2900 Virginia Ave
Saint Louis, MO 63118
"Fine dining" in St. Louis seems to usually come with a couple bottles of BBQ sauce on the table. But the lack of the prototypical LA/NYC/SF restaurant elegance doesn't translate into a lack of good food. The Shaved Duck's dark wood tables, dim lighting and cloth napkins established the right environment for feasting on some fancy barbeque.
1. baked apple with pulled pork, bacon, & pistachio butter - An interesting take on salad. This felt like a very "Southern" dish: hearty, rustic, with heavy-handed flavors. The sweetness of the baked apple was a nice compliment to the heavy savory meat mix of pork, bacon and pistachios. The dish felt well-conceived, but the pulled pork/bacon mix overwhelmed the rest of the dish.
3. walnut & brown sugar encrusted bacon, pears & bleu cheese - Not flavors that you'd typically think would go together but this dish worked. The accidental "sweet bacon" is probably enjoyed by people everyday at the local Denny's or IHOP, where the maple syrup from pancakes/french toast slowly makes its way across the plate in meeting it's savory breakfast cousin. But it had to take some trailblazing chef to break tradition and purposely fuse the two into one cohesive dish. But that tried and true combination were made better by the creamy blue cheese and crunch of walnuts.
4. big jimmy sampler, St.Louis style ribs, beef brisket, pulled pork and pulled smoked chicken - Sampler #2 of the night. Meat, meat, meat and more meat. The St. Louis ribs were tasty, covered in a savory rub. Everything else...good, but not too memorable.
5. gooey brownie with milk - The highlight of the evening. Gooey cake on top of a chocolate brownie. It wasn't until the next day that we learned that gooey cake was somewhat of a St. Louis staple food. Gooey cake is this semi-sticky, melty like sugary cake. This version was baked on top of a brownie. Although it would seem a bit excessive, the flavor combination worked. But if you did feel like it was too sweet, that's what the glass of milk is for. Dessert with a side of milk = awesome!
2. chili sampler - The "Sampler": the saving grace for the undecided and the gluttonous. For us, it's just a good way to eat as many different things as possible. From what we remember, there was a white bean, vegetarian, super spicy and some other random version. Do remember the vegetarian being pretty good and the spicy having some intense heat which subsided pretty quickly. But overall, nothing that we felt like we required more of.
3. walnut & brown sugar encrusted bacon, pears & bleu cheese - Not flavors that you'd typically think would go together but this dish worked. The accidental "sweet bacon" is probably enjoyed by people everyday at the local Denny's or IHOP, where the maple syrup from pancakes/french toast slowly makes its way across the plate in meeting it's savory breakfast cousin. But it had to take some trailblazing chef to break tradition and purposely fuse the two into one cohesive dish. But that tried and true combination were made better by the creamy blue cheese and crunch of walnuts.
4. big jimmy sampler, St.Louis style ribs, beef brisket, pulled pork and pulled smoked chicken - Sampler #2 of the night. Meat, meat, meat and more meat. The St. Louis ribs were tasty, covered in a savory rub. Everything else...good, but not too memorable.
5. gooey brownie with milk - The highlight of the evening. Gooey cake on top of a chocolate brownie. It wasn't until the next day that we learned that gooey cake was somewhat of a St. Louis staple food. Gooey cake is this semi-sticky, melty like sugary cake. This version was baked on top of a brownie. Although it would seem a bit excessive, the flavor combination worked. But if you did feel like it was too sweet, that's what the glass of milk is for. Dessert with a side of milk = awesome!
A good meal overall, but the highlight was the dessert. Everything else was nice but not spectacular. Another decent BBQ joint but still doesn't surpass the pig at Fat Matt's.