Eleven Eleven Mississippi

Saturday, February 20th - Jay & Bendy Try a New Dinner Spot Way Far Away in Downtown St. Louis

Here's how it all started:

STL Foodie offered a really unique and fun product around the Christmas holidays: a pack of 52 playing card-sized gift certificates worth $10 off a meal at 52 specific St. Louis restaurants. They are all owner-operated establishments and many of them are trendy hot spots - for $30 we were able to buy the entire pack and a portion of the proceeds were donated to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. I can't pass up something like that - a worthy cause gets some much needed money and my belly gets some much needed food!

Jay and I had tickets for the St. Louis Symphony's performance of Bugs Bunny on Broadway this night and since we were already going to be driving so far from home we thought we might as well use one of our gift certificates to try a new restaurant. I chose Eleven Eleven Mississippi because it's located about five minutes from Powell Symphony Hall and because their menu really sounded appealing. They market themselves as a blend of Northern Californian and Tuscan influenced cuisine operating as something along the lines of a wine country bistro. The restaurant is located in a restored historic brick warehouse in the Lafayette Square neighborhood. That doesn't mean much to either Jay or me ... we just want good food, especially if we're driving 45 miles out of the way to eat it.

Now, to be totally fair and upfront, I was sick last weekend when we dined here. I brought home a nasty cold from California and I'm more than willing to admit that my tastebuds may have been off. But I will say this: Jay didn't disagree with my final assessment and he wasn't sick then and still hasn't gotten sick one week after the fact. So, he either agrees with me one hundred percent or just doesn't care enough to offer up a dissenting opinion. ;-)

Our reservation was for 5:30PM - we arrived a bit early but were seated immediately. The restaurant was only about 1/3 full at that time but when we left the place was packed. It's popular, no doubt about that. Our waiter took far too long to make it to our table and thankfully a completely random waiter brought us some water to drink ... he probably thought I was going to choke to death with all that hacking I was doing at the table.

Eleven Eleven prides itself on having a comprehensive wine list. It was decent but I can't say that Jay or I were bowled over by it. Maybe if we'd had a server who was more interested in discourse we might have pursued it a little further and opted for a wine flight, but he really wasn't overly helpful so we just selected a glass of Pinot Grigio for me and a Shiraz for Jay.

We split an appetizer that had tremendous promise based on the menu description: Wild Boar Ravioli with Tomato Vodka Cream Sauce and Parmigiano-Reggiano.

Raviolis


My issues with this dish were two-fold; first of all it was drowning in sauce and secondly there was hardly any filling in the ravioli. It's a Stinktown failing to smother pasta in so much sauce that it's impossible to taste anything else, but I do not like that habit one bit. A little bit of sauce goes a long way and when there is a surfeit of it I always end up wondering what the kitchen is trying to hide. In this instance I think they were trying to hide the fact that these little pillows were only half filled with beef ... or boar ... or whatever it was supposed to be. There was just a hint of gamey flavor but with all that damn sauce it was really hard to tell what kind of meat went into that filling. I was disappointed - this sounded so wonderful when I read it on the menu and the result was mediocre at best.

Jay and I both ended up ordering dinner specials for our entrees. I selected the Pan Seared Day Boat Scallops with Grilled Spinach and Apricot Risotto - there was also a port wine reduction mixed with a buerre blanc. The scallops were pretty good - I did get one that was way too chewy and gristly to eat, but the rest were cooked very well and were light and silky. The sauce was a nice compliment to the scallops but again ... there was major disappointment with this dish and in this case it was the risotto. I expected the apricot to be very subtle but instead it was overpoweringly sweet and I couldn't eat more than one forkful of it. I will give them credit for cooking the risotto well but the apricot was a total mis-fire and ruined the whole effect of the dish. Who wants to eat sweet risotto with their scallops? BLEH!

Scallops and plain old bad risotto


Jason ordered the veal shank which was served on a bed of creamy mashed taters and vegetables that unfortunately included mushrooms. His dish was the real winner of the night - the meat was tender and flavorful and those potatoes were a creamy dreamy taste treat! Luckily he shared them with me so I was able to experience some spud-love.

Veal Shank


I was less than impressed by the dessert menu. I must be turning into a demanding snob in my old age, but it seems like everyone has the same damn dessert options: creme brulee; bread pudding; dark chocolate cake; some kind of banana-y dessert; and maybe gooey butter cake as a nod to local tastes. We went for the one thing that we thought sounded different and chose the Peanut Butter with Dark Chocolate Tower, Peanut Brittle Crisp, and Concord Syrup. We both ordered cappuccinos to drink with dessert.

The mousse looked promising and was very light; the initial taste was reminiscent of a Reese's Peanut Butter Cup so I thought that we might have found a winner but then unfortunately it finished off with a really sour aftertaste that no amount of chocolate could erase. We also were under the impression that the sauces on the plate were supposed to be salt caramel and chocolate ... instead we got something that tasted like runny grape jelly and simple syrup. Too sweet again - BLEH!

And, just to continue the nothing made Bendy happy at dinner theme, there was far too much foam in my cappuccino and not nearly enough coffee. So there!

Foam-u-ccino and a horrid peanut mousse thing


We really felt like the restaurant was trying too hard to impress. There are some great ideas on the menu and the presentations were nice in most respects but the flavors need work. In many cases what we found was that certain aspects of a dish overpowered the primary item; for example the tomato sauce that covered any taste of the wild boar ravioli. Perhaps Jay and I are just becoming more discerning and demanding after having a chance to try different things around the country; perhaps my under-the-weather-ness influenced my taste pickiness; perhaps the kitchen had an off night. All I know is that the experience wasn't good enough or impressive enough to warrant a second visit.

As an end note, I'd just like to say that Bugs Bunny on Broadway was tremendous fun and if the show ever makes an appearance in your city and you have the opportunity to attend, do so! The show has great cartoons including What's Opera Doc? The Rabbit of Seville, and a Corny Concerto and truly wonderful classical music performed by a first class orchestra. Even though I was feeling pretty punk I'm glad we decided to go - laughter is the best medicine after all!