Pauses That Refreshed…

During the time we spent in the St. Louis Missouri area over the Thanksgiving week, there were instances where we stopped and took a break…thankfully, as in both cases shown below, Laurie and Bonnie were in the ‘shopping mode’.

Our first refreshing pause was in the scenic old town of Kimmswick Missouri where shopping rules!

Our break in shopping happened at The Blue Owl Restaurant and Bakery.  It’s located in a building that was constructed ca. 1900.  This was Ma Green’s Tavern until the 1950s and it was restored in the 1970s. 

The Blue Owl’s owner is Mary Hostetter.  She had built up a home based baking business when she met with Lucianna Ross (a 7-UP heiress/the matriarch of Kimmswick) and was convinced to open this restaurant and bakery.  Mrs. Hostetter opened her business in the late summer of 1985…and it’s still going strong 30 plus years later!

The interior of The Blue Owl is decorated in thoughtful quaint country décor.  Beadboard ceilings in the enclosed porch dining area, uneven old wood floors throughout and railroad car wood siding on the walls elsewhere are all part of the charm of the place.  Add in the lace curtains and the waitresses dressed in pinafores…and the old time atmosphere is firmly in place.  I noticed that that waitress didn't look to happy with my picture taking...

Then there are the pastries, candies and more!  I took several photos of the display cases near the entrance.  Luscious looking pies and cookies certainly grabbed my attention.  The Blue Owl’s award winning “Levee-High Caramel Apple Pecan Pie” is just one example of their award winning pie selection. (It was named after the Mississippi River flood of 1993) Cream pies are a specialty and they include banana cream, chocolate cream, coconut cream, lemon meringue and white chocolate banana cream.  A number of award winning fruit pies are also popular.

I had to include a photo of Laurie and Bonnie…the sisters…as they perused The Blue Owl’s menu.  They showed great restraint, ordering only Irish Coffees for their mid-day break. ($6.00)

The menu looked great and so did the food that the waitresses delivered to nearby tables.  The specials for the day were 3 of my favorites…Chicken Fried Steak, Chicken and Dumplings and Southern Fried Chicken.  It was tough but I decided that I had to follow the example set by the ladies.

Well…I didn’t completely follow their lead!  How could I, a real pie loving red blooded mid-western fella, skip out without tasting something other than my Irish Coffee?  So, I did my thing…ordering a nice slice of that White Chocolate Banana Cream Pie. ($5.95) It was very good!

FYI, The Blue Owl Restaurant and Bakery is located at 6112 2^nd Street in Kimmswick Missouri.  Phone: 636-464-3128.  Their website is found at: https://theblueowl.com/.

Our next shopping excursion took to downtown Kirkwood Missouri.  I mostly sat on benches outside stores while the ladies inspected the available merchandise.  I did strike up a nice conversation with an older (mid-80’s) gentleman who sought the same shopping refuge as I did.  We had a nice view of the big Christmas tree lot right across the street.  From my viewpoint, it was great to talk to someone quite a bit older than I am!  Its becoming a rarer experience...   

Then there is this quirky sculpture that we contemplated.  It’s entitled “Three Stacked Chairs” and it sits in the median of Kirkwood’s Argonne Drive.  It’s the creation of artist Brother Mel Meyer.  It was completed in 1996 and it was installed here in 2007.  Brother Mel was a Marianist monk (1928 – 2013) who created an estimated 10,000 pieces of art over his lifetime.

Luckily for me, we got to Kirkwood a little late and the stores began closing up.  It was too early to meet Bonnie’s husband Bill for dinner, so we opted for a bit of light refreshment at Billie G’s on the same strip as most of the stores.  Laurie and I had eaten dinner here with her great niece Sarah, a few years earlier and we’d enjoyed our meal here.

No dining room for us this time though…snacks and drinks only.  So we got a table in the bar area where the pre-holiday crowd was having a good time.  Out of courtesy, I didn’t take photos of one group next to us that was really having a good time! 

Yes…we did imbibe in a couple of adult beverages.  There were 2 Schlafly Pale Ales ($5.50 each), a Blue Moon draft ($6.00) and Laurie went with her standby adult beverage, a vodka and tonic tall with 2 lime slices. ($5.50)

For our early appetizer, we wanted something that was fairly light as we were meeting Bill for dinner a bit later.  As a consequence, the charcuterie/Italian Antipasto Board ($18.99) made perfect sense.  

It was all good…grapes, olives, melon slices, 4 different cheeses and 3 different types of cured meat.  We did have to request a few more bread rounds just to finish everything off… We agreed that the need for more bread or crackers is almost universal with any charcuterie tray.  It’s like…rationed!  Too bad that Bill missed the appetizer…

Billie G’s in Kirkwood Missouri is located at 131 West Argonne Drive.  Phone: 314-984-8000.  Website: http://billygskirkwood.com/.

Just click on any of the photos to enlarge them…

Thanks for stopping by for a visit!

Take Care, Big Daddy Dave