Mission Taco

Mexican is usually right behind “mayo-on-white-bread” of my choices of dining options.  I live in the Midwest which means you aren't usually getting Mexican; you're getting Mid-Westican.   Most of the items on the menu are various combinations of the same thing "con queso.”  Huge bland tortillas stuffed with meat, beans and cheese of unvaried textures.  We really love quantity and cheese here in the middle states.  I suppose it fits.  And, don't get me wrong, I love some cheese. You just have to cheese responsibly.  Until recently my favorite Mexican restaurant was my mom's kitchen.  Having spent a year in Mexico when I was a toddler, my mother spent that time looking over the shoulders of the Señoras as they cooked, writing down everything she could.  I'm not sure that since then we've eaten 100% authentically in our home, but mom has stayed true to the idea of the flavors and textures of Mexico.  Bold layered flavors and contrasts of textures.  It's not about heat, and it's not about queso.  

So, what's steered me back onto the course of loving Mexican food again?  A huge part of it can be attributed to learning to make my mom's recipes and learning to make corn tortillas.  When I say “learning to make corn tortillas,” understand that there is no learning curve here.  They could not take less skill to make, and even the worst ones are easily a dozen times better than store bought, at least here in the Midwest.

Teaching at a local school that is nearly 100% Hispanic is another huge reason I'm falling in love with Mexican flavors again.  In teaching there I've discovered an amazing locally owned Mexican restaurant with a Mexican grocery store attached.  I'll grant you that you can get your "con queso" at La Gardenia, but you can also get birria, pozole, menudo, cebollitas, and what might be my favorite food in the world: "street" tacos.

My love affair with this type of taco is one of the reasons I've been dying to try a place in St. Louis that's been getting a lot of buzz lately: Mission Taco Joint.  Gene has made a lot of deliveries from Mission, and it's nearly always packed and always smells amazing, according to him.  We've attempted a Mission Taco mission a few times and struck out every time.  The first time it was packed full, the second time it was unexpectedly closed for the New Year, and the third time we discovered that we had a Groupon that needed to be used (that didn't work out as planned, See my post about Cafe Natasha).  This time we took advantage of the week night special of $2 tacos after 10pm.

First off, the vibe inside is the very best combination of warm and hipster.  Brick walls, concrete floors, reclaimed style wooden fixtures against Mexican style pop art with dancing skeleton couples and Lucha Libre portraits.  We sat at a high table in the bar area and took in the scenery while we waited for our waiter, Bill, to help us out.  Bill, and the entire staff, were friendly and upbeat.  I really got the sense that they genuinely enjoyed being there.  We even had a chat with one of the bartenders that Gene has gotten to know in all the times he's picked up deliveries.  She was gushing with pride about how they juice all their own juices and even recommended another place to check out in my 12in12 quest (which I'm thinking of making a 16in16 quest. Stay tuned).  After dinner I overheard another bartender educating some willing patrons about tequila and the processes that go into the different kinds.  If the mission of Mission Taco was a relaxed, enthusiastic, non-threatening vibe, then they've got it in the bag.  

Now we get to the part where we learn why I don't have babies.  For a starter, we ordered the Mexican Street Corn Fritters with garlic aioli sauce.  I've officially decided that my first-born will, in fact, be named Mexican Street Corn Fritters and their middle name will be Garlic Aioli.  "Waiter, can I get a straw please...for this sauce?”  It was as if the best thing about donuts was corn, which doesn't sound right, but tastes amazing.  Somehow dense and fluffy at the same time and bursting with sweet corn against the tang of the sauce.  Ok, I've got to stop now.  Just go and get an order.  Get two orders and bring me one.  Even though you're going to hear about some more amazing food, this blog has pretty much peaked with these corn fritters.  Geez, I need some of these fritters.

Taking advantage of the 2 buck taco deal, we got 6 tacos, Mexican Street Corn, and cilantro rice.  The rice was a good side but it suffered so much from being held against other amazing combinations of flavors that it came off a bit flat.  It's great rice, don't get me wrong, but my mouth was just being taken on an amazing roller coaster by everything else.  The Mexican Street Corn however was - I feel like I've used every adjective that means “yummy” that I can so- YUMMY!  Corn off the cob with queso fresco, mayo (don't let this put you off. It's not what you're thinking), and magical fairy dust or something.  All of their tacos are served family style on corn tortillas.  If you're looking for salsa and sour cream on your taco, go to Taco Bell. Of the tacos we tried the Taco of the Month and the Portobello were my favorites.  The Portobello is described as  "Wood-fire grilled Portobello mushrooms, goat cheese, crispy onions, arugula, smashed black beans, huitlacoche aioli".  I describe it as "Can I have another please?” Seriously, rich deep mushrooms and beans against the crispy onions and peppery arugula.  I'm nowhere near a vegetarian but if this is what the grass is like on the other side, then I'm jumping fences. I very reluctantly saved half of it for Gene since he wasn't smart enough to order one for himself.  The Taco of the Month was my other favorite.  It was a Mahi Mahi taco with avocado, shaved kale, grilled onions, and topped off with toasted pepitas.  When they say avocado, they mean a big ol’ slab of delicious, perfectly ripe avocado right there on top.  To round out our choices we got the Roasted Duck, which was meaty and smokey, and the Beef Brisket Birria.

