The Protagonist Café

​The Protagonist Cafe

This awesome cafe is nestled in the heart of Soulard! It's not just a cafe either, but a cafe and then some! The and then some being books, shirts, cups, mugs, stickers, and more! They have a really great book selection too, but back to the cafe! We have visited the Protagonist Cafe two times now, once on each of our trips to St. Louis and each time we had a great time and enjoyed every aspect of our visit! Fun and cool little fact! They have their own permanent roaster named Martney who is a female roaster! They have three different roasts at the cafe: a Nicaraguan medium roast, an Ethiopian light roast, and a guatemala dark roast! I tried the coffee on my first visit! had it black with splenda! BEST coffee I have ever had hands down! I am a coffee nut and if you are too you will not be disappointed! Dad Had it on our second visit and he said it was AWESOME as well! If Dad and I say the coffee is good then you know it is as we are picky when it comes to our coffee!!!!  On our first visit all I decided to get was coffee and Marissa got a Caramel Delight (which I tried and it was better than anything you could imagine! Dunkin and Starbucks have nothing on this place!)! On our second trip I decided to get a pastry for breakfast! Another fun fact they have bakers that bake all of their pastries for them each day at their sister establishment! They have fresh baked pastries each day! For my pastry I chose the Samoa Cookie. It is a chilled cookie (I believe it has oats and coconut in it) . It is very dense and tasty! On the bottom it is slightly dipped in chocolate giving it a layer of chocolate as well as having chocolate drizzled over the top! It was great and one of the best cookies I have ever had! I liked that it was chilled and cool as well! Everyone tried it as it was the size of a small saucer plate which is a great deal for the price it was! Everyone else agreed it was one of the best cookies they have had as well! (picture below)! On our second visit Marissa had the same Carmel Delight as on our first visit and Mom had that as well! They knocked it out of the park on those again! Mom and Dad chose to get pastries on our visit as well Mom chose the Raspberry Thumbprint Pasty and Dad Chose the Lemon Bundt Cake with cream cheese in the middle! Marissa and I tried both of them and they are awesome as well! We were 100% pleased with both of our visits and will be going back next time we are in St. Louis! We never had a long wait time. Everything we ordered was ready and prepared properly in a quick and timely manner! This is great and says a lot as they are always busy and full of people! You know a place is good when it is always full of people! They also have indoor and outdoor seating inside there are tables, couches, chairs etc. and outside they have picnic tables out front on the large brick sidewalk! Yes you read that right brick sidewalk! Soulard is a historical part of St. Louis and most of it still has the original brick sidewalks which makes the experience even better! If you are ever in Soulard while visiting St. Louis the Protagonist Cafe is a must try! Great atmosphere, great service, great and friendly people (workers and patrons)! We highly recommend it! Tell them Collin and Marissa sent you! The Protagonist Cafe gets a 5 out 5 stars from all of us! Check out the photos below from both of our visits! 

#food #cafe #protagonist #breakfast #morning #coffee #pastry #review #foodie #foodporn #foodphotography #foodblogger #stlouis #stlouismo #foodstagram #fooelover #travelblogger #travelfoodie #soulard #instagood #foodforfoodies #missouri #unique #hiddengems #dudereviewsfood 

Peek Retreat Airbnb St. Louis Missouri

​Peek Retreat Soulard St. Louis 

Let’s dive into our AWESOME Airbnb! 

Peek Retreat is a 2 story flounder style home located in historic Soulard. The home is nestled in a peaceful gated courtyard. There is a peaceful sitting spot located out front of the home in the courtyard on the brick patio area. Inside is cozy, historical, and industrial with plenty of room for 2! Downstairs is the living area, kitchen and dining area. Upstairs is the bedroom, bathroom, and office along with a porch that overlooks the courtyard. There is also a basement area used for storage. Peek Retreat was very clean and well taken care of! The hosts were very nice, responsive, and helpful to any questions or requests! We felt at home during our whole stay! With it’s great location you are literally within walking distance to local bars, restaurants, cafes, the famous Soulard Farmers Market and more! You are just a few blocks from Anheuser Busch Brewery as well! It’s also located not far from Busch Stadium and downtown! We thoroughly enjoyed our stay at Peek Retreat and would highly recommend you consider staying here next time you visit St. Louis! 

We give Peek Retreats 5 out of 5 stars! 

Here are a few photos we too of during our stay! 

