The lost meals entries consist of meals that occurred at various times throughout 2012 which, for any number of reasons, escaped my documentation – some due to a cross country move and a new job, some due to the Los Angeles Kings run to the Stanley Cup, and some simply as a result of too much travel. Having enjoyed many of these meals with friends or family and with some of them amongst the year’s very best the reality is that with time my memory has deteriorated and as life moves forward I’ve realized there is little hope to ever “catch up” or document these experiences as well as I’d hope, yet in order to preserve them I present these pictures, notes, and thoughts on the experience.
Thyme Chili Flake Focaccia
Maple Custard – Maple and Lemon Flavor Custard with a layer roasted shitake mushrooms and finished with house made Bonito “Caviar”
Lobster – Pullman, celery, green apple, togarashi, brown butter hollandaise
Stone Milled Polenta – Thyme, Honey, Goat Cheese, Walnuts
Hen of the Woods Mushroom – Chorizo Spice, Egg, Salsify, Date, Lemon
Double Star Farms Chicken – Breast and Crepinette, Parsley Root, Sassafras, Carrot
Caramel Corn – Blueberry, Sorrel, Bourbon Brown Butter Cake
Chamomile Panna Cotta – Lemon Verbena, Sassafras
Owned and operated by Gerard Craft, Niche is considered by most to be the best restaurant in St. Louis and as such reservations were booked well before the trip west began – a good thing, because even though we arrived as they opened at 5pm the place was packed within 15 minutes. Close seating, a great soundtrack (Floyd, Zeppelin, Stones,) and excellent service would prove to be the rule in the heavily wooden room where brown paper covered white tablecloths and all things being equal the food was quite good – but three courses and out the door by 5:55pm did seem more than a little bit rushed.
Don’t get me wrong – it certainly is not as though our server, Jennifer was pushing us out the door or that the culinary team was throwing plates onto our table faster than we could enjoy them, it is just that throughout our short stay there was nary a pause and given the small-ish portions and the fact that we did not order wine the meal went very quickly and even my mother, a woman of a small appetite, left the restaurant happy that we had later plans for dessert at Sidney Street Café…at 8:00, having assumed that our evening at Niche would have lasted quite a bit longer.
Speaking to the food, there is no doubt that Craft and his team are talented and their flavors dynamic – a fact exemplified in the brilliantly deconstructed Lobster Roll and also in the deft balance of sweet, sour, and spice overlying tender mushrooms and all melded by a crispy poached egg; we loved both of these dishes and the ample side dish of polenta plus a couple rounds of tender focaccia more than made up for the somewhat small portions on the primary plates. Not particularly as adept as the savories, our pair of desserts were well presented and lovely to look at, but not particularly memorable save for the brown butter cake underlying the caramel corn – I would have happily eaten just that as a slice of cake beneath the blueberries and a dollop of whipped cream.
All in all Niche was a nice experience, but on a long trip with many memorable meals I largely found it to be a largely underwhelming experience and given the rushed nature, not particularly memorable. If I were in the area I’d gladly return to see more of the menu and I’d recommend it to someone visiting St. Louis, but not before I recommended other places, and I’d certainly not travel to St. Louis just to dine at Niche.