As I got in my car and put "home" into my Google Maps, I discovered it's less than 15 minutes from my house.  Even though it's in another state, it's closer than most places we opt to dine when we're looking for a night out.  If you're “East Side” and you think St. Louis is on the other end of the galaxy, start rethinking that.  It's not only worth the trip, it's not as much of a trip as you think.  

Have I mentioned the Mexican Street Corn Fritters?  

First Snow Cream of the Year

Several years ago I was spending the day at my good friend Darla's house when she decided we needed to make some snow cream.  I was a little put off initially, but mostly curious.  She went outside and scooped up a whole bunch of snow.  Then she added some sweetened condensed milk and vanilla.  It was really delicious.  A little sweet for my taste but delicious.  She didn't measure a thing, and you don't have to either.

For those of you who are just totally grossed out by this entire concept I gently suggest you get over it.  Your kids NEED to know about and experience snow cream.  No one's died from it and no ones gotten sick from eating it.  There are some basic things you'll want to keep in mind though.

1.  You need a good snow, a few inches at least.  This allows you to scoop the upper most layer of snow without getting close to the surface of whatever your snow has landed on.  I like to avoid the ground.... but hey, as long as you avoid yellow snow, you do you.

2  Avoid yellow snow.  Seriously, any color other than white and you'll just want to keep looking.

3.  Get the snow early.  This gets you nice fresh snow before other stuff can settle on it and before the sun can create an outer shell on the ice cream.

So, what do you need?  Snow, Sweetened condensed milk, and vanilla.

This happens to be car snow

Depending on how big your bowl is and how many people you're feeding between 3-6 cups of snow.  You know what, forget that.  Fill your bowl with snow or fill it half way or start with a bigish kind of scoop.  This is one ingredient you don't have to run to the store for. If you've reviewed the rules of finding snow with your kids, and you trust them, you can even send them to do the dirty, er.. work.

Add the sweetened condensed milk and vanilla... as much or as little as you'd like.  I start with a little and add more if I am not getting the flavor or consistency I like.

Just about perfect

Getting there....

Then you kind of stir/smash until you have something that looks like that kinetic sand that's always on display in the craft stores.  Add more snow or milk if it's too wet or not sweet enough.  Play with it until its the taste and consistency you like.  You really can't screw this one up.

Then scoop it out and enjoy immediately.  It will keep in the freezer though, but what fun is that?

So, the next time everyone runs to the store in a panic and buys all the bread and eggs, don't fret.  Head straight for the Sweetened Condensed Milk.

P.S.  There are recipes out there that use good old fashioned milk and sugar.  I'll let you find the one that works for you.  

Cafe Natasha

Me:

Hey, I have a great idea!  Gene's new job is proving to be a great way of discovering all the fantastic places to dine in St. Louis.  There really is a plethora of choice from tacos at midnight to pho-sion.  Let's make our New Year's Resolution to try at least 12 new restaurants this year.

Restaurant Gods:

We shall do all in our immense and vast, but largely futile,  power to defeat your plans!

If you've been reading along you know how difficult it was to find Restaurant #1.  Pro-tip, don't think you're just going to find a late night eat on New Year's Day in the Lou, even if it is Friday night.  But I did, eventually, prevail against the Restaurant Gods and found a delicious Titan of rebellion in Three Kings Public House.

This time it was 5 o'clock on a Tuesday on the third week of January.  We had plans to attend the Blues game and it was the last day I could use the full value of a Groupon I'd purchased to Lucky Buddha.  I was excited Pho Sho (see what I did there).  “Heeeeyyyyy, this place looks dark but it's 4:58 and they don't open until 5:00... but dark???”  Sign says stay away fools.  Actually the sign, written in pen, on a piece of printer paper, and taped haphazardly to the window said "closed for the holiday".  Yo, it's not even Chinese New Year yet and your facebook not only says you're open but the last post from you was on December 27 (not a typo Twenty SEVENTH) saying you were closed for Christmas.  Hmmmmm..... Me thinks Buddha not lucky.

