Frontenac Grill - November 2011

We drive up and down Lindbergh Boulevard near Highway 40 all the time, and one thing that used to catch my eye was the restaurant that used to be Coco's but was first given the unusual name of "Old Blue Eyes". I will have to admit that name piqued my interest so I had to Google about it, and found out that they were having problems getting rights for that name and would have to call it something much less interesting, "The Frontenac Grill". I was excited to learn the person starting that venue up was the same Mike Faille who founded the Talayna's Pizza places. I always loved the one by Skinker and Forest Park Parkway and thought it would be great to have a good non-chain pizza place fairly close by. Unfortunately, Faille passed away before the restaurant was opened, but that did not deter us from visiting one Saturday for lunch.

The building is right there off Lindbergh, and to get to it going northbound you need to turn left at Conway, which is actually called German on the west side. I know we had visited Coco's years ago, but I have little recollection what it was like. The interior of the the new Frontenac Grill was completely redone and, sure enough, there were pictures of "Old Blue Eyes" himself there.

For some reason my mother-in-law decided to have the pasta alfredo there, but the rest of us skimmed the menu and all ordered what we knew we wanted: PIZZA! I went with the Chicago style, my son went with a thin crust, and my wife and daughter both had the New York style. They were all quite good, but I will have to say the Chicago style was the best of the three. Other places make good New York style pizza (our favorite is La Pizza on Delmar), but few local places make a Chicago style as good. I know I tried the deep dish Chicago style at Pi once, and I thought it was pretty good, but I liked the one at Frontenac Grill more. So if we go back, I am getting another Chicago style pizza there for sure!