bar food

I love a bar that loves a good tomato. The Royale has a delicious Italian Caprice salad on the menu--fresh little grape tomatoes, fresh mozzarella, basil, and an amazing balsamic. It's mighty fine. I especially love that my local bar isn't big on bar food. In fact, the owner is polling customers for food requests. I had a few thoughts, in passing. Here they are:

Dear The Royale,

Thank you, as always, for considering the desires of your patrons. I love your food as it is, and I’m not trying to change it. But since you asked, here goes:

Generally, I love to see several veggie sides on menus so that as a vegetarian, I can avoid the cheese pizza/salad dinner. Some of my favorites are beets, sweet potatoes, Brussels sprouts (although I realize these are fall veggies). For the summer months, asparagus, tomatoes, corn, salads, and cucumbers are really nice. But if you wanted to branch out, I always high-five a restaurant that offers a delicious vegetarian entrée option as well!

More specifically, in light of your outdoor grill, here are some thoughts off the top of my head:

1. For a side, what about grilled asparagus (yum!) but instead of merely buttering, you could toss it in a sesame seed / sesame oil sauce? or you could pair it with dried cherries and goat cheese? Wow!

2. Or even the really simple standard grilled portabella mushroom burger? You could serve it on grilled focaccia with fresh tomatoes and lettuce, maybe, and sweet potato fries on the side. Or you could Asian it up by marinating it in some soy sauce, topping it with an Asian slaw made from sprouts, julienned carrots, snap peas, and peanuts, and accompanying it with green beans. Yum!

3. Still taking advantage of the grill, how about grilled pears in a chocolate ganache for dessert? This dish would be seriously hindered by bacon flavor, however, so that’s something to consider when grilling.

4. More grilled stuff: grilled fennel sounds divine, but I have no idea what you’d do with it. Ask your chef!

Other entrée ideas:

5. You can’t go wrong with black beans in the summer. Some sort of black bean and mushroom dish? Like a layered tort or tart or something with beans, mushrooms, sweet potatoes... corn? I dunno! But delish!

And finally, my dear The Royale, as long as you and I are sharing, I have to say that you can never have too many salads.

6. I love the goat cheese salad you offer, and the new caprice is amazing… keep those for sure. But maybe for the summer do you know what would be yummy? A salad with awesome in-season tomatoes and cucumbers and some walnuts and fresh dill and a really light vinaigrette. This may sound dullsville, but if you had a garden out back and grew your own tomatoes and cucumbers and dill, it would be delightful! I promise! Or you could do a salad with figs and buy them at the local Tower Grove Park Farmer’s Market from the Bulgarian fig guy. Holy fig!

7. A different kind of salad could be a green bean salad, tossed with roasted tomatoes, feta, and balsamic vinaigrette. You just can’t go wrong with tomatoes in the summer. Or green beans. Or balsamic. Zoinks!

8. One last thought: What if you took those those lovely raviolis that you make and stuff them with a new flavor for the summer... like chard and apples? or like maybe leeks and pears? I don't know, but I trust in you!

But whatever. You know. It's just food... bwa-hahaha-hahaha-hahaha!

Thanks, The Royale! Call me when dinner's on! :)