An American Place, STL

[shroomgirl]

Larry Forgione, has opened An American Place in downtown STL. The room is grogeous, gotta be 45' ceilings. The room is adjacent to a hotel, that was built in 1900....it is absolutely gorgeous.
Wedgewood blue and white. The table clothes are pale blue and the salt is pale pink....

I got to go twice last week, the first time was with a restauranteur and his wife...they buy locally and have a much more casual venue.
We started out with borscht, burgoo and peeky toe crab salad
moved on to a sampler gimmee with rabbit terrine...yum, tempuraed so there was alittle crunch around the edge, grilled matsutake....
Entrees were elk, veal and lobster ravioli....all very fine....
Cheese course was wonderful, there was a rosemary, apple (from the cow) butter, fruit bread, toasts, nuts/dried fruit and farmstead cheeses....they dished up about a dozen....
I had apple crepes with caramel apple ice cream (apple cider used)....
Paula had a plum almond tart.
We had some fine pinot......

Next visit....
TORCHON!!!!! with brioche and apple cider redux and micro greens....YUMMMM
Larry had a butternut bisque brought out that was exceptional!!!! I would never have ordered it but it was a delight.
The guy I was with had the rabbit terrine....
same pinot
Entrees, I had duck breast with mixed grains (they had huge flavor!!!) and baby beets.
He had lamb with baby squash
Dessert he had the plum tart and I had root beer float with a home made donut that was GREAT! lightest cake donut....
we had port and a blue cheese.....

It's so nice to have a change of pace in local restaurants.....high end local has been missing for a while.

[Pete]

Im jealous!!!! Sounds like a great meal. I guess NYC's loss is STL's gain.

[shroomgirl]

I stopped in the other evening for coffee after dinner at Red Moon, took 3 food writer friends to see the space. <After dinner we went to An American Place for Coffee.> Larry brought out dessert snackie treats.....gorgeous and so memorable.
a tray with chinese soup spoons that had baby chocolate ice cream scoop in back of a small round cup with a chocolate truffle with passion fruit cream, the combo was exceptional....the tart of the passion fruit really set off the dark chocolate ganauche....then on the side there were small square dishes with finely chopped black arkansas apples, a raspberry and some thick sweet cream...there was the barest hint of fine sugar brulee. The finesse is amazing...the littlest touches make such a huge difference.
Was a great ending for a fun night, mid-week for working stiffs we closed up the place at midnight. REALLY an exciting time for St. Louis restaurants. There is a whole new surge of energy around town with alot of really creative food showing up. Life is good and even better now that there is a fine dining space featuring local food.....and not just the lamb or the salad mix.

[cape chef]

Good to see someone still focusing in on classic technique and execution.

So much has changed in the last few years in regards to "modern" approaches to cooking. Some is very exciting and innovative (Keller) while some is just to over the top (Achantz) for me.

I wonder (off topic a bit) if someone like Forgione could be successful in New York City these days?

Do you think thats why he landed in St Louis?

Places like Lutece, La Cote Basque and the like cannot compete anymore with the new slew of chefs and restaurants and have closed there doors.An article in GQ totally nailed Jean George V and his culinary empire.

[shroomgirl]

Larry still has An American Place in NYC.....
He landed in STL because the hotel his restaurant is located offered him, "a deal he could not refuse". CC the place is gorgeous. Downtown is ripe....there are 8 new restaurants opening or just opened within the past 4 monthes in a 12 blk area. There are more on the way. Why would Doug Roth chose STL......same thing, the time was right for our town. I talked Marc Felix into staying in STL....we have wonderful local resources that are comparable to ANYWHERE. The city is family oriented, all of the public venues are FREE....the zoo, Science Center, History Museum, Art Museum Arch, etc.....there are alot of gorgeous parks and we are surrounded by farmland. There are 4 distinct seasons with none being too overwhelming.
The resources are here for anyone that wants to put the effort in....we have a huge amount of fortune 500 head qtrs.
Good Food will thrive, Great Food will soar....why St. Louis? cus it's a wonderful place to work and play...if you need SF or NYC excitment there are planes readily available....and our cost of living is pretty inviting too.
Larry's son is the chef and moved his family to downtown STL. Larry is overseeing the kitchen and will be hands on....as opposed to Wolfgang Puck who has NEVER shown his face in STL and taken over catering venues all over town< there is no love lost with Wolfgang and local foodies/caterers....it's one thing if you make it your home, it's another if you just swipe biz with a chain version of yourself.

*Take writers with a grain of salt....it is their opinion. Gourmet did a good write up on 4**** in NYC, J-G, Daniel, Le Bernadine, Ducasse....Ducasse got slammed, totally gutted and left wafting in the wind. J-G was golden....each reviewer will have their perception, and it maybe that the restaurant is going through a flux at the time they show up, it happens.
I've recently been misquoted....appears I grow wild mushrooms instead of forage or hunt them, seems several restaurants in town say they shop from local farmers and their menu does not read like they do.....can't imagine how many people would actually catch it, I do and it TICKS me off. So, just because something is in print don't consider it the final word, writers are people too....I know I write.

[ffrrdd]

you tell em jules st. louis is a great place for food and i would like to say that it has been for longer than the past few months. with your hard work of course

[shroomgirl]

Absolutely STL has wonderful food and incredible resources....it is a gem in the mid-west.....frankly I would not live here if it were not. I eat out an inordinate amount, I rank most of STL's independant chefs/restauranteurs as my closest buddies. More than most St. Louisians I see their creative work at Clayton Farmer's Market when they demo local products, I see what they produce for visiting authors/chefs. There are a handful of chefs that I call when I come up with a culinary query or a logistic jam, the advice they give is usually deadon.
But, new creative energy is a wonderful thing, and downtown is popping. I love that Larry Forgione invested in our city and has gone far out of his way to buy local. Again, there are just a handful of chefs that shopped the market exstensively on Sat. morning. He has my total respect for buying local when alot of other chefs around town should be and aren't.
He brings techniques that are new and exciting....which is a huge turnon for me.