RESTAURANT WEEK SECOND STOP – ROOM 38

In deciding which of the 19 participating restaurants we would visit today, we looked over their menus hoping to find that they’d add some specials for the week.  Unfortunately a lot of them are choosing to highlight some of their most popular dishes rather than give us something we’ve not had from them before.  I guess I should be grateful that we’ve eaten at nearly all of them on the list…so maybe that’s why we want them to show us something new or different or with a twist.   We settled on Room 38…partly because I had been there before and enjoyed the variety of flatbreads they offer and partly because most of the restaurant week items featured fish or seafood.  We chose Option 2 (Sesame Crusted Ahi Tuna, Lobster Mac N Cheese, Gooey Butter Cake) and threw in a seafood flatbread because I want what I want.

We enjoyed the Seafood Flatbread, even though true Italians would say that pairing seafood with cheese is against the rules.  The shrimp was plentiful, but we hunted for lobster and crab without much success.  Crispy bread, gooey cheese and there was plenty to share.

The Sesame Crusted Ahi Tuna came next.  We were a little perplexed when the wait staff asked us how we wanted the tuna prepared.  We just assumed rare or mid-rare like we’ve had it many places…so we said mid-rare assuming they would sear it briefly in a hot skillet.  It was tasty, just not anything too special…but it did fit our desire for fish.

Whenever you see the words Lobster and Mac n Cheese in the same sentence then you know you’d better give it a try.  Sadly we searched and searched for Lobster and ended up finding only imitation crab meat or sea legs as they are sometimes called.  While it was warm and creamy and cooked well…it’s not fair to customers when a place advertises something with such a special ingredient and uses something far less special in its place.  I asked the wait staff what type of seafood they put in the dish because we were having a hard time tasting or finding real lobster.  Her explanation after talking with the kitchen staff was that it was “a blend” and they weren’t able to get much lobster.  I guess posting Imitation Crab Meat Mac n Cheese on your menu doesn’t get too many eaters excited.

We ended our lunch with a St. Louis classic, Gooey Butter Cake.  It was tender, moist and made even tastier with the strawberry sauce that was drizzled nicely on top.