So I had a meeting in St. Louis last week.  The meeting was tedious, but my first time in town.  There was an interesting opinion piece in the New York Times about a month ago (Loving the Midwest) about how slow St. Louis is, e.g. nothing going on downtown.  I certainly found that to be true.  It was a beautiful, if warm and humid, summer evening when I walked from my hotel to the restaurant I was going to try – Gio’s Ristaurante & Bar (more about Gio’s later).  It was like a ghost town.  I wondered whether the Zombie Apocalypse had started and the concierge had failed to inform me.  Anyroad, I walked up to the Citygarden.  If you’re in downtown St. Louis, I recommend wandering around in there.  Great water features for kids to play in; very interesting sculpture; and beautiful plants.   This piece caught my attention – an empty pink suit.  I think we all know a couple of these.

Next to the Citygarden was Gio’s.  If you’re looking for good eats in St. Louie, I highly recommend this place.  It’s got great reviews, so I reserved a table for 7:15, thinking it would be extremely busy.  They must have thought I was a complete nutter when I walked in and said I had a reservation – I was the only person in the place.  Matt – my server and the bar tender – assured me that they were in fact open.  It’d been a long day of travel, so I started out with a Manhattan – bourbon, bitters, garnish, rocks…the usual.   (Matt got an extra-generous tip – best Manhattan I’ve had in a very long time.  Surprisingly enough, the best Manhattan I’ve ever had was at the Hollywood Brown Derby at Disney World. But I digress.)

I started with the tomato and baked goat cheese salad with fresh herb, balsamic syrup, and olive oil – uh-MAY-zing.  For my entrée I got the Risotto del Giorno – risotto with grilled chicken, tomatoes, and spinach.  Probably some of the best risotto I’ve ever had.  It still had a little broth in it; I’m definitely going to try that technique the next time we make risotto.  I finished with one of the best tiramisus I’ve ever had.  With my meal, I had a couple of glasses of the 2010 Woop Woop Shiraz.  If you’ve never had this wine, you should really try it.  Great notes of dark fruit, with a full, clean finish.  It paired well with everything.  Apart from some German tourist who wandered in for a coke and a couple sitting at the bar, I had the place practically to myself.  Matt assured me though that it’s totally hopping when the Cardinals are in town.  There was a home game on the day I left.  I’m very sorry I missed it; maybe next time.