Off to St. Louis Missouri and Beyond!

May is proving to be a busy month.  First it was surgery on my left (primary) hand to correct De Quervain’s Tenosynovitis…a bit like carpal tunnel syndrome only it’s all about the thumb.  My sling came off a few days later but some discomfort remained.  Right after Mother’s Day, my stitches came out and the day after that we were off on our road trip of the month! 

The next series of posts to my blog site will deal with our trip to St. Louis Missouri, Omaha Nebraska and places in between…

The trip to St. Louis was uneventful but as we headed north up I-57 through Illinois, Laurie captured this hastily snapped fuzzy photo of a crop duster flying very low across its assigned field.  He or she barely pulled up in time to miss a semi-trailer that was cruising along at about 70 mph!

So…our primary objective for this road trip was all about family.  This cutie is Gwen.  She’s    years old and Laurie is her great aunt.  On this particular day, she was being cared for by Laurie’s sister (Gwen’s great grandmother) Glenda while her grandmother Judy was working out!

We had stopped at a retirement community Chesterfield Missouri to visit with Laurie’s oldest sister Glenda and her husband Ken.  The whole complex is under construction with both housing expansion and amenities in the plans.  In any case, at one point in our guided tour highlighting the changes, we stopped and I took this photo of Laurie’s sister Bonnie, Laurie, her great niece Judy, 

Ken and Glenda suggested that we have lunch at Fallon’s Grill and Tap, a new restaurant located in the St. Louis Missouri suburb of Ellisville.  Although this location is new, apparently the restaurant was either somewhere else previously or there is another location in the area.  The Facebook site shows that Fallon’s has been in business since 2009. 

The industrial look is pretty standard these days… Perhaps it’s a less expensive décor.  While we have seen a few striking applications of this style, this isn’t one of them.  Boring…or just an ‘average’ look in our opinion.

Bonnie, Glenda and Laurie all ordered the special, overflowing chicken salad sandwiches with a side of choice. ($13.95 each) Everyone thought that the portions were very large but although the chicken salad was good, it was fairly average.  Bonnie described the onion rings as ‘OK’ but Laurie’s potato chips were over cooked…with a bit of a burnt taste.

Ken had a very satisfactory French Dip Sandwich with a side of coleslaw. ($10.50)

I wasn’t crazy about my entrée… I ordered the Buffalo Chicken Sandwich with the chicken breast coated with the house special spicy sauce and accompanied by a side of cottage cheese. ($10.50) It just didn’t work for me.  I like spice and ‘heat’ but the house sauce overwhelmed the chicken and blue cheese.  My taste buds were shot and the cottage cheese side was set aside after one bite.

You can’t really judge a restaurant by one luncheon visit but our initial visit scored just ‘average’.

Fallon’s Grill and Tap is located at 15850 Manchester Road in Ellisville Missouri.  Phone: 636-386-5621.  This restaurant is on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/fallonsgrillandtap/.

Just click on any of the photos to enlarge them…

Thanks for stopping by!

Take Care, Big Daddy Dave