Cardwell's (8100 Maryland Avenue, Clayton; 314-726-5055)
If you want to go classic, try the menu at Cardwell's. Appetizers are a choice of flash-fried, buttermilk-battered calamari with chili-lime mayonnaise, New Orleans Creole-style seafood gumbo made with spicy andouille, sausage, shrimp and okra, finished with steamed jasmine rice and green onion, a traditional Caesar salad or herbed and peppered sirloin carpaccio. Pick from four entrees: filet mignon in wild mushroom sauce served with gruyere gratin potatoes and market fresh vegetables, wood-fired Atlantic salmon grilled over flaming hickory, pecan and cherry woods with a three-mustard honey balsamic herb glaze, roasted garlic Yukon gold whipped potatoes and market fresh vegetables, braised short ribs, herb roasted beef brisket drizzled with a Cabernet herb reduction and topped with flash fried onion straws, roasted garlic Yukon golden whipped potatoes and market fresh vegetables, herb-marinated pan-roasted free-range chicken, roasted garlic Yukon golden whipped potatoes, sauté of spinach and leeks, market fresh vegetables. For dessert you can get a scoop of ice cream or sorbet, chocolate pate or Tahitian vanilla bread pudding.
