Welcome to Budget Crunch, wherein intrepid reporter Byron Kerman offers 10 tips on delicious menu items and sweet deals happening now. Got $10? Grab a friend and sample, split and stuff yourselves with these steals.
1. Condiment lovers eat at Dirty Dogz just to sample from the amazing selection of more than 200 mustards, hot sauces and more at each location (which just happens to be inside three local Home Depots). Wanna try wasabi mustard, chili dog-flavored mustard, lime-flavored Chohula hot sauce or almost anything else? They’re all free with purchase, so put ’em on your dog, kielbasa, hot link, brat, etc. Dirty Harry would be appalled, but they even have ketchup.
2. Let the civilized life begin with Lavender Lemonade, available now at The Mud House. Locally grown lavender becomes house-made lavender simple syrup, which is then mixed into house-made lemonade. Served in a mason jar and garnished with a lemon wedge, it’s refreshment incarnate at $2.75 a glass.
3. When the students at the International Culinary School at the Art Institute of St. Louis hand you the bill for your lunch at Creativ Eats Restaurant, you may start laughing. After all, a sweet three-course prix fixe meal for $9 is a sleeper of a deal. The recently announced Florida-Caribbean fusion menu features your choice of scallop and shrimp ceviche or black bean and sweet potato soup; an entree of pulled jerk chicken, Cuban skirt steak, grouper en papillote or a curried vegetable empanada; and a dessert of tres leches sorbet with pineapple or coconut gelatin scallops with passion fruit and boysenberry sauces and topped with “Key lime caviar.” The student-operated restaurant, located in St. Charles, takes reservations for lunch from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Wednesdays and Thursdays; call 636.688.3055.
4. The new spring menu at The Fountain on Locust includes the yummy Fig and Bacon Pie ($8) a flatbread topped with house-made fig spread, bacon, apple slices and gorgonzola cheese. Yes, please.
5. Did you know Milagro Modern Mexican rocks a tasty, budget-friendly Mexican Sunday Brunch? Menu choices include a Baja omelet with lump crabmeat, spinach, avocado and panela cheese, topped with chipotle hollandaise ($10); cinnamon-raisin bread French toast stuffed with sweetened, rum-soaked plantains ($8); and churros y chocolate, cinnamon-sugar doughnuts served with Mexican chocolate dipping sauce ($5).
6. You may not need more than one drink at The Restaurant at The Cheshire‘s happy hour, which starts at 4:30 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday. That’s when their absinthe-based cocktails like the Hemingway (Saint George Absinthe, crème de violet liqueur, sparkling wine and lavender bitters) or a Sazerac with an absinthe wash are $6 each. Pair that potent concoction with $5 food items like Cheshire fish and chips, Cheshire cheeseburger (also with fries), or steamed mussels. Then again, it does go until 6:30 p.m., so maybe you have time to peruse that cocktail list again.
7. It might not be a secret for much longer, but Capitalist Pig has just debuted a monthly Off the Menu Secret Lunch Club. If 10 or more people RSVP for the lunch, chef-owner Ron Buechele makes it happen. The lunch, tentatively scheduled for noon Thurs., May 29, will feature off-menu items like smoked pork belly buns (a riff on a David Chang recipe) made from house-made steamed bao buns and slow-smoked, crispy pork belly with a topping of pickled daikon, carrot and jalapeno. Did I mention it’s a steal at $10? Email ron@madart.com for reservations.
8. Vinyl Side Monday is a fun promotion at the The Royale whereby whoever brings in a record for the DJ to spin after 10 p.m. on Mondays gets a free half-pint of any beer on draft. Current draft selections include Goose Island Illinois Imperial IPA, Civil Life English-Style Pale Ale, and Lagunitas Under Investigation Shut-Down Ale.
9. Trying one of just about everything in a single go is totally do-able at the famous 5 Star Burgers Happy Hour. From 4 to 6 p.m. daily, diners pay just $1.50 for mini-burgers, fried chicken sandwiches, mini turkey burgers and veggie-burger sliders. Fries and sweet-potato fries are $1.25 and $1.50, respectively, and fried pickles, onion rings and crispy cheese curds are just $2. Draft beers are half-price, and house wines are $3.50.
10. The Starr Special Milkshake ($4.50) at MoKaBe’s Coffeehouse is not for children; it’s for adults who want all the energy children have. Espresso grounds and chocolate bits are mixed into the shake for a caffeine-and-sugar jolt that can speed the earth on its axis. One MoKaBe’s barista said the consistency of the espresso and chocolate is that of crumbled Oreos. I say the power rush is that of a newly crowned dictator.
This article appears in May 2014.