Monday, March 23rd - Who Doesn't Enjoy a Beer or Two or Four at Lunch?
Interestingly enough, or perhaps not, Jay was the one who introduced me to the Historic St. Charles Main Street area when we were dating many many moons ago. It's located roughly 30 minutes west of downtown St. Louis, right on the banks of the odorous Missouri River. The community was founded in 1769 by French settlers and it has the distinction of serving as Missouri's first state capital. The area has been beautifully preserved and now the mile-long stretch of Main Street houses arts and crap shops, pseudo-antique dealers, one or two Missouri winery outlets, and a few random cafes and restaurants, all of which serve surprisingly tasty foods. The area is very popular with locals and tourists and really gets hopping during summer and fall, when numerous festivals and re-enactments are held there.
Trailhead Brewing Company is our absolute favorite restaurant in the historic district - we love having lunch here, especially in warm weather months when we can dine outside and watch the world go by. Trailhead brews their own beer - they have five constants that are always available and then one seasonal beer that they rotate out. The food is good ol' American brew-pub fare - servings are generous and affordably priced.
Since Jay and I took the day off from work on Monday and had a leftover Trailhead gift card burning a hole in our pockets, this seemed like the perfect opportunity to pay one of our favorite establishments a visit. We've tried many different items on their menu over the years but have definite favorites and today was all about those favorites. To start the meal off on the right foot we ordered an appetizer from the Brewery Delight section of the menu:
Fresh Hot Pretzels Served with Ballpark and Brown Mustard
Yum! These never disappoint - hot, fresh, chewy, and lightly salted they taste wonderful with just a dab of spicy brown mustard. I always hold the ballpark (
read: cheap and yellow) mustard in reserve for the fries I order with my sandwedge. Hey, you know what else tastes great with these pretzels?
BEER!!!!!!!!!!
Jay ordered Trailhead's seasonal brew which was an Irish Ale in honor of St. Patrick's Day. The menu description for this beer read as follows: This dark amber ale has a definite malt accent, well rounded flavor, and soft fruitiness. By using five different types of malt and three varieties of hops in this recipe, a complex weave of bitterness, flavor, and aroma is created in this Celtic Beer.
Wow.
That's quite a pimp for a beer.
And to quote our buddy Homer Simpson, "it was a very fine beer."
You may be wondering what I ordered if Jay opted for the Irish Ale, which you might think would be more to my taste. I shocked my spouse and myself by ordering the Missouri Brown Dark Ale - brewed with five malts to create a well rounded, caramel and coffee flavored ale. It was delicious and I think I now have a new favorite at Trailhead.
Just for reference, the other beers they brew there include a Blond Ale, Trailhead Red Amber Ale, Riverboat Raspberry, and Old Courthouse Stout. Sometimes when Jay and I lunch at Trailhead we order the beer sampler so that we can have small portions of all six brews but on this visit we stuck to pints (two each ... yeah, we needed a nap by the time we got home).
For my lunch entree I ordered my all-time favorite sandwedge ... I've never found a club sandwich anywhere to compare with this one.
The Club Sandwich
Turkey, ham, bacon, prime rib, three different cheeses, lettuce, tomato, and mayonnaise served with a choice of fries, baked beans, cole slaw, or potato salad. They also include a monster dill pickle which I'd already started chowing on before I remembered to take a picture.
Jay ordered the Smoked Brisket Sandwich which is served with lots of BBQ sauce and cheddar cheese. If he can ever be said to have a favorite item that he will order ad nauseum like I do, it's this sandwich.
Smoked Brisket
As you can see, both servings were quite large. We ate everything but had no room for dessert, which is typically what happens when we eat at Trailhead. And to be honest, their dessert menu strikes us as pretty boring so we're not disappointed to not have any sweets. Believe it or not we usually only have dessert after dinner on vacation - it just doesn't happen much here at home unless it's a special ocassion or a really good restaurant ... or if my parasitic twin is awake.
And there you have it ... a most satisfying lunch on a day when everyone else was working. Ahhhhh, it's good to be lazy, if only for a day. If any of you fine folk are ever in the Stinktown area and would like to share a casual meal and a good brew with your pal Bendy and her indulgent hubby Jay, let us know. We'd love to share some good times with you at Trailhead!
Although I'm not being obsessive about it, I'm still sticking to my WW program, more or less, and am down 22# now. Of course, that's a drop in the barrel compared to where I need to be 
: 
) but a lot of the downtown core will be closed off for over a month. The Olympic Committee has appropriated all the theaters for about four weeks - yet are so disorganized that they don't actually know what acts will be booked in them - if any. They just want to have the option of having the theaters. That's bad news for those of us working in the entertainment business because it means we don't have anywhere to give concerts during that time. They haven't even decided if they're going to use an orchestra for the opening ceremonies so there may be few financial benefits for most of us. I can't even fathom why any city would want to host the Olympic Games -especially the Winter games.
This is something we would definitely be interested in, but can't swing it this year. 
Crazy! I had no idea that getting ready for the Big O was that awful. I admit that I'd love to attend ... and we talked about coming to Vancouver just for a week in February to do so, but can't really pull it off in the current economy. I do hope it all turns out OK for everyone and that there a minimal headaches and financial misfortunes. 
)
