urbanSTL

trent wrote:I would be worried if I was the owner, to be open and running by the time Restaurant week happens. For one, the number on the card for Restaurant week isn't in service. Another thing, if they have a soft opening in 7 days from today, that would be the 9th, which would give them a whole 5 days of being open before perhaps the busiest week for downtown St. Louis restaurants. I would rather not be open for that, than open too early, not be ready, and have restaurant week be a disaster.

Totally Agree Trent. I have owned 2 restaurants and to not come out on your best foot, especially for an event like this seems foolish. They are not experienced operators and with all the delays, they want to get the doors open at any expense.

Plus there was a pretty good sized article in the August "Sauce" magazine where they interview the chef at "Red". Very interesting reading that doesn't give me the best feelings.



They're going to try the uber-hip molecular cooking that's the talk of the food world.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Molecular_gastronomy

The chef also admitted he came up with the menu in 72 hours and has never really done anything like this before. It would be one thing if he had spent some time working under Ferran Adria or a similar chef, but it sounds like he's in uncharted territory.

The Central Scrutinizer wrote:

dweebe wrote:Plus there was a pretty good sized article in the August "Sauce" magazine where they interview the chef at "Red". Very interesting reading that doesn't give me the best feelings.



They're going to try the uber-hip molecular cooking that's the talk of the food world.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Molecular_gastronomy

The chef also admitted he came up with the menu in 72 hours and has never really done anything like this before. It would be one thing if he had spent some time working under Ferran Adria or a similar chef, but it sounds like he's in uncharted territory.

I read that wiki article, and I still don't know what it is.

It's weird stuff. If you watch Anthony Bourdain's "No Reservations" he spent an entire episode making sweet love to Ferran Adria and explaining how Adria's cooking style works.



This article might better explain.

http://www.csmonitor.com/2004/0218/p11s02-lifo.html



Maybe I'm wrong, but that's the way the interview with the chef at "Red" came off.

Restaurant openings are a pain. I do have to wonder, however, whether the highly touted new "business friendliness" in the City is much more than a facade. All on this forum know the delays experienced by Simply Fondue; Agave in the Grove just delayed a very expensive opening "fiesta" due to "permit issues"; and Red has been stuck in limbo for many weeks. Meanwhile, I've seen several new places in Clayton open right on announced schedule.

^

What he said. What was the turnaround from Limoncello to Bistro Alexander? Two months? Admittedly, there wasn't major construction work to be done there, but still ...



Not to take things off track, but just had a lengthy conversation with the guys at Fifteen on Locust, and they seem to be moving along pretty well, so maybe there's some hope for relatively quick buildouts downtown.

I took a quick peak inside while out on my lunchtime walk, and it looks like it's very close to being done.

It looks like they've actually slid back a bit in the last two weeks. Stuck my nose in during my post-lunch walk. The doors were propped open and you could hear a radio playing in the back part. However nobody could be seen anywhere and there's a decent layer of construction dust over the bar, chairs, tables and flooring.



Plus it looks like one of the front doors had been damaged and will need to be replaced. I don't remember that a week or two ago. Don't know if it was damaged during construction or someone was trying to break in to steal something.

Red is having a "soft opening" next Friday night...for resv's call 588-7864

word on the street is....

STL63101 wrote:Red is having a "soft opening" next Friday night...for resv's call 588-7864

word on the street is....

Did anyone make it by there last night?

Anyone know when the grand opening is? On the main page of the website it says the doors open at 7pm and talks about the grand opening, but I swear it doesn't give a date. Every time I walk by there have been people in there so I assumed it had been open for a couple weeks now.

Went by for late drinks Saturday night...awesome music and great video screens, good crowd, especially for their second night of soft opening. Going for lunch tomorrow hopefully and will give a report on the food. I have heard good things from several friends who have gotten chef's previews...so I am excited to try for myself.

We went to Red last Friday for their soft, soft opening. Or maybe it was the opening. I'm not quite sure. Very good. We had each had a dish; lamb shank with mushrooms and parmesean encrusted salmon with mustard caviar. Very different tastes. The meat fell right off the bone of the the lamb. Yummy. Dessert was also wonderful. We had the cheesecake. It doesn't sound that appetizing on the menu, but trust me. Try it. Oh!!! and the Apple Martini was so good. Very smooth. Had to have another! I'm very excited for this restaurant with its great tastes and great atmosphere. We will definitely be going there again.

Excellent. I'm a big fan of lamb when its done well.



I'm looking forward to the opportunity to try this place.

Was lucky enough to sit in on a pre-opening tasting...food was EXCELLENT.



Lamb shank.. huge and superb

Beef Tenderloin.. exc value

Pastrami Scented Salmon...best of the bunch

Grilled Calamari (Steak) Salad...unusual, tender, wonderful

Black Pepper Goat Chs Cake w/ Granola...a dessert, sounds disgusting, but not to miss



Chef Rene Cruz a talented guy. Hope he can pull off such mastery day in and day out.



My first post, BTW

I dined there last night and the food was terriffic. What I like best about this restaurant is that the menu isn't your typical fare, but still satisfies all types of diners. They had both small plate and large plate dinners so you could order a couple small plates or a large plate. I had the lamb shank and it was very good. I'll certainly add it to my list of favorite restaurants.

I had lunch last Friday. Great looking build-out. Liked the waitresses.. Had the tenderloin mini sandwiches. very good, but didn't understand the melted American cheese on top. Maybe something a tad more sophisticated.. whatever, still good though.

Wow, excellent reviews. Can't wait to try this place out, I may have to make a reservation soon.

Stopped in last night after the football game. It was just the owner and a noobie bartender.



The owner had to give the chef a night off because the dude was fried from a crazy Friday and Saturday night. He claimed 400 plates moved Friday and 280 on Saturday. He was still able to do appetizer but we'd already eaten at the Dubliner.



Looks like they've already got a problem with their bathrooms. All they have is a single guys and a single womens room. The owner said they're doing emergency work to expand both washrooms to bigger setup. They had notes on the door saying expansion is coming.



They're going to get their 3am license once they have enough food sales to qualify to apply.



One note: it was cool to see the street still decently busy with people at 9pm on a Sunday. Good combination of residents walking dogs, kids etc and sports fans still downtown 5 or 6 hours after the games ended. Like I said we ate at the Dubliner and almost every table was full.

Went there on saturday night... I dig the decor. The dj comes on at 11 and spins up from a second story balcony. Only stayed for a drink or two, but will be heading back for sure. I only took a short stroll to the back (about as far back as the dj. The place seemed pretty small, was there more that I missed?

what happened to their cool neon sign that was hanging out front?



Damaged?

bpe235 wrote:Went there on saturday night... I dig the decor. The dj comes on at 11 and spins up from a second story balcony. Only stayed for a drink or two, but will be heading back for sure. I only took a short stroll to the back (about as far back as the dj. The place seemed pretty small, was there more that I missed?

I don't know how far back you went, but there is another section to the left of the kitchen. It's actually the back end of the space next door (the mortgage company).

It wasn't approved by somebody...the sign company actually made the mistake, so don't think this is some silly city ordinance thing. The sign itself wasn't certified or something, there was a sticker that was on there to say it was certified, and it was forged by the sign company to get a rush on the sign...so the sign company had to come back and take down the sign, they didn't tell the owner.



Needless to say, it's been pretty comical, but the sign will be back soon.