CHAMPIONS CLUB BUSCH STADIUM - ST. LOUIS

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CHAMPIONS CLUB
BUSCH STADIUM
ST. LOUIS, MO 


Loved my experience with nearly 50,000 St. Louis Cardinals baseball fans at Busch Stadium.  Wow...these fans are the real deal.  They live and party hard for their World Champions.  Seemed like everyone was wearing some type of Cardinals shirt, jacket or hat.  We were lucky to have access to the Champions Club.  This all inclusive ticket allows you access to a large sky box with several open bars and a buffet of food selections.  Check out the video at the bottom of this blog.

SALAD BAR

BRATWURST AND HOT DOG BAR

LINGUINE WITH CLAM SAUCE AND A VERY GOOD BBQ PORK

BEEF HOT DOG WITH GRILLED ONIONS,
COLE SLAW AND NACHOS.  OH YES,
AND A COLD BEER.

BRATWURST WITH SAUERKRAUT AND MUSTARD

VIDEO OF THE CHAMPIONS CLUB

Andy's Pho

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One restaurant closed and another one opened.  King Yen is gone and Andy's Pho has taken it's place.  Because we love soup, and we love it Vietnamese Style, or "Pho" as well, we had to give this newly opened place a try.

You can tell it is a start up restaurant... not much fancy going on here.  Not much has changed about the atmosphere.  There is  new menu and  less decorations, but the tables and basic layout, as well as some of the photos on the wall are pretty much the same.  The condiments on the tables are not on EVERY table, yet.  Mentioning to the waitress that it was a  little bland, she told me that some renovations were in the plans and would b taking place in months to come. 

I didn't mind that this place was not so fancy.  I  mean. really, this is the way of business, small business, in America.  I know sometimes people get huge loans and hope for the best, but it is also common that people simply start up a business with what they can afford and then they work hard to make a profit.  If they do a good job, before they know it they are remodeling, expanding or at least adding to the employee roll and taking yearly vacations, with a low overheard because they started small.   It's freedom to do this...(and of course, many other things,)  that makes living in America great. 

Andy's is definitely an work in progress... which is a good thing. But most of all, as the sign says, it's Pho. I happen to think that Pho is fun to eat.  And wouldn't you know, Pho is pretty much what they serve here, I mean, pretty much all that there is on the menu. However, we did order a crispy noodle veggie dish too.   I should mention that you can get have your Pho prepared for you with various add-ins too, like meatballs or fried egg,  if you like.  My guess is that they will make it anyway you want them to.  For opening special, ( to get people to try the Pho they love to make,) they had special prices, so our  Pho was one or two dollars cheaper than the regular menu price.  That was a nice surprise.

Here is our dinner:



 Pho comes with Thai Basil and Mung bean sprouts, lime and Jalapeno peppers that you put into the broth yourself... if you like.  I love the sprouts and basil and jalapeno and lime in my soup so much I sometimes add these to my Ramen noodles when I make that at home.

The crispy noodles were smothered in fresh stir fried vegetables.
They have serveral different Pho selections, and even serve it with the meat rare, if you like.  (Not my kind of thing. Ususally I get chicken with is always good, but today we shared, and we also ordered it well done.)  It was well done, but it was also fatty.  We did not know if maybe that was the way it was supposed to be.  I might stick to chicken in the future, but Geo didn't mind.




 We also ordered a Iced Coffee drink which was really tasty.


 It was realy sweet, more like a dessert... but Yum!

 Pho....(pronounced "fa" ) is soup in a big bowl with lots of noodles, and soup, like Campbell's advertises, is simply, "good food!"  There are a lot of Pho restaurants in the area, so they do have some competition and will have to work on sprucing up the place to gain public appeal, but the service was great and Spokane is definately curious about Pho!



 

Buck's Pizza

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I was planning for a pizza party gathering over in the valley and needed some gluten-free pizza.  Bucks offered it, so off we went.... to 13221 East 32nd Ave.  Gluten-free pizza is not on their menu, and they do not make it in house, but it's advertised on a reader board on the side of the road.  It's certainly a great option when it comes to people sensitive to wheat, because pizza is such a social food.



Buck's is actually a large pizza chain, popular in the south eastern U.S.  I would have never known unless I checked out their website.  Tucked in a little strip mall in a rather obscure part of town, I was surprised how busy the place was... for the location.  As we were going in to pick up our order, the delivery guy was heading out the door...


... with one of the largest pizza boxes I have ever seen.  It was for a 24"" pizza pie.  That is one big pizza!


It's not a sit down pizza place.... just take out.  I failed to see any dining area.

Gluten-Free

As for our pizzas', they were pizzas.  nothing out of the ordinary, excepting that one was gluten-free.  Nice!  We pretty much ate it all too.  there were only a couple of pieces left, of which some lucky person can have pizza for breakfast.  Yum!

Pizza is just plain like able and appreciated...

 

Davenport Chef's in The Spotlight!

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Throughout the last month, The Davenport Hotel chefs have been particpating in events and making media appearances. This blog is dedicated to the Chef's and a huge thank you to all of them who help make the Davenport so special through the wonderful food that they create. A special thanks to Chef Bryan Franz who particpated in the National Tour Association's Reno Dinner Convention and received rave reviews as well as making appearances on KHQ and KREM!

