St. Louis Trip
Posted on January 9, 2022 by Ching under Food and Drink, Travel.
We traveled to St. Louis, MO last weekend to compete in the Dink-in the New Year pickleball tournament at Vetta Racquet Sport Sunset. Since Tiffany and Donnie Lesperance were staying in the same hotel, the four of us decided to carpool.
We’ve gone to tournaments with Tiffany and Donnie before but this was our first time actually “traveling” together and traveling with these two is quite interesting because they love Mexican food. They don’t love Mexican food in the same way that normal people love Mexican food. They “really” love it. To the point where they could eat Mexican food everyday of our trip. And that is pretty much what we did. LOL. Thankfully, Brian and I enjoy Mexican food too. Otherwise, we would have been having nightmares like our friend Karen Fox did on our last trip to St. Louis.
We arrived in St. Louis on Thursday afternoon and had a late lunch at this place called El Maguey. However, I couldn’t even tell you which specific one because apparently that is like the most common name for a Mexican restaurant. There are El Magueys everywhere. There’s even one in Derby.
Here are some pictures of our meal.
Tiffany had some lunch fajitas.
Predictably, Brian always gets a simple bean and cheese burrito covered with queso.
I got some grilled tilapia and shrimp, which was so good.
The next day we found a Mexican restaurant a few miles from the tournament venue called San Jose.
San Jose Mexican Restaurant was a step up from El Maguey the previous day. They were playing fun bachata music while we were there and the decorations gave the restaurant an authentic ambiance.
Once again, Brian got a bean and cheese burrito.
I don’t remember what Donnie had but this is a picture of it.
Tiffany had the Guadalajara chicken.
And, I must have been really hungry because I missed taking a picture of my Mexican chicken soup. It was really good. It reminded me of the Mexican soup I used to have at this place called Wrap It Up in downtown Kansas City. They had it as a special on Wednesdays.
I thought the food was really good, as was the service. Our server was very attentive, checked on our table regularly, and kept our drinks/chips/salsa replenished without prompting — unlike at some places.
I managed to talk everyone into getting an entire pitcher of margarita. The server helped my case by telling that anything we could not finish we could take to go. I think it took a couple of days to drink the rest of the leftover margarita.
We loved San Jose so much that we returned the next day. This time with Donnie’s doubles partner Mark Steiner who, I guess, loves Mexican food too.
I had a giant plate of pork with some kind of flavorful red mole sauce, side of rice, and some elote (Mexican street corn). Brian gave me some of his guacamole. My dinner (which was also my breakfast the next morning because I couldn’t finish it) was delicious!
I think these are Donnie’s and Mark’s plates. I’m pretty sure I didn’t take a pic of Brian’s place because it would have been the same thing three days in a row.
Speaking of eating the same thing on consecutive days, Tiffany really liked the Guadalajara chicken because she got it again.
This trip is the most consecutive days of eating Mexican food I’ve had. Thankfully, I never tire of eating Mexican food either. Anyway, now we know what to expect when traveling with Tiffany and Donnie. Until next time, GNG.
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