Editor’s note: The Stable has closed.
The Stable is primarily known as a beer bar, with extensive choices from all over the world. But don’t discount the restaurant, housed in a huge, almost cavernous, space.
The menu is also vast, ranging from soups, salads and sandwiches to pasta, osso buco and pizza. Among the 14 starters – including a basket of bacon – bacon-wrapped dates offer nice flavor but lose points for sloppy presentation, as they appeared to be haphazardly tossed onto the plate. The “sweet red pepper sauce” tasted like an Asian sweet and sour sauce and made the date gooier and the bacon stickier than usual.
Fava Bean and Artichoke Brulee hardly lives up to the brûlée name, seeing as its only resemblance is the oval dish it’s served in. Artichoke hearts and fava beans lend texture to the dense mixture of goat, mozzarella and cream cheeses and sour cream, but unfortunately fail to add flavor. Cheese also dominates the Pub Flat Bread, an 8-inch rectangular pizza with a soft crust of medium thickness. The creamy spinach, diced artichokes and sun-dried tomatoes give this a Greek twist, yet the Cheddar and Parmesan cheeses covering the veggies provide more of an American pizza feel – and overpower the flavor of the vegetables.
The Sicilian Gumbo, described as a “take on the traditional favorite,” features pieces of spicy salsiccia, shrimp and ground beef, roasted red peppers and tender chunks of tomato. It’s spiced more like a chili than a gumbo, but it offers robust flavor and head-sweating piquant heat.
Oddly, there’s not a single vegetarian option among the menu’s four salads. The spinach salad is topped with dried cherries, shallots, thin strips of smoked Gouda, pistachios and summer sausage, the last a jarring addition. The passion fruit dressing is pleasantly sweet and tart but is applied too generously, turning the sturdy spinach soggy.
The Stable’s take on the hamburger is an interesting – and original – approach: the Burger Grinder. It’s ground steak seasoned with a savory blend of herbs and spices, piled loose meat-style on French bread and then baked. Served alone, the meat would be unremarkable, but the half-dozen varieties make these grinders interesting. The mushroom option has mozzarella stirred in with the meat rather than melted on top and is garnished with roasted mushrooms and mayo. Its simple, discernible flavors make this rather light, with nothing too overwhelming weighing it down. The Spicy Joe is dressed with chopped white onions, jalepeños, hot sauce and Cheddar cheese mixed in. While its flavor bears a slight resemblance to Hamburger Helper, it’s a familiar and satisfying taste. The grinders are difficult to eat, with the fillings falling out the other end of the bun, but they’re great pub fare.
The Formaggio Pizza, made with Gorgonzola, goat cheese, feta, mozzarella and white truffle oil, is, disappointingly, exactly like the flat bread but with different toppings. The crust is soft and flavorless, with the cheese distributed generously on top. The goat cheese and Gorgonzola, overpower the subtle mozz, making more than one or two pieces out of the question even for lovers of stinky fromage.
Among the wide-ranging entrées, the butternut squash ravioli were cooked perfectly al dente and were stuffed with a sweet squash filling with a hint of orange, dressed with a flavorful sage butter sauce that nicely balanced the sweetness of the stuffing. But before you can get to the pasta, you must deal with a pile of chopped tomatoes, onions and green peppers mixed with a white bean ragout – an odd combination that didn’t work well, the atypical toppings ruining a perfectly good dish.
The cheapest option in the entrée section is the intriguing Plate of Food, described as the “chef’s selection” that changes “by the minute, by the hour, we just don’t know; all we know is it’s good.” This is a choice for the daring, particularly as there are no refunds. The plate consumed during our visit consisted of a ridiculous amount of spaghetti and meatballs accompanied by large pieces of grilled garlic bread. Who knows what it’ll be on your visit.
FILLING UP FOR $20 OR LESS
Where: The Stable, 1821 Cherokee St., St. Louis, 314.771.8500
When: Tue. to Thu. – 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. (bar until
1 a.m.), Fri. and Sat. – 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. (bar until
1 a.m.), Sun. – 9:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. (bar until
1 a.m.)
Dine-In-Ability: The cavernous space offers an abundance of wooden tables.
Feast or Famine: A huge menu with heavy dishes, most geared toward the carnivore.
Try it You’ll Like it: The Mushroom Grinder or the Sicilian Gumbo
This article appears in February 2011.