Bristol Seafood Grill; OFallon, MO

Happy Anniversary - It Goes to Eleven! Now Let's Celebrate with Food and Booze!!!

We modified our dinner plans at the last minute and booked a table at Bristol, a local seafood restaurant which manages to provide Stinktown residents with fresh seafood prepared in creative and tasty fashion. For us there is an added attraction - Bristol has a location in OFallon that is less than ten minutes from our cozy, cat-hair covered cottage. It seemed like the perfect way to celebrate our wedding anniversary without the 50-60 mile round-trip drive we usually have when dining out in Stinktown.

Eleven years ... still going strong!


Along with their standard menu, Bristol offers a seasonal Chef's Tasting Menu which we've ordered previously with great success. Patrons may choose the three-course menu for $25 (wine pairings are an additional $12 per person), or the four-course menu for $32 (wine pairings are an additional $16 per person). Once we verified that Copper River Salmon was included with the tasting menu we were ready to place our order and added an extra snack with some cocktails for good measure!

Jay selected Bristol's Cucumber Dill Martini, made with Hendricks Gin, fresh cucumber, and fresh dill. We just tried this type of martini earlier in the month at Wolfgang Puck's signature lunch in Las Vegas and it was an amazing, refreshing drink. Jay and I knew there was no way this version could compare with the one we received from the Puck, but it was an acceptable alternative - the cucumber and dill were a little too faint to mask the strength of the gin so the drink could use some work, but overall we agreed that it was a good effort.

I decided to try a French 75 which was a blend of Caravella Limoncello, Cointreau, Hendricks Gin, and Domaine Ste. Michelle Brut Champagne. I really enjoyed this drink; it was a nice balance of sweet liqueurs and drier alcohol and I thought it was delicious.

For our self-chosen amuse Jay and I ordered a small plate of Ahi Tuna Rolls - five pieces of Ahi Tuna sushi rolled with cucumber and rice with just a hint of wasabi. We were a little surprised that the sushi was served warm, but it was still a great start to the evening - light and sweet - and it really whet our appetites for the meal to come.

Aaaaaaahhhhhhhi!


First course: Ham & Eggs - crispy prosciutto, poached egg, chickpea fries, grilled asparagus, and balsamic glaze paired with Nigi Gruener Veltliner (Austria). We weren't sure what to expect with this course but were delighted with both the presentation and taste. The egg was perfectly poached and generously sprinkled with crispy prosciutto which added a hint of salt as well as some wonderful texture. The real surprise and hands-down winner in this course was the chickpea fries, served underneath the asparagus and egg. The chickpeas were basically pulverized, rolled in breading, and flash fried for a yum factor of ten, especially when dipped in the balsamic glaze.

Ham and Eggs


Second Course: Char Crusted Tuna - baby greens, parmesan dill roasted potatoes, sesame cracker, and black olive vinaigrette paired with Trefethen Dry Riesling (Napa Valley). Once again the tuna was spectacular: so tender we could cut it with our forks and just bursting with sweet flavor. My sesame cracker was mysteriously sesame-free, not that this bothered me, and it tasted great with the tuna. The potatoes had nice flavor but they were served cold and that really detracted from our enjoyment of their taste.

Tuna, taters, and a random green bean!


Third Course: Grilled Wild Copper River Salmon - sweet pea risotto and truffled mint butter paired with Erath Estate Pinot Noir (Oregon). There's a story here and I have to share it, especially with those of you who are Disney freaks like us. Jay and I celebrated our anniversary in Walt Disney World about three years ago and for one night of our trip I booked a reservation at Artist Point primarily so that Jason could try this wonderful salmon that is only available annually between mid-May and mid-June. The entire evening at Artist Point was a bust, but the kicker was that they had just run out of their supply of Copper River Salmon and Jay couldn't order it. Wankers!

Each year since I have made it my mission to get Jason to a restaurant that offers Copper River Salmon and each year we somehow manage to just miss it. It was delicious irony indeed to finally discover it at a Stinktown establishment less than ten miles from our house Saturday night. And I used the word delicious on purpose because this fish lived up to the hype and was off-the-chart delectable! That statement, coming from me, should really carry some weight because I am not a huge fan of salmon - it often has an overpowering, fishy taste that I do not like one bit. But this salmon was firm and rich and mild; in a word: amazing!!! Jason said it was quite tasty and was definitely worth the four-year wait.

Copper River Salmon ... finally


Third Course: Petite Filet Mignon & King Crab - whipped Yukon gold potatoes, grilled asparagus, and foyot sauce paired with Frei Brothers Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon (Alexander Valley). My entree choice was dull and boring compared with Jason's but I really wanted some meat and 'taters and since I'm not a salmon person this seemed like a safe choice. It was good - nothing to rave about - and I should have requested no sauce because the foyot sauce is just another version of Bearnaise and I don't like that. Long story short - Jason got to eat my crab along with his salmon because it was swimming in gacky sauce.

Meat and potatoes ...


Fourth Course: Dark Chocolate Truffle Cake - macadamia coconut caramel and pineapple-buttermilk sherbet paired with Fonseca 20-year Tawny Port (Portugal). Dessert was both good and not good, if that makes any sense. The truffle cake and the caramel sauce were amazing once I scraped away the nuts and coconut, especially with that 20-year port that Jay and I like so much. However, we both agreed that the pineapple-buttermilk sherbet just didn't make good sense with the caramel and chocolate. I did get a chuckle out of the dried pineapple ring that was used to garnish the sherbert - I kept waiting for a miniature Evel Knievel to appear on the table and jump his wee motorcycle right through the center of the pineapple.

Daredevil dessert?


And because sometimes I just don't know when to quit, I talked Jay into ordering Ernest Hemingway's "Death in the Afternoon." The menu claimed that the drink was absinthe and champagne poured together until it obtains the perfect opalescent milkiness. Jay warned me that it wouldn't be nearly as good as the absinthe that we tried in Vegas and I knew he was right ... nothing can top booze on fiyah mixed with root beer ... but I thought it might be a fun alternative. I was also charmed by the idea that there was actually a Stinktown establishment offering some form of absinthe service!

Never again.

This was vile. I know absinthe tastes of licorice but the strength of that taste depends on where and how the liqueur is made. Our drink was preceded by a cloud of stench that made me wonder if someone had poured Nyquil into a glass of bubbly by mistake. It did not taste any better than it smelled. We tried adding an ice cube in a futile attempt to dilute the licorice flavor and that worked about as well as building a dam out of spongecake. Then in my tipsy state I decided that the missing flavor-enhancing ingredient was sugar; I reached for a packet of refined white stuff and dumped it into the champagne flute only to have our drink foam up like Alka-Seltzer and spew all over the table.

We know when we're beat; we asked for check and went home, a little sadder but a lot wiser.

Next time, just say "no."


Absinthe service aside, we had a wonderful evening at Bristol. Jay and I thought the food was very good and we liked the bursts of creativity we saw with certain menu items. The seafood that we did have was excellent and I can say that even I am now a fan of Copper River Salmon, it's just that good!