Thursday, August 30, 2012

St. Louis' Best Balls! Installment 2: Acero & Mango

 Oh lookie! it's time for another installment of...
 
wherein I showcase some of my favorite local restaurants (first installment here). St. Louis has many fantastic eateries, and I am a big proponent of bragging about your city at every opportunity.


These precious little dumplings are gnudi from Acero. They are more refined-looking than the gnudi I made last week. I'm gonna need their secret (oh hey! the recipe from Acero's chef!!)! These were served with tomato sauce and pistachios. They are not always on the menu, which changes with seasonality and local product availability, as a menu should.

Acero is a small Italian restaurant with modern twists. I've never had a mediocre dish there... everything is fantastic. Perhaps one of my favorite dishes in all of St. Louis (all the world, even!), the egg raviolo, is from Acero. A giant ravioli filled with ricotta and a runny egg yolk! I am pretty sure it's what a unicorn's ovaries would taste like. Kelly and I recreated this magical dish once. It's tempting to make it every day, for realz. But that would be magic overkill...?



















Aren't these balls gorgeous? They are from a super-pretty Peruvian restaurant downtown called Mango. And when I say pretty, I mean that the first time I went there the prettiness of the space and the patrons made me wary of how the food was going to taste... pretty people don't eat, amirite? No, I am not right. I was skeptical for naught... Mango's food is wonderful! I guess I shouldn't judge a book by it's pretty cover.

These are called causa rellena (I found a recipe here!). They are basically mashed potatoes blended with a yellow peruvian pepper and topped with various deliciousness (for instance sauteed mushrooms, fried fish, grilled vegetables). Tender, fluffy and savory, I could eat causa rellena all night. Of course, these are not available at Mango on a regular basis. That would be too good to be true! You should go there, though, because they have plenty of other menu items that will make your mouth happy. Don't mind the pretty people.

Oh, St. Louis. You have some fine balls. I am not the only one who thinks so. In an extremely thorough article about St. Louis' best Italian joints, my friend Andrew wrote about some of the best meatballs in town. I will have to check them all out!





1 comment:

Every Little Thing said...

So what you're saying is that I'm basically REQUIRED to get the egg raviolo when we're there tomorrow.

Got it.