If someone had moved back to St. Louis after an absence of a couple of years – if that someone had gotten their daily coffee at the shop at Laclede and Sarah – if that same someone decided to drop by Retreat Gastropub…well, their jaw would drop. 6 North was the coffee shop (It's still in existence at the Market Street and Ballwin locations.) but what Travis Howard, the owner, has done to create Retreat at that location is pretty amazing. Very handsome, very rugged feeling, yet cozy, and absolutely totally unrecognizable from its previous life.
Brunch is offered on both Saturday and Sunday from 11 a.m. until 3 p.m. An 11.20 arrival revealed several empty tables, but by 12.45, things were hopping and people were occasionally having to wait for seating. Now that the weather is at least intermittently pleasant, there are a few outside tables, covered seating at least partially out of the wind, to expand things a little.
Poutine seems to be becoming what beets were ten years ago: Ubiquitous. I'm still a little curious about the dish, and since the Potato Queen was gracing us with her presence, it seemed like a logical thing to order. Actually, the menu listed "poutine slinger", an interesting try for localization. So it wasn't french fries, it was the house "breakfast potatoes", those chunks of deep-fried seasoned potatoes working their way to ubiquity, cooked with sauteed onions and mushrooms, some cheese curds folded in and topped with a spicy chili-implying mushroom gravy and a fried egg. Pork or chicken confit, had we gotten some, brings a $4 upcharge. Of course a Canadian wouldn't recognize it as poutine, and it really isn't a slinger, but it tasted good, and the gravy is vegetarian, so it satisfies on several levels.
Interestingly, on the menu, the dish is called salmon cake "benedict" with only the word benedict in quotes. There isn't an English muffin, and the eggs are described as sunny-side up rather than poached. The lack of muffin means it's far easier to eat without sawing through what's often a too-tough piece of carbohydrate, certainly. The salmon cake itself was fat and well-seasoned, the eggs carefully cooked, although over easy rather than up. Unfortunately, the hollandaise seemed to be made without lemon and salt. Those breakfast potatoes showed up here, too.
Braised pork hash (shown below), generously chunky, used the potatoes again, with both poblano and sweet red peppers and a swoosh of spicy aioli underneath it all. Nicely porkish it was, with the poblanos punching things up just a tad, and eggs that were indeed sunny side up, yolks glistening. Breakfast tacos come as sausage and egg and potato and egg. Ever since I first had potato and egg tacos in Texas, I've been a sucker for them. The sausage they use is chorizo, which is certainly a point in their favor, but I went for the potato and egg. Wrong choice, alas. Those breakfast potatoes and some rubbery, browned scrambled egg in two flour tortillas – and more breakfast potatoes alongside – were uninspiring. Ketchup and a rather mild roasted tomato salsa, both ice cold, came alongside, and the salsa, perhaps two tablespoonsful total, wasn't enough to rescue the pair of tacos. The tortillas did, however, serve in lieu of bread for one of the group who prefers a bit of it to use as a pusher; toast or its equivalent isn't available on the menu.
Very good coffee and very good service, moderate noise levels that rose to a little more at times, but a pleasant atmosphere overall. Just not quite hitting the mark on the brunch food right now.
Retreat Gastropub
6 North Sarah
314-261-4497
Lunch Mon., Tues.-Fri., Dinner Tues.-Sun.,Brunch Sat.-Sun
Credit cards: Yes
Wheelchair access: Good
Smoking: No
Brunch entrees: $10-$14