Local Flavor in St. Louis

 St. Louis, MO

A drumstick ice cream as big as your head!

Rout 66 Carl's Drive In

Today we revisited Carl's Drive In. We first went here on one of our road trips in 2015.  Carl's hamburgers are really great.  They are made by smashing the patty as flat as possible.  The patty is so thin that it gets nice and crispy on the edges.  It's a delicious burger.  We both got burgers, I also got a Chili covered tamale, and Donna got some fries for us to split.  She also got one of their homemade root beers which was good.  For dessert Donna and I split a Ronnie's Rocky Mountain.  It's a giant drumstick ice cream deep frozen solid as a rock.  

Getting our kicks on Historic Rout 66.

This is us trying not to look like tourist.  Pretty convincing hu?

It's really one of the best burgers I have had.

Sunday Brunch in the Park

We have arrived in St. Louis just as all of the "fair weather" events are starting.  Next Saturday is the 1st Summer Schedule Farmers Market and today was the first "Brunch In The Park" event.  The park is Tower Grove Park.  It's a little over half a mile away but it's a big park so there was a lot of walking involved.  We brought Francis and headed to The Piper Palm House.  There is a little window there that sells Biscuit Sandwiches but we were there for The Balkan Treat Box Truck and the 4 Hands Brewery Truck.  Balkan Treat Box is one of the top 100 Restaurants in St. Louis according to a few publications.  They have a crazy list of accolades by all kinds of national publications including Food and Wine, Eater, Esquire, and Food Network.

When we got there we jumped in line for the Balkan Truck and decided what to order.  We split a Pide which is a sort of flatbread sandwich (I will post a picture) and it was fantastic.  We also grabbed 2 cans of beer from the 4 Hands Brewery Booth and headed into The Piper Palm House to sit and eat.  Shortly after sitting we were kicked out because Francis was with us.  In our defense, there was nothing saying No Dogs and it was sort of an out door patio thing.  Oh well, we found a seat in the real outdoor area and continued eating our lunch while listening to the live music that was going on.

The people watching was fantastic.  All kinds of folks were out enjoying the "fair weather".  It's their reward for enduring what we assume is a fairly cold and windy winter.  It was still a little cold and windy for us today but we tried to blend in with our coats on while everyone else was in t-shirts and flip flops.  As we were finishing our lunch and beer we could hear the food truck workers telling people what they were out of.  We were glad we got there when we did.

New Brewery!  Well sort of.

In line for delicious grub!

It appears people pulled the tables and chairs out of the shade and into the sun

I know this looks good but it tasted way better than it looked.

Those were our adventures for the weekend.  If you missed my previous post you can find it here.  We had another foodie adventure down in Mehlville, MO.

Old Town Arvada

 Arvada, CO

You can see this sign from the train as you enter Arvada

The G Line to Arvada

This morning we got up and made sure we were at Union Station in time to catch our 11am train to Arvada.  Gene and Brandon are picking us up at the Arvada Gold Strike Station and we were heading to brunch and then a day in Old Town Arvada.  

Union Station

Our train arrived about 10 minutes before it was scheduled to leave

We were allowed to get on and explore a bit before we left the station

The seats were comfy

Transit selfie!

The thee wide bench seating was a little odd to us.

The map is clear and gives you all of the info you need.  We are on the Gold Line

The stations are above ground and they kept it simple.

There was a cool 3D mural on the back wall that I tried to get a photo of.

We arrived at our station right on time

I guess some of the trains don't stop at this station some of the time?

There was plenty of shade where it was needed which was nice

All of the lines are overhead electric

This is the track crossing to allow riders to access both platforms.

This station had art all along it called "Gold Pour"

Welcome Aboard RTD (Regional Transportation District)

Brunch!

Brandon and Gene took us to their favorite brunch place, Rupert's at the Edge. Their menu has great brunch items and they are packed on the weekends so Brandon and Gene wanted to go on a Friday. 

We got a seat right away

Brunch was great.  Donna and I ordered different things and then shared so we got to try 2 plates. After brunch we went to SomePlace Else Brewery. They had a few pinball machines I had never played and their theme is SciFi so Brandon and Gene were excited to show it to us.  It was a great space and the pinball machines were in good condition.

We stayed off the grain

Chewy was looking down at us

They had Black Night, Black Night 2000, and Black Night Swords of Rage all together

I have never seen this machine.  It was fun

They sold SciFi inspired art

I boldly went

Old Town Arvada was really cool too.  There were a lot of food places and shops and the train station we used to return home was right in the center.  We spent the rest of the day trying appetizers from different places and we went to a speakeasy called The Stockroom in the back of a liquor store. 

School House was a converted school and they had great poutine

There were things leftover from the buildings school house days decorating the bar and restaurant 

They have an extensive whiskey collection

Old Rulers lining the window sills

The door to the speakeasy in back of the liquor store

The speakeasy was really cool

The bartender went over the menu with us

Their logo on the menu

The Avalanche were playing for the Stanley Cup and there were no TVs so the place was pretty empty

We went to Rad-ish for vegan appetizers 

It was a colorful place with an 80s vibe

There was a cool lighting effect in the hall to the bathrooms

And the bathrooms were all mirrored

80s

On the way back to the train I took photos of Old Town at night

We had a few minutes to kill in the candy store

They had candy bars I hadn't seen in years

I didn't take any photos on the train home because it was really dark.  The regional transit was great and I recommend checking it out when you are in Denver.

You can find yesterday's adventure here.