The Libertine is one of those places that diners will either love or hate. One pal of mine who considers himself a foodie took one look at the menu, said it was awful and refuses to go. Another of the same ilk, left to his own timetable, would have been waiting the moment the restaurant first opened. There are perhaps a few serious restaurant patrons around town who don't know this is the product of Josh Galliano, late of Monarch, and his vivid imagination. Well, his talent, too, of course, but it's the imagination that smacks you as soon as you read the menu.
They haven't radically changed the layout of the site's previous tenants, but the tables are farther apart, always a pleasant touch. We can't figure out if the terrazo floor is the original from the building's early years – it looks elderly, but there's a big emblem on the floor in front of the bar with the letter L, appearing of the same vintage, and one wonders coincidence or artful? Service was excellent, but someone needs to pay attention to the tepid water that's served; we've heard this complaint several times.
There's no distinction on the menu between first courses and mains, merely the price to hint at that. We sashayed through the lighter items, happy in the option to try more things. For instance, a tomato sorbet turned out to be salad-like, garnished with cucumber, dice of fried green tomatoes, grape tomatoes and a little roasted pepper to adorn the main attraction. And it was an attraction indeed, soft and full of tomato flavor, the texture almost creamy. It came close to stunning. A terrine board offered a chicken pate, chunky and with concentrated fowl flavor, cured paper-thin slices of pig ear, and some country ham rillettes (looking to the St. Louis eye much like braunschweiger). Condiments included pickled cherries, a first-rate cranberry chutney and housemade pickles. All succeeded well except the ham rillettes, whose flavor had pretty much vanished, not much smoke, not much salt, not much pig.
A dish titled Roots was saladesque as well, with chilled roasted fingerling potatoes, sliced baby beets, arugula, shavings of a version of parmesan, and cubes of airy-looking beef cracklings, the whole dressed with a beet-laced vin cotto, sort of a balsamic vinegar with wine and beet juice. It was a good look at vegetables relatively un-fussed with that add up to satisfaction. Another fairly simple dish, shrimp with squid cracklings, showed cold steamed shrimp punctuated by pieces of crisply fried but un-breaded squid, the whole sitting on a layer of avocado mousse, all cool and summery.
Much has been made of the pig tails, the surprise hit of the menu. This week's Post-Dispatch food section reported Galliano as saying they have gotten 40 pounds of the tails on a Friday and needed that much again for Saturday. Crispy pig tails 'Buffalo Style' is how the menu styles them, and visions of curly, crunchy tails eaten like wings danced in one's head. No. Totally no. The kitchen bones them, slices them and stuffs them with more pig and goodness knows what else; then they're fried. The interior remains soft, a nice but not overwhelming spiciness apparent. But the skin becomes crisp-chewy, the way the outside of a pork roast can become with long, slow dry heat. It's a frolic for the mouth. These guys loll on a bed of gorgonzola-laced polenta, made even richer with notes of brown butter. This will make every year-end list of great dishes of the year.
When the crispy octopus arrived, we though it was the pig tail. A curled length of protein lay upon what might have been the polenta but turned out to be a puree of yellow Japanese sweet potatoes. Yes, the lightly charred exterior was a little crisp, but the interior was perhaps the most tender octopus ever. The kitchen, which must eye every delivery thinking "What can we pickle in this?", topped it with kim chee made of broccoli stems, and very tasty they were, too, even to a non-fancier of the Korean fermented condiment. A lightly peppery drizzle kicked things up slightly.
A surprise to see gooey butter cake on the menu here, but the peaches with it tipped the scale in its favor over other choices. While the cake was a little overbaked – too brown on top, dry on the bottom, its sweetness was a good match to the tartness of early peaches. The ice cream alongside was made of pickled cherries, and carried some salt, which seems to be 2013's dessert seasoning of the year. Not so great here, but interesting to play with as a component of the whole.
Galliano and staff have brought some very interesting combinations forward, If you're happy with some unexpected ingredients and combinations, this is clearly the place for you. Maybe not so much for the steak and potatoes crowd (although there's aburger on the menu), but exciting for many of us.
The Libertine
7927 Forsyth Blvd., Clayton
34-862-2999
Dinner Tues.-Sun.
Credit cards: Yes
Wheelchair access: Good
Smoking: No
Entrees: $16-$22, Smaller plates $7-$13
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The Libertine’s website is outstanding — a detailed menu with prices, a wine list with elaborate and entertaining descriptions…