Here are some photos and video from these events. Thank you Chefs!

Andy's Pho

To contact us Click HERE
One restaurant closed and another one opened.  King Yen is gone and Andy's Pho has taken it's place.  Because we love soup, and we love it Vietnamese Style, or "Pho" as well, we had to give this newly opened place a try.

You can tell it is a start up restaurant... not much fancy going on here.  Not much has changed about the atmosphere.  There is  new menu and  less decorations, but the tables and basic layout, as well as some of the photos on the wall are pretty much the same.  The condiments on the tables are not on EVERY table, yet.  Mentioning to the waitress that it was a  little bland, she told me that some renovations were in the plans and would b taking place in months to come. 

I didn't mind that this place was not so fancy.  I  mean. really, this is the way of business, small business, in America.  I know sometimes people get huge loans and hope for the best, but it is also common that people simply start up a business with what they can afford and then they work hard to make a profit.  If they do a good job, before they know it they are remodeling, expanding or at least adding to the employee roll and taking yearly vacations, with a low overheard because they started small.   It's freedom to do this...(and of course, many other things,)  that makes living in America great. 

Andy's is definitely an work in progress... which is a good thing. But most of all, as the sign says, it's Pho. I happen to think that Pho is fun to eat.  And wouldn't you know, Pho is pretty much what they serve here, I mean, pretty much all that there is on the menu. However, we did order a crispy noodle veggie dish too.   I should mention that you can get have your Pho prepared for you with various add-ins too, like meatballs or fried egg,  if you like.  My guess is that they will make it anyway you want them to.  For opening special, ( to get people to try the Pho they love to make,) they had special prices, so our  Pho was one or two dollars cheaper than the regular menu price.  That was a nice surprise.

Here is our dinner:



 Pho comes with Thai Basil and Mung bean sprouts, lime and Jalapeno peppers that you put into the broth yourself... if you like.  I love the sprouts and basil and jalapeno and lime in my soup so much I sometimes add these to my Ramen noodles when I make that at home.

The crispy noodles were smothered in fresh stir fried vegetables.
They have serveral different Pho selections, and even serve it with the meat rare, if you like.  (Not my kind of thing. Ususally I get chicken with is always good, but today we shared, and we also ordered it well done.)  It was well done, but it was also fatty.  We did not know if maybe that was the way it was supposed to be.  I might stick to chicken in the future, but Geo didn't mind.




 We also ordered a Iced Coffee drink which was really tasty.


 It was realy sweet, more like a dessert... but Yum!

 Pho....(pronounced "fa" ) is soup in a big bowl with lots of noodles, and soup, like Campbell's advertises, is simply, "good food!"  There are a lot of Pho restaurants in the area, so they do have some competition and will have to work on sprucing up the place to gain public appeal, but the service was great and Spokane is definately curious about Pho!



 

Tony Ferraro's Burgers and Italian Bistro

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I was introduced to this place when a friend of mine was very excited to celebrate her birthday by having lunch here with friends.  She told me, (and she's Italaian,) "Tony makes the best lasagna!"  Appararantly, she and Tony are on a first name basis; He came over while we were there and chatted for a bit.

This friend of mine, who is quite keen on Spokane history, was excited to show me and tell me a little bit about the history behind Ferrarro's Italian Bistro and his family too.  Adriano Ferraro, Tony's son, is quite the musician.  He has been on  and plays live music here on Thursday nights.  My friend's birthday was fun and the food terrific... so.....on a recent trip down Market Street, in Hillyard, Geo and I steered into Ferrarro's for a dinner out, and I got to introduce him to the uniqueness of this place.

Ferraro's used to be a "Steer Inn"... now it's got an Italian accent!

 And, if you don't want to go in and order (to eat your food indoors,) you can use the drive-thru!
However, if you go in, you can get a little bit about the history behind this place and Tony too.


We went in, up to the register and placed our order.   Then we settled. 

What did we order?  Well, it was not a Tuesday, so sadly, we missed out on lasagna,  Geo's favorite Italian food.  (That was depressing.)  The story is that Ferraro's only makes lasagna on Tuesday...  and it was not a Tuesday.  So if you like lasagna, remember, Tuesday at Tony's is the day for you.  They only make it on TUESDAY... and they like to serve it fresh.  Missing out on lasagna was a disappointment, as you might can tell, but there was a lot of other good sounding stuff on the menu.

 I  ordered Chicken Parmigiana, which came with a salad and bread.... and spaghetti.
 Geo went with Chicken Alfredo.  Instead of a salad he ordered bread... meanwhile, the pasta already came with some bread, so he had two.
 The food was yummy.  The atmosphere was comfortable and quaint.


 I enjoyed the memorabilia, which could be found all around the room.  I enjoyed reading about Tony's family and how it took them 11 days to travel across the ocean via ship when they immigrated to the US.  I found myself wondering what this place is like a Thursday night when Adriano comes in and plays his music on the piano.  I think it must be pretty special.

I like the idea that Tony is such a big part of the heart of Spokane.  On my friend's birthday, everyone in attendance knew who "Tony/" was.  I am impressed at how he and his family have an open heart to share their lives with and serve the people of Spokane and how they take care and pride in their restaurant's Italian food. 
 




Though I have never been there, I have learned that Ferraro has another restaurant on Sprague Ave...  we might have to try that one too.