#stlouis #stl #stlouismo #trip #vacation #vacationmode #goodvibes #Missouri #soulardstl #downtown #travel #travelblogger #review #travelreviews #travellife #cottage #airbnb #Peekretreat #peekretreat 

Spine Indie Bookstore & Café St. Louis Missouri

​Spine Indie Bookstore & Café

We were researching bookstores in St. Louis that we could visit as this was our second night of vacation. We had already had dinner and decided we wanted to find a bookstore/cafe to look at a few books and have a coffee or something to drink. We just had to find one that was open as it was later in the evening. There were a few, but Spine Indie caught our eye! We looked up the hours and it said they were open until 10:00pm so we headed that way! We didn’t initially know they were having an event, but we were lucky enough to stumble upon an awesome time that night! You could hear music on the outside speakers of the cafe from the park parallel to the bookstore/cafe! After visiting the park, pond, Ducks, and Geese next to Spine Indie (that will be for another post) we walked over and through the doors! We were lucky enough to stop in when Ethan Bradley (known as @wilson.ridge.sti on Instagram) was playing! After he finished his time on stage we got the chance to talk to Ethan! Very awesome and creative guy who writes and plays some great music! Absolutely awesome music, awesome time, great atmosphere, and some of the nicest, coolest, and most down to earth people you could meet! The owner Mark Pennebaker recommended I try a drink. I can’t remember the name but it’s essentially club soda with flavoring syrup. He recommended the strawberry flavor and it was a banger! Definitely recommend Spine Indie to all of our friends especially our book nerd friends like us! We will definitely be stopping back in next time we are in St Louis! Huge thank you to Spine Indie Bookstore & Café for the great evening! 

Give them a follow on Instagram! 

•Ethan Bradley 

@wilson.ridge.stl

•Spine Indie Bookstore & Café

@spinebookstorecafe 

#stlouis #spineindie #spineindiebookstorecafe #bookstore #cafe #coffee #music #artist #localmusic #localartist #localmusician #stl #missouri #explorestlouis #openmic #musician #review #reviews #coffee #unique #hiddengems #nightlife #vibe #vibing #creative #missouri

Sauce On The Side Restaurant St. Louis Missouri

​Sauce On The Side Downtown St. Louis

Vacation day one was in the books! We had arrived in St. Louis late in the afternoon last Friday. We were hungry so we knew what to do! Food time! Starting out with our first food stop! We stopped into eat at Sauce On The Side and had the Fatty B! It’s essentially a calzone packed with Pepperoni, Meatballs, White Onion, Provolone, Roasted Garlic, Mozzarella, Ricotta, Garlic Oil! Of course we had meat sauce on the side! Great restaurant, great service, and great atmosphere! The place wasn’t overly crowded, everyone was extremely nice (staff and patrons), we didn’t have to wait long on our food! Everything was warm, cooked well, and tasted amazing! Definitely would recommend stopping in at Sauce On The Side at their Downtown Location if you are ever in the area! 

Sauce On The Side gets a 5 out of 5 stars from us! 

We have a lot more photos to edit and post so stay tuned! We will be posting throughout the trip! We will also be editing and posting a YouTube video of our trip after we get back so stay tuned for that as well!!!!

 

Twisted Ranch Restaurant St. Louis Missouri

REVIEW TIME! 

Twisted Ranch 

Let’s start out by saying absolutely awesome food!!! Some of the best we had during our trip to St. Louis!!! Food was well prepared, warm, tasted amazing, and was at our table in a timely manner!!! They had actually just ran out of some food and their Twisted Ranch sauce. That is totally understandable as we had just came in after the lunch rush and they are a very popular place to eat. That is okay thought I already knew what I wanted and they still had that! Our server/waitress Lex was great and wiling to help us and accommodate in any way! We both chose to get the BBQ Brisket which was a slow house smoked brisket sandwich topped with cheddar cheese, an onion ring, and BBQ Ranch. For the side we had the Side Salad with BBQ Ranch as well!!! Twisted Ranch STL knocked it out of the park with this one!!!! Our server/waitress Lex was awesome and did an outstanding job taking our order, makeup sure our food was correct and good, as well as checking on us throughout our time there to make sure we had everything we needed! The cool part is this was Lex’s first day on her own as a server!!! She did outstanding and will do great as a server/waitress at Twisted Ranch STL!!! I wrap up this review by saying we highly recommend you stop into Twisted Ranch next time you are in St. Louis!!! You won’t be disappointed!!!! 

They get a 4.5 out of 5 stars from us!!!! 

Stay tuned for more reviews from the trip!