Taste Bar

I read St. Louis' Feast magazine and based on reviews given, I thought this place was going to be a new 5-star restaurant that fulfilled my culinary needs.  Unfortunately, we were disappointed.  While the roasted chicken had crisp skin and was moist, it was really oily, and we think it seemed deep fried.  The spaetzle that came with the chicken was so salty that it's 5 hours after dinner, and I still taste salt.  It was also very oily.  The pork burger was okay, but nothing out of this world.  We also got 2 small plates.  The corn bruschetta was okay, but lacked flavor.  The barbacoa was probably the best, but the bread was soggy by the time we got it.  We read great things about the drinks as well, and one of ours had to be sent back.  Not so great.  In the end, I gave it a 3-star because I don't think I'd go back.  For the price and from what I've read about Gerard Craft, I'd expect so much more.  I'm a foodie, and this place doesn't fit the bill if you're a foodie.  On the plus side, the service was good.  We actually took our kids, and they were kid-friendly as well.

BACON FAT FRIED CORNBREAD! This is a must. One of the most delicious things I've ever eaten. The bread is sweet and the bacon fat makes it salty...mmmmm. Everything else was good too but I just wanted more cornbread!

Other dishes we tried:
1) mussels with thai chili - Very tasty and the sauce was great for dipping bread in. I kept asking for more bread and I think the waiter was getting a little annoyed, but I wasn't going to let all that delicious sauce go to waste!
2) bbq lamb with spoonbread - Now I LOVE lamb and I'm extremely picky about it and this dish passed my lamb test!
3) Pork scrapple - Not a big fan, only dish I wasn't happy with.
4) Sweet corn bruschetta - This dish was a lot bigger than I thought it would be. You get 3 pieces of bread and the toppings are loaded on!

Like I said, not a fan of the pork, but I would recommend everything else. The menu  does change seasonally so you might not see all of these if you go later in the year.

And I can't forget about the drinks! The drink menu is larger than the food menu! They have pages upon pages of original cocktails and more pages of classic cocktails. Our waiter claimed they make the "best classic cocktails in town". While I can't confirm this since I haven't tried other places around St. Louis,  I can say I was very happy with my drink- Brown Derby (bourbon, grapefruit and honey). The drinks are a little pricey in my opinion ($8 for classics and $10 for the others) BUT they definitely don't skimp on the alcohol. So I guess you get what you pay for! They also have happy hour all day Sunday and Monday and 5-7 T-F, where the classics are $6 instead of $8.  

Bottom line- check this place out! Great for food and drink.

First, a moment for Claire. That's the woman at the front desk-- well, front door really -- who takes your name and tells you how long the wait is. She had told us it was going to be 30-50 minutes-- and was kind enough to recommend other places when we asked-- and we started walking elsewhere when she called me on my cell phone to say a table just opened up, and to ask if we wanted to come back.  A moment for the food too- everything here was amazing, with extra points for the delicious corn bruschetta (who knew that something this simple could be this tasty?) and for the corn bread (cooked in bacon!).  I had a moment where my East coast self thought I had been transported from St. Louis to Brooklyn.  Lovely!