I can sum up the latest installment of “Kimberly’s St. Louis Restaurant Round Up” with one word: priceless!

The Scene:

A group of friends who really dig food recently dined at An American Place.

The Mission:

According to Chef Joshua Galliano, “to kill us with food.”

The Aforementioned “Killer” Food:

The details are a bit fuzzy, but I’ll do my best …

We started with an amuse bouche, but in this case, I use that term lightly. Our amuse bouche (typically a tiny, bite-sized morsel) consisted of a sweet potato croquette, a chicken spring roll, goat cheese mousse with walnuts, panna cotta with pistachios, and house-made strawberry soda. And while they were all bite-sized morsels (or sips in the case of the soda), there were five of them! But really, did I care? No … they were all wonderful and the strawberry soda was a fun surprise.

Next up was a beautiful charcuterie plate filled with a plethora of house-cured and smoked meats with a variety of sauces … and we know how I love my meat, right? While I can’t recall everything that Chef Galliano made (any help, Bill?), I definitely can’t forget the amazing guanciale (an unsmoked Italian bacon prepared with pig’s jowl or cheeks). It was my favorite, but I loved them all.

Chef Galliano then sent us an assortment of appetizers to share … a stuffed quail dish (I don’t remember what it was stuffed with, but it was good!), a crawfish dish (which again, I can’t recall exactly what was in it, but it was really good!), a seared foie gras terrine with braised lamb tongue, balsalmic cherries, and grilled crostini (yum), a chicken and oyster “boudin” (chicken and oyster seasoned like boudin sausage, rolled into a ball, and fried … so tasty!), and my favorite, beef ribs covered with a house-made rootbeer glaze and served with grilled onion rings and blue corn fritters (two words … holy crap!).

As our entrees began to arrive, so did a bowl of chilled watermelon soup with poached shrimp, watermelon pickles, and a jalapeno-cilantro salad that we were all very interested to try … and yes, we had another winner on our hands!

For my entree, I chose the Hinkebein Hills Farm pork loin and crispy pork belly, served with a pickled peach salad, brown butter polenta, molasses glazed turnips, and peach butter. The pork was a bit done for my taste, but its flavor worked really well with the rest of the dish (pork and peaches rock!) … and the peach salad, polenta, and turnips were amazing! I also ended up taking home half the pork loin and pork belly and it made for a great sandwich the next day!

Dessert included … oh gee, I can barely remember as I was already deep into my food coma at this point. I do recall a sampling of sorbet, a fruit shortcake with sweetened whipped cream, a dark chocolate tart/cake of some sort, and an assortment of cookies … which, of course, were all phenomenal!

The Outcome:

A very full, but very happy, belly … and amazing memories of great food, great wine, and great friends! I wasn’t quite killed with food … but it was close!