Rick's Roadshow: 24 Hours in St Louis, Missouri

Wow. What a crazy past couple of days huh? Ed McMahon, Farrah Fawcett and then Michael Jackson. Like many people I've been watching the news coverage of these passages with a sense of curiosity and melancholy I suppose. Some of these folks were very close friends of my friends, so I'm aware of some things not played out in the media. Needless to say I've not posted anything on the blog since Wednesday. I have another installment of my Rick's Roadshow series to share from my recent trip to St Louis, Missouri. As a reminder it was primarily a business trip, but decided to stay an extra night on my own to have dinner with some dear friends. The evening began with cocktails at a fab hotel lounge that looked directly out onto the famous St Louis Arch. If you look closely in the photo above, you can see the Arch beyond the bar in the near distance.

above: I had a delicious Grey Goose Martini with blue cheese stuffed olives...

above: After our one cocktail we headed over to dinner. As the car was gliding past the Arch, I snapped these two photos. I thought they were an interesting perspective.

Review of My Dinner At Niche

above: We made our way to a wonderful restaurant called Niche, located in the Benton Park area. Niche is owned by famous chef Gerard Ford Craft, with whom I met and chatted while dining.

above: Niche has a small but cozy wine bar area.

above: I thought this was a neat photo on our table. Niche has great attention to details throughout. The servers were friendly, knowledgeable and prompt- all hallmarks of a good dining experience.

above: For a starter I had this pasta appetizer. It was smoked Hinkebein Hills Farm Port Shank Pappardelle & pears. Mmmmm!

above: one of my friends had this fish appetizer. I think it was trout, but I forgot to take notes. I just thought the plate looked so colorful I had to include it.

Onto The Entrees...

above: One friend had thus interesting beef dish, high quality "Fruitland Farms" Ribeye Beef, oxtail, smoked carrots with wild green potato puree. It was perfectly prepared.

above: My other friend had the Pan Roasted Scallops with morel mushrooms, cauliflower, romanesco, fennel, rhubarb and guanciale. Lots of flavor that lingered delicately.

above: For my entree, I had the "Farrar Out Farm" Berkshire Pork Loin, scrapple, sharf farm asparagus, watercress, with apple jus. It was incredibly delicious!

The after dinner...

above: We met some other local friends at a nearby restaurant/lounge to say hello. I forgot the name of this place but I loved the ceiling! Maybe someone from St Louis will find this post and leave a comment with name of the place. It was a fun evening, St Louis is one of my favorite destinations to visit. This wraps up the latest Rick's Roadshow series, but don't despair, I have more travel coming up again soon, and of course, you'll be able to come along.

-Rick Rockhill