[shroomgirl]

Doug Roth, partner in Chi town Marche and Red Light is opening Red Moon in Downtown St. Louis next Wed. last night I was invited to a pre-opening to give feedback.
Marc Felix is amazing, he has a fusion French/Thai/Vietnamese menu that abounds with flavor. The decor is gorgeous, hip textural as well as multi-colored, the chairs have cut-out cloth backs, the kitchen is open, the chef's room has 2 walls collaged in Asian magazines with naked womens......
Gorgeous floor, fun environment.....
We had a 6 top at 8:30.....it was packed and booming. Marc was expecting 75 max, they had 120+ show up....
I ordered for the table....duck shiitake fried spring rolls (Yummmmm), crab cakes with a spicy mayo sauce and root slaw I love that he did not stint on the heat, fish sate on skewers with noodles was fine, mussels in a coconut curry sauce were plump and lucious one of the group did not want to give them up, chicken rolls wrapped in lettuce, coconut shrimp with mayo and dipping sauce (yum) it was wonderul.....then entrees,
teriyaki ribeye with sweet potato fries and orange aioli (out standing, I told Marc if he goes ala carte with the fries I would drive across town for them),
coconut cornish game hen was exceptionally tender, whole snapper with rice was wonderful, braised ribs with mashed potatoes/pearl onions....yummy though we did not care to crunch on whole spices

chocolate mousse cake pyramid with a vanilla goo center was absolutely incredible, mango cheese cake with coconut crust was great.

The sound levels were LOUD, there were so many hard surfaces that the music and the full restaurant made it impossible to hear the person across the table or one over. Hopefully that will be remedied prior to opening.

Interesting food HURRAY!!!

[cape chef]

Great review Shroomgirl,

Sounds like a fun place.

Flavors all over the place, we're wines paired with any of the food?
What is the chefs background? sounds very "east meets west"

[Pete]

Sounds like a great place. The menu sounds quite global and a lot of fun. You said that it is Doug Roth opening up this place. Is this the same Doug Roth that used to be a co-owner of Blackhawk Lodge and Bistro 110 along with Levy Restaurants? I didn't know that he had fallen in with the Marche crowd. As far as the noise level is concerned, don't expect that to change too much, if I know these guys. They like their restaurants loud and full of energy.

[shroomgirl]

figured as much about the noise, but this is STL and we go out to enjoy friends....loudness will lose the older group for sure, biz cannot be conducted so they will lose that downtown entity....I'm sure the feedback will be totally negative on noise level....full of energy is great not being able to hear or be heard is not cool.

Marc is a dear friend of mine from France, he was at the Plaza in charge of banquets...did Catherine Zeta Jone's wedding.....worked all over for the Ritz, opening restaurants, 5 in Mexico....he had Folie in Santa Fe. I've directed him on stage the past couple of years, he's taught in my culinary camps and after school programs....I adore him. He is very creative. He's teaching kids at the Plaza on Dec. 11, he is Mad Chef on Nikalodian....he's written cookbooks that are waiting to be published.
He is alive, vibrant and a great friend....stop and have a glass of wine, "oh but Marc you have a dinner for 150 tonight" that's ok I love talking to you....
gotta love it!!!!

I think it is the same Doug Roth, the other restaurants were mentioned in passing.

[dlcantrell]

Nice review. You hit the nail on the head regarding the noise level being an issue as it does impact the ability to do business.

Regardless, I will mark this as a must visit.

Thanks,
Dave

[shroomgirl]

I took a fav client on Opening night....we orderred Perrier Jouet champagne, and Marc started sending out appetizers. coconut shrimp with true coconut flavor, crab cakes with spicy mayo, sweet potato fires with orange aioli, mussels in green curry coconut sauce, duck confit/shiitake rolls....

We were to order entrees because he was comping hodos....(2 of us now)....
but by the time entrees were to come he said>"Julie, hope you don't mind I'm going to just order your meal." um ok.....
we had the cornish hens with ginger/lemongrass creamy sauce, The whole red snapper comes out standing up with slashes in the sides and the dip was an oyster sauce, hoisin, soy, spice yum.....

Too full for dessert....champagne covered it!!!
Anyway they had lowered the sound dramatically and when the noise level got alittle higher than pleasant Marc called in a FOH manager to keep the music down. They got the message, hurray!!!! I would hate to see a place tank because of something so easily fixable. STL does not give second chances, there are too many other places to be...you have to hit it dead on from the beginning.

The finesse that went into presentation is the creme on the cake. Chinese newspaper cones hold the fries, most aps come with 2 sauces, the plates are beautiful, the fish comes standing up with fried rice stick around the base...
the glasses have a great line....on and on....it's total sensory! Open kitchen!

Service was bang out! They've got some of the best trained staff in town.

Cheers Marc!! Bravo!!

[shroomgirl]

Went again last night......took some food writer friends and we had a blast....
the prawns with bok choy were exceptional, cooked just to tender....so hard to find someone that doesn't overcook them.
The aps were repeats.....better than ever.
The entrees wonderful, the fish is always a hit! I even talked them into eating the fried bones.
Desserts were spectacular....it'll be tough to remember them all.....

Dark really dark warm chocolate tart with banana ice cream, I was prepared to not like the ice cream....it was to die for.....

Mango cheese cake with fresh pineapple in ginger sauce

Chocolate dome with chocolate rice crust and chocolate mousse with ginger custard in the middle

multi layered cake with hazelnut goo, ganauche and another layer....so essentially 6 layers....dark chocolate sauce with a sprinkle of pepper (shzwain shoot, it's phonetic and I know it's spelled wrong).

Gorgeous presentation!!! Champagne always goes well with Asian....ummmm.

[shroomgirl]

Been several more times since the last entry, each time as wonderful as the next.
They've added a new blue crab soup and a couple of salads with meats.....I took the event coordinator for "Food and Wine Experience" who is vegan and Marc whipped up a phenominal wild mushroom vegan soup.....outstanding, hope it hits the menu in 2005.
Bob Blumer was in town on a media tour and we ate with some writers,he said that Red Moon could compete in any market.....no surprise.....so Food Network's Surreal Gourmet met Nikolodian's Mad Chef, pretty funny.....I knew they would hit it off.
I tried a couple of the Orange Mango Martinis.....YUM, the lemongrass martini was a hit with Bob.....dangerous stuff, think I better stick to champagne, Marinis just go down so easily and have too powerful a kick.
They are opening for lunch in 2005 and hopefully for weekend dimsum!!! YES YES YES!!!! great quality tweeks on dim sum....now that's really exciting.
*If you go, get the crab cakes and the sweet potato fries and dip the fries in the SPICY aioli.....the sweet with the creamy heat is pretty awesome.