Q • Would you please publish the recipe for the West End Grill & Pub’s warm fingerling potato and green bean salad? It is absolutely divine. — Patty Dieckhaus
A • West End Grill & Pub opened on the eastern edge of the Central West End just five years ago, but restaurant owner Neill Costello explains why many people think the upscale American pub has been around a long time. “We have an old soul,” he says. “We’re in a quiet neighborhood, no crowds, no parking issues. Everyone knows each other here. So many great people are regulars.”
Best sellers are the fresh mussels served with green curry sauce and chicken cooked “under a brick.” Costello says, “Our seafood supplier says we sell more mussels than any restaurant in St. Louis. And people can’t get enough of that chicken.” Costello expresses pride in the restaurant’s burgers, too. “Good meat, char-grilled on a sourdough bun. We let a burger be a burger.”
West End Grill & Pub is a favorite stop for hungry theater-goers before and after performances at next door’s Gaslight Theater and nearby Grand Center venues. Costello says, “There’s a back route to Grand Center through the old Gaslight Square. It’s a five-minute trip to the Fox, Powell Hall, the Sheldon and all those places.”
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Executive chef Paul “Pablo” Stubits developed the restaurant’s Fried Potato and Green Bean Salad recipe. “It’s a warm salad, not a hot salad,” says the 36-year veteran of steak houses and other restaurants across the city, including Cardwell’s and Faust’s. He says that the trick to potatoes crispy on the outside and fluffy in the middle is a two-step cooking process, blanching first, then deep-frying. He cautions, “Don’t overcook the green beans; they should be crisp.”
West End Grill & Pub
354 North Boyle Street
314-531-4607; westendgrillandpub.com
Special Request is written by Kirkwood resident Alanna Kellogg, author of the online recipe column KitchenParade.com and “veggie evangelist” at the food blog about vegetables, A Veggie Venture.
