrian slang word for the tail of a squirrel.  I won’t even try to pronounce it!

To learn more about Urban Chestnut and their two St. Louis locations, go to The Grove Brewery and Bierhall | Urban Chestnut Brewing Company.

I’ll end this post with a photo looking down Manchester Avenue in The Grove area of St. Louis Missouri.  As you can see, the area is popular and growing fast with new apartments on every block.  The area is also famous for its wall art.  My favorite is the wall mural/advertisement for Vails Brothers Shrimp, Chicken and Fish just down the street from Urban Chestnut.  The storefront is colorful and the mural is a piece of urban art.  To learn more about Vails Brothers, their other location and their food truck, go to Chicken Wings - NEW RESTAURANT, Food Truck/Catering/Special Events (vailsbrothers314.com).

This was a long one.  If you got all the way to the end, thanks!  Just click on any of the photos to enlarge them.

Thanks for stopping by for a visit!

Take Care, Big Daddy Dave

Food, Shopping, Spending and more Food

…continuing with our visit with Laurie’s family in St. Louis Missouri.  We were out and about with Laurie’s sister Bonnie and her husband Bill.  We dined, shopped, gambled and then dined again.

This post might be just a tad longer than usual…

Bonnie and Bill like taking us to some of the long time restaurants, diners and dives, that they’ve enjoyed over the years.  Amighetti’s has been a fixture in the St. Louis area for many years…since 1916.  Of course, with the Italian “Hill District”, Italian cuisine of every type can be found in the area. 

This new location, (now 3 in total), at 5390 Southwest is referred to by many residents as the “Top of the Hill”.  New owners, Italian of course, bought Amighetti’s in 2016 and then they acquired Hank’s Cheesecakes, another local favorite, in 2021. 

I like that fact that Amighetti’s retained the old sign for Hanneke Hardware when they took over the building.  Hanneke Hardware was located here for many years, opening in 1927 and finally closing in February of 2015

The hardware store ‘look’ continues inside Amighetti’s.  The front of the concrete counter is clad with wooden doors mounted sideways.  The pitted surface of the counter looks like one where customers placed their various hardware items for purchase.  Another feature that stresses the ‘aged look’ of the restaurant are the barn wood sculptures that hang from the ceiling.  In the end, the interior look is industrial. 

Customers line up and place their orders and when your food is ready, as I remember, you pick it up and head for a table.  Basically, Amighetti’s is a popular sandwich shop that serves other items as well.  Go through the “Exit” door in the second photo and you’ll find a large showcase full of Hank’s Cheesecakes…with more than a dozen flavors!

Many St. Louis residents consider the Amighetti Special to be the best sandwich in town.  It consists of ham, beef, salami, brick cheese, lettuce, pickles, tomato, onion, pepperoncini and Amighetti’s special dressing. ($6.49 half/$10.79 whole) I forget who ordered the 'side' salad but the restaurant is certainly generous with all that cheese on top!

I can’t identify the sandwiches that we ordered as per the photos above…except for the last one, my Italian Roast Beef with cheese and house made gravy. (Whole $11.49) An important factor with any of these sandwiches is that the bread is from Amighetti’s.  It’s fresh and crusty while being soft in the middle.  

But, it’s not all about sandwiches!  Amighetti’s also has a number of starters, salads, soups, sides and pasta offerings.  The latter includes lasagna, spaghetti and tortellini.  They also offer a sandwich that I’ve never had…a Wild Salmon Meatball creation.

Everyone seemed pleased with their selection.  But, as frequently happens, I was an outlier as regarded my sandwich.  It was OK but I wasn’t really impressed.  Of course, my problem might be that I was thinking an Italian roast beef sandwich from Chicago, probably not a fair comparison.

Amighetti’s Hill location is at 5390 Southwest Avenue in St. Louis Missouri.  For more about this local favorite, and to view their extensive menu, go to Amighettis – St. Louis' Signature Sandwich.

Our next stop was at Cool Stuff Period, a home furnishings, antiques and décor items, creating a weirdly wonderful and interesting store.  Given its location and signage, you could just drive by without noticing if you didn’t know about it.

The following photos are intended to give you an idea about the variety and scope of the decorative and functional items feature at Cool Stuff Period.

Cool Stuff Period/aka Cool Stuff.  This imaginative store is open Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday.  Like the store and what it sells, the days that they are open for business are a bit ‘different’.

This is a great place to find unusual décor and furniture too.  Check it out at 5707 Manchester Avenue in St. Louis Missouri.  Their website is at Welcome to CoolStuff. (coolstuffperiod.com).

Weakness set in and we decided to briefly visit one of the casinos that can be found in the St. Louis area.  Bill knows where these money sapping entertainment centers are located…as well as which ones might yield a payout.  So we stopped at the River City Casino and Resort at 777 River City Casino Boulevard in St. Louis Missouri.

We were at the casino for a little bit more than an hour.  Laurie and I dropped less than $100, a ‘win’ in our estimation…but thanks to Bonnie knowing when to quit, she and Bill left with a few extra dollars in their pocket.  I did note that there was good ventilation which helps those of us who don’t smoke…and there was a large non-smoking area with a bunch of slot machines.

River City Casino features all the usual games for those who like variety…although I did notice mechanical ‘dealer’ for black jack players.  Find out more at River City Casino in St. Louis, MO.   

Our next dining opportunity was this little St. Louis restaurant.  El Potro Restaurant serves a variety of Mexican and Central American dishes, including a number of seafood specialties.  Bill really likes this place and Yelp reviews give El Potro 4.6 stars out of 5.0.

Other than this large imaginative and colorful horse on one wall, laid back industrial would best describe the dining atmosphere.  FYI, El Potro is translated as “the foal”.

We started with the obligatory gratis basket of corn chips with a mild salsa.  No photos…but a couple of mojitos ($7.00 each) and dos cervezas ($8.00) “might” have been ordered to accompany the chips and salsa.  Guacamole was also ordered for the table.  Since I don’t and can’t consume guacamole, I can’t comment on it…but it was completely consumed by the time we were done.

The ladies weren’t very hungry after the chips and guacamole, so they spit the order of Tacos de Pescado/fish tacos. ($14.99) I ordered the Burrito de carne Asada/steak, beans, rice and cheese with cheese melted on top. ($15.99) It was just OK…nothing special.

Bill is really into seafood!  So, he ordered the Coctel Vuelbe Ala Vida. ($22.99) This creation is a cold soup of shrimp, octopus, snail, oysters, onion, tomato, avocado, jalapeno and cilantro.  It’s served with crackers and lime wedges.  Bill was content with his seafood feast...

The service at El Potro was sporadic and uneven.  It took a long time for Bill to get his food.  I just was underwhelmed…

El Potro also operates a market under the same name next door to the restaurant.  It offers Mexican and Central American groceries and other items.  This restaurant is open 7 days a week for lunch and dinner.  It’s located at 6922 Manchester Avenue in St. Louis Missouri.  Phone: 314-256-1400.  Website: www.elpotrostl.com.

Only one more post to follow for our St. Louis family visit… Just click on any of the photos to enlarge them.

Thanks for stopping by for a visit!

Take Care, Big Daddy Dave