Budget Crunch: 10 delicious dishes and sweet deals to try right now

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. There are about 25 chocolate-covered blackberries to a pound at Bissinger’s, and at $42 per pound, that’s a just less than $2 a blackberry. It ain’t cheap, but thankfully it only takes one to get your fix. Oh, mama. It’s worth driving to either Bissinger’s at Maryland Plaza or Bissinger’s at Plaza Frontenac, and savoring a dark or a milk chocolate-covered blackberry through September only.

2. Writing about fried chicken is, as Martin Mull might say, like dancing about architecture; one medium can hardly express the pleasures of the other. But one must persevere, so here it goes. I once ate fried chicken at the monthly Thursday Night Supper Club at Jilly’s Cupcake Bar & Cafe and jotted down some notes: “great, thick, savory, dense, spiced crust –wow.” Boneless fried breasts make it kid-friendly, plus fried drumsticks, for those who like dark meat. In the spirit of “wow,” we must recommend this delightful feast for Budget crunch even though $16 is a touch higher than we usually go. In this case, though, it’s a steal. Tomorrow, Sept. 18, Thursday Night Supper Club includes an unlimited buffet of this mind-blowing fried chicken, Caesar salad, deviled eggs, slaw, potato salad, cornbread, mac-n-cheese, desserts and more, all from the mind of Jilly’s chef Dana Holland.

3. Forget bottomless cups of coffee; the brewers at downtown’s Alpha Brewing Company choose one of their brews every Tuesday and offer a swimming pool of it for $10. That’s all you can drink, matey. Some beers that have been included in the deal recently are Lapsided (a mildly hoppy pale ale Alpha describes as “fruity, with a smooth bitterness”) and Alpha’s Belgian pale ale.

4. The Taste of Benton Park Festival  on Sat., Oct. 4 at the corner of Arsenal Street and Jefferson Avenue  is offering a sweet deal: $5 gets you a plate with samples from three Benton Park restaurants. Blues City Deli, Capitalist Pig BBQ, The Choice at Something Special, Ernesto’s Wine Bar, Frazer’s, Jax Café, Luvy Duvy’s Cafe, Melt, The Mud House, Peacemaker Lobster & Crab Co., Sidney Street Cafe, Spare No Rib, Whisk: A Sustainable Bakeshop  and Yemanja Brasil are all in on the act. Also, look for live music, a vintage Volkswagen show, and wine and beer sales.

5. The Robust Wine Bar outpost in Edwardsville is celebrating its one-year anniversary with a BBQ, Bourbon & Bubbles party tomorrow, Sept. 18. The evening will feature edibles from $6 to $10, including a barbecue of land and sea cuts, and appetizer specials on items like buffalo-chicken meatballs and bacon-wrapped jalapenos. Also look for $8 to $9 specials on bourbon-based cocktails, sparkling wines and live music.

6. Ten out of 10 potatoes agree: they’d be happy to end their days baked into poblano au gratin potatoes ($4) at J. Gilbert’s Wood-Fired Steaks & Seafood. The creamy side dish is made with gruyere and pepper jack cheeses, heavy cream, roasted poblano peppers, onion, garlic and spices. It’s served in a mini cast-iron crock, and as the weather gets colder, it tastes better and better.

7. The mouth-watering Cuban sandwich at Capitalist Pig starts with Companion bread, brushed with butter. Next up, a brushstroke of sauce made with mustard, mayo and more, followed by slices of house-smoked ham, Emmenthaler, smoked pork shoulder and house-made pickles. A trip through the sandwich press yields a Cubano with a crusty exterior with the sharp flavors of mustard and pickle playing off the moist, salty meats. All this flavor for $7.50? We’ll call that a steal.

8. The relocated Taste of St. Louis will tantalize and satiate from Chesterfield Amphitheatre, from Sept. 19 to 21. The eateries in Sauce Magazine’s Restaurant Row will offer Taste Bites, smaller-sized portions priced from $2 to $7. From Annie Gunn’s to Villa Farotto, there are more than three dozen restaurant booths. Don’t forget the free Art & Wine Walk, the Stella Artois Chef Battle Royale, culinary demos, Kid City, and big ticket items like appearances by Food Network’s Tyler Florence and Duff Goldman, as well as music by Big Head Todd & the Monsters and The Urge.

9. Iron Barley’s chef-owner Tom Coghill is crazy like a fox. He makes a bacon brownie ($9) using bourbon instead of water, and bacon fat instead of vegetable oil. He then dips very thick-cut bacon in brewer’s malt extract before double-smoking it and adding chunks to the batter. The final flourish: house-made vanilla ice cream and more bacon, of course. The bold dessert is available during dinner service at Iron Barley Thursday through Saturday.

10. Hey, ladies! A fun new deal at Art Bar Saint Louis, Nails and Cocktails combines booze, beauty and bargains. For $10, gals get a cocktail and a manicure the first Wednesday of the month. The oft-changing cocktail, said bar owner Tatyana Telnikova, is “a refreshing and fruity special that’s not too sweet.” Telnikova does the 15-minute manicures, which are “not too complicated, but better than what you would have done by yourself.” Art Bar, which opened about five months ago, also has a food menu that includes sweet and savory crepes, pierogies and a hummus app.

This article appears in September 2014.