All amped for Pho, Gene charts a course to Pho Grand, a place he delivers from pretty frequently.  It's facebook page shows it's closed but that can't be right.  Facebook is right.  Pho Grand, along with a mess of other places that should totally be open on a Tuesday, are also dark, dark, dark.  I shake my fist at the Restaurant gods. Then my eyes sparkle like Ralphie's when he saw the Red Rider in the window of Higbee's Department store.  Among the dark windows were twinkling beacons of hope with all manner of Middle Eastern, African, and Asian eats.  And then there it was Cafe Natasha!  A friend mentioned this place to me after mentioning that I was excited to try some Persian delicacies that my cousin's new wife promised to make if we ever got together again.

Cafe Natasha and Natasha's Gin room are set in a corner on S. Grand Avenue and seem pretty unassuming  from the outside.  If the door didn't say they served Persian food I'd assume an odd combination of sandwiches and Martini's were the specialties.  Upon entering and seeing white table clothes set at tables with high rise black tufted booths I felt immediately under dressed in my Blues Hoodie.  The Gin Room with its well stocked and romantically lit bar are what you see upon entering, and the place seemed pretty small until the hostess asked if we wanted to sit in the back room. It opened up to several more, but still intimate, tables and more black tufted booths.

Our waitress let us know that for happy hour there was an all vegan hummus bar with falafel.  It happens to be gluten free too if you care about that kind of thing.  Well, that decided that for me.  Gene went with a chicken and koobideh combo platter.  We also ordered some pickled vegetables and some seer torshi preserved garlic.  Our waitress told us the garlic was better with food rather than as an appetizer on it's own.  I also took advantage of the Gin Room and ordered a dainty drink called the Bitter Sweet that came in a crystal punch glass and tasted just as dainty as its presentation.  Floral but not flowery.  It was delicious.

The pickled vegetables and garlic were powerful and something that should be tried.  The garlic boasts of being aged in vinegar for 7 years, and that's what it tastes like.  You might love them, you might like them, and you might loathe them.  I am on the side of “like” while Gene was closer to the side of “loathe.”  The vegetables were great as a topping for pita and hummus.  They both were decidedly “pickley” but also had a unique kind of tart that's unexpected.  My suspicion is that if you're looking for a real deal pickled veg and garlic, this is it.

The hummus bar had 2 kinds of rice, crispy and fluffy falafel, curry, sauteed mushrooms, hummus, basil tomatoes that were a fresh and slightly tart perfection.  They were great on top of everything and by themselves.  It also had a Pomegranate eggplant kind of baba ganoush, and a cream sauce for whatever you want to put a cream sauce on.  If you're there on a Tuesday and aren't strictly carnivorous, I'd seriously advise getting the hummus bar and a trying a unique and  expertly crafted cocktail.

On the other hand you should also bring someone who IS strictly carnivorous with you so you can try some of the entree they ordered.  Thank you Gene.  The chicken and koobideh were both super tender and delicious.  He was pretty generous with the table staple that I suspected was sumac based, but it wasn't out of place.  His salad was fresh and came with a tart yogurt based dressing that [“reminded me” unless you really can used “reminisced” this way] reminisced of tzatziki and worked well on the kabobs too.

All in all it was really good food and really good service.  The actual Natasha greeted more than one table as if they were long time loyal customers and friends.  Actually, I think we were the ONLY table that didn't seem to have a long established friendship with Natasha, both the restaurant and the person, who I think is the daughter of the original owners.

I have no idea if the food is authentic, but friends tell me it's pretty close.  Let's be honest though, if it's good, do we care?  I'll be back to Cafe Natasha, maybe I'll see you there.

Update:  

Since writing this I ventured back to Cafe Natasha for a late night coffee and baklava with Gene.  If you have a love affair with coffee then you'll want to try Turkish coffee some day.  I've found a couple of places that really do it right, and Cafe Natasha is one of them.  This method (boiling the grounds in the coffee over and over until it foams and falls) creates a strong and rich cup of brew with a sooty bottom layer.  This time I opted for Arabic, which is the same coffee but with the addition of sweetened condensed milk.  My coffee and Gene's had a distinctly floral note.  Mine even had a cardamom pod floating in it which stayed with me in a pleasant way.  The baklava was good.  It didn't fall into the sins of most baklava in that it wasn't too sweet, just right on the flavor balance.  It did want a little something from the texture, but we were the very last customers of the day and it's not a made to order item.

