Review: Stone Soup Cottage in Cottleville

Carl McConnell stole my idea.

Some years ago, back when I thought having a restaurant was a good idea, I had a great idea for a restaurant. It would be a small space, open only on weekends, where only a few adventuresome diners would come to eat whatever I prepared that night. They would come for the experience, and they would have my undivided attention. I’d spend the day sourcing ingredients, selecting the wines and choosing just the right blend of music. It would be booked months ahead.

With Stone Soup Cottage, McConnell and his wife Nancy have captured exactly my fantasy of freshly sourced foods made into one-of-a-kind meals served in an intimate setting, like an 1850s farmhouse in Cottleville, Mo. He even stole my idea of keeping things small and exclusive: Your choice of a four- or six-course prix fixe dinner is served Thursday through Saturday with one seating at 6:30 p.m. for only 24 guests at seven tables (there’s also a Sunday brunch). With its French-country feel, stone fireplace, white linen, candlelight and old, creaky wood floors, it’s just the ambiance I would have employed.

But it’s OK, because, really, I would have made a mess of the whole thing. At least McConnell has a culinary degree and a résumé that includes an apprenticeship at the Nordic Culinary School of Europe and long stints as head of the culinary operations for luxury travel companies like the Clipper Cruise Line and American Orient Express. He also makes you feel like you’re his only guest for the night, greeting you with a hand on the shoulder while looking you intensely in the eye, explaining each course in detail while serving you, making sure everything is to your liking.

Stone Soup Cottage embodies the philosophy of the age-old fable, Stone Soup, (there’s a copy of Marcia Brown’s 1947 children’s book version in the well-appointed, cozy restroom): work with the locals to provide ingredients for a soup truly of the community. McConnell gets his produce from Norman Wiese, owner of a local plant nursery, so it’s not atypical that the sweet potato or blue romaine lettuce or purple asparagus on your plate was picked the same morning. With its Cottleville-grown corn, the roasted corn bisque – topped with an applewood bacon croquette and served in a rustic, homey copper soup bowl – was a delicious interpretation of the book. But don’t expect to see it again, because the menu changes every two weeks and corn, as any foodie knows, is out of season. Even the compact and affordable wine list is switched out every eight weeks. So much for that nice bottle of Spellbound Petite Sirah.

All of which makes reviewing Stone Soup Cottage a challenge. So that second course of just-flown-in Digby Bay diver scallops en papillote sliced open before your eyes, emitting a plume of steam perfumed with Pernod, onion and fennel? History. That third course of a single smoked duck cannelloni bathed in brown butter and cream, fragrant with gentle hints of lavender and served in its own mini Le Creuset-like ramekin? Nope. Hankering for the châteaubriand? Don’t.

What you can count on is increasing anticipation as each course progresses, following a European approach to dining: several courses of beautifully prepared smaller servings made for lingering over long conversations, leaving you satisfied but never stuffed. While the only choice you have is deciding between the four- or six-course menu (and advanced reservations are required), vegetarians are treated as equals. In fact, McConnell was downright ecstatic about preparing vegetarian courses for my lacto-ovo dining companion, substituting wild mushrooms (a bit gritty) for duck in the cannelloni and creating a phyllo-encased strudel of fresh local vegetables for the scallops.

For brunch, McConnell made a wild-mushroom and potato Wellington with a beurre blanc sauce so seductive that I almost – almost – relinquished my eggs Benedict, were it not for prosciutto di Parma topping the gently poached eggs. An omelet of basil, tomatoes and house-made mozzarella was like a Caprese salad wrapped in a warm egg blanket.

Again following the European tradition, dessert always includes a cheese plate, which is not to suggest you should avoid desserts like the chocolate pot de crème or crème brûleé, the latter presenting its own risks when McConnell blow-torches the sugar at your table, sometimes resulting in the smoke detector reminding you it’s working – a humorous event that McConnell takes in stride.

With only McConnell, his wife and another server running the show, this isn’t about turning tables. Dinner ran three hours one night, with leisurely pauses between courses. I hardly noticed the relaxed pace until I heard the same CD – an odd, irritating compilation of classical wedding music – repeat a couple of times.

If change is the one constant, Stone Soup Cottage is indeed consistent. Just as I would have done with my quaint little restaurant.

NEW AND NOTABLE
Don’t-Miss Dish: Each dish is not to be missed.
Vibe: Small, historic farmhouse dressed in a romantic, rustic French-country motif.
Entrée Prices: $49.95 per person for four-course menu; $69.95 for six-course menu. Add $35 for four-flight wine pairing with both menus. $20 per person for Sunday’s Champagne brunch. Tax and gratuity not included.
Where: Stone Soup Cottage, 5525 Oak St., Cottleville, 636.244.2233
When: Dinner: Thu. to Sat. – 6:30 p.m. seating only; Brunch: Sun. – 10 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. seatings