Peppertini's Piano Bar and Grill

St. Louisans who live in West County now have a pleasing late-night option when the urge for a drink and a bite to eat strikes during the drive home. Peppertini’s is a candidate to fill the bill Tuesday through Saturday, when the kitchen is open until midnight and there’s live music until 11. Meals but no music on Monday. Sounds pretty darn civilized to us, even if it isn’t on our regular route.

Housed in the former location of Simon’s in the Forum Center at the northwest corner of Olive Boulevard and Woods Mill Road, this is no dark, mysterious hole. The cocoa-colored walls hold paintings by owner Matt Jones, and the front wall is all windows. The menu is not, thankfully, bar food, but something a little more sophisticated. In fact, this seems to be a kitchen without a deep-fryer. Nevertheless, since it’s only been open a couple of months, the menu of modern American food is still relatively short.

Crab cakes didn’t claim to be lump crabmeat, but for the Midwest were very satisfactory, fat guys lightly browned, tasting of crab and the celery notes of an Old Bay-type seasoning. A cheese platter showed off, among other things, smoked gouda (which also appears on the bison burger), a mozzarella seasoned with oregano and basil and some high-quality capers and olives. Roasted tomato bisque charmed with its warm sweetness and sturdy tomato notes, but the lemongrass and ginger chicken soup was so salty it overrode what ginger was in it; we couldn’t taste any.

In this day and age, we’re happy to see relatively small portions. There may be some food lovers who have a sufficiency of will power, but the majority of us really don’t need 12 ounces of meat every  evening. The pork tenderloin medallion entree at Peppertini’s is two inch-thick pieces normally served "medium"; one was a little pink inside, the other showed none at all, but the meat was tender and flavorful. The side is truffled sweet potatoes, described as "smashed" but actually a smooth puree. (Smashed on a menu usually means some lumps that have been deliberately left.) We were a little unsure about the truffle/sweet potato combination, and it’s okay, but not fabulous. Bruschetta chicken with angel hair pasta didn’t actually have the strips of grilled chicken on the melba-toast-like bruschetta, but mixed in with the garlicky pasta, which wasn’t overcooked, no small task with angel hair. The dish showed more garlic than the garlic shrimp scampi, which also came with angel hair. Again, the shrimp were properly cooked, but the seasoning more subdued.

The vegetarian sandwich featured a freshly grilled portobello mushroom resting atop roasted peppers and squash, plus lettuce, tomato and red onion, all much tastier than the average non-vegetarian would expect. However, the so-called "lemon essence tortilla chips" that rode shotgun were extremely ordinary tortilla chips. As a side dish, the same chips, spelled "lemmon." cost $4.99, which is outrageous.

All the desserts are described as martinis, although none of them seem to contain gin or vermouth. It’s a popular trend, but anything (except gin or vodka and vermouth) served in a V-shaped glass is not a martini. Now that we’ve gotten that off our chest, we enjoyed the brownie a la mode martini, a moist brownie, vanilla ice cream, warm fudge sauce and pecans. The turtle cheesecake martini’s cheesecake mousse didn’t taste like cheesecake, but the caramel sauce was nice.

The fresh fruit and yogurt martini didn’t actually have seasonal fruit - hey, it’s winter, there really isn’t any - but made do with berries, red currants and Granny Smith apple slices, and totally lacked anything resembling the advertised yogurt sauce, despite the server’s assurance that it did. A dark toffee sauce had been poured over the cool fruit, the toffee cooling immediately to near-brittleness, which made it difficult to eat and a major project to pry off the glass.

The wine list has been put together with an eye on economy; only one red, one white and two Champagnes are more than $50 a bottle, but there are many satisfactory, tasty offerings, primarily from California and Australia, in the $20-$30 range. In addition, there are 18 wines by the glass and a lengthy beer list. Peppertini’s may be the only place in town that serves both Pabst Blue Ribbon and Laurent-Perrier Grand Siecle. Pleasant service, even on a very busy night, but a little instruction in wine-pouring might be in order. Music-lovers should request seating near the performers; the acoustics need help, and conversation among the diners can drown out a singer or two.

Still, in terms of late-night, West County places for drinks, food and music, it’s a start, and eliminates using the Highway 40 shutdown as an excuse to stay home and watch television.

Peppertini’s Piano Bar and Grill

79 Forum Center, Chesterfield

314-469-2210

www.peppertinispianobarandgrill.com

Dinner Mon-Sat.

Credit cards: All major

Wheelchair access: Good

Smoking: Yes

Entrees: $17-$26

Comments

[Corsair]

I think your critique of Peppertini's is wrong. Ive eaten there several times and thought the food was terrific. Your oppinions are usually good, but I think you may have pegged this restaurant wrong.

[Frerd & Carol Rockwell]

Carol & I spent spent last friday evening there (11/21) with good friends 04 lady and the man of many talents, Mr."Krone". Outstanding appetizers, wine, service, music and song by John, Gary and Maury. All that plus a little slow dancing, all the while Matt helping the servers and paying close attention to every detail and every grateful customer including this one. Life and the sharing of, just doesn't get any better than this.

Kudo's to Matt for hanging in there in a very tough economy to provide the rest of us with something very special. Rocky

[Miles]

Not sure if you know, but Peppertini's changed names. Now its called Seasons. New owners and a new chef now.

Kinda unimpressive as a restaurant, feels more like a doctors office. But I thought I would pass on the word to you.