Three Kings Public House 1 of 12

The Three KingsThree Kings Public House

For the 3 of you that read this blog I've got something new for you.  This year I resolved to try 12 new restaurants this year.  They have to be local, no chains, and vacations or trips don't count.  I'll share my insights with you because it's what the people, all 3 of you, want.... my insights.

I thought I'd get the first one knocked out right away but it did seem as if 2016 was trying to rise against my goal setting, my new resolve to make resolutions, my presumption to be proactive.  Or, it might just have been the fact that places that are usually open late on New Year's Eve tend to be closed on New Year's Day.  Let me explain, no, there is too much, let me sum up (extra credit if you can name that film).

It seemed as if the food gods were aligned in my quest as Gene's new gig as a Postmates courier made him privy to all the hot late night dining spots and we were scheduled to work the Arch Reactor Booth at First Friday's.  Mission Taco was our...uh, mission.  Gene knew it was popular and it served super late.  We got out of the Science Center soon after 9 and headed to check off the first of 12.  Darkness.  That's what greeted us as we approached Mission Taco.  No problem, Gene knows all the hot spots.  Darkness. Darkness. Darkness.  It was now after 10 and our chances of getting any food at all were looking dismal.  In a last ditch effort Gene headed into the Loop in U City.  We drove down the strip looking for lights, any lights.  I wanted to check something off my list but hangry was taking hold fast, our relationship was in jeopardy.  We just needed food, any food.

There is was, 3 Kings Public House.  Gene had picked up deliveries from there, so we knew they served food.  Would it be good?  Did we care?  Would they be bitter about having to serve us a half an hour before their kitchen closed?

We were greeted by a pretty typical bar atmosphere.  Girls just a little too tipsy, guys throwing back shots and loud music I'd never heard before.  It looked tiny and we were sat in a cozy U booth and offered menus.... with FOOD on them, not bar food, the real kind they serve in the daytime.  Our waiter brought a bottle of water and asked what we wanted to drink.  This is where they decide we're evil for walking in here and daring to just want some food and no adult beverages....and on top of that I just wanted water.  I actually shrank back in my booth as I made excuses for only ordering water.

Not only did he not scoff at this but he gladly told us the food specials and recommendations.  He was friendly, efficient, affable, wasn't over bearing, and anticipated our needs.  Even brought me malted vinegar for the house made chips before I knew that's what I wanted.

I ordered the special of the day, their version of a Bahn Mi with marinated chicken, cucumbers, jalapeno peppers, and a chipotle mayo.  As someone not a fan of American sandwiches, this hit all the flavor buttons, and the texture buttons, and the satisfy me buttons.  All the buttons were hit.  I chose sweet potato fries as my side and house made chips as an appetizer.  The fries were waffle cut, crispy, and super yummy.  The house made chips are basically the only kind of chips I want to ever eat any more.  They had fresh herbs and some kind of seasoning that I'm pretty sure included some Parmesan cheese, and they were HOT. With the malted vinegar, I was in heaven.

Gene ordered the fish and chips and a side salad.  At first he was disappointed because he asked for ranch dressing and the dressing didn't look like ranch, but turned out it was just a homemade ranch dressing so it was missing that gloppy ranchy unpleasantness.  The greens were a spring mix and were super fresh along with the veg in the salad.  His fish was flaky, crispy, and thick!

Even though we were seated in the bar area there was a quieter room in the back with larger tables where a few families were dining. The entire place was wood planked and brick walled, and had old world touches that made you feel the building was there since prohibition. I didn't mind being in the bar area.  None of the patrons were being obnoxious and the juke box offered an interesting variety of music.  Our server even commented on the social experiment nature of having a juke box in a bar.  The double door at the entrance made it nice and warm inside, and the people watching made the U shaped booth both romantic and entertaining.  I got to lay my head on the shoulder of my love while watching the patrons greet each other like they obviously came here all the time.  Probably the best part was discovering the reason for the name.  Above the bar on the brick wall was a painting of the "3 Kings", Kong. Louie, and Elvis.  All the waiters and bar keeps had cool hair too.  Maybe that's not important to everyone, but it ads to the atmo'.

If you find yourself in the loop I'd certainly recommend this place to duck into.  Their regular menu is served until 11 and they offer a pretty hefty late night menu as well.  If the bar bothers you ask to be seated in the back, I doubt you'll get bad food or bad service no matter when you choose to go.  I'd say day one of my resolution hit a homer despite 2 strikes and a few foul balls.  I'll try not to use sports analogies anymore. 1 down 11 to go.