Review: Red Moon in St. Louis

With a small, discreet sign on an alley-like Downtown street, Red Moon could be where the Continental Op or Guy Noir hangs out, and the restaurant shows traces of a movie version of a Prohibition-era speakeasy. Navigating the rather narrow revolving door brings a burst of noise, and the red-on-red decor, showing off a long bar, which makes one look for Anna May Wong or Rudolph Valentino, Howard Hughes or Marlene Dietrich.

Quite exotic. And with all entrées under $25, a bargain in
today’s market.

But that is just the beginning. Chef Marc Felix, born in France, trained all over the world, a star at Faust’s in the Adam’s Mark, has put a superior touch on a new Downtown restaurant, providing delicious food that pays homage to East and West (pad thai and baby back ribs), North and South (Cornish hen and fried plantains). Exquisite desserts and superb, crusty baguettes are vivid memories of France.

The menu shows a strong Asian accent, but it shows most in sauce, or vegetables. Most of the Asian accent is exactly that, an accent. For example, there are two entrées based on shanks, but unlike the traditional Italian osso buco, neither uses veal. Instead, there are pork osso buco and lamb shank, the former in a tamarind glaze with noodles, the latter braised and served with tomatoes and carrots, flavored with toasted cumin and lemon essence. The pork was brilliant, crisped and tender and elegant, walking arm in arm with the sharp flavor of tamarind, atop a bed of egg noodles.

Chicken is prepared in a red curry sauce and wrapped in phyllo dough, short ribs are cooked with pearl onions and carrots, served with chive mashed potatoes. A rib eye steak in teriyaki sauce, Cornish hen grilled with lime zest and a sweet-and-sour duck breast with mango sauce wrap the meat entrées. The duck breast was too sweet for my taste, though the meat had good texture and the vegetables were fine. Seafood entrées include a Chinese-style whole red snapper, fried in a wok, coconut curried prawns with baby bok choy and salmon steamed in a banana leaf. The snapper, a star performer at many Asian restaurants, was glorious, crisp on the outside, delicate and falling from the bones inside. It was a brilliant preparation. The coconut curry prawns were huge, cooked in a rich broth and with lovely flavor that carried over to the broth and bok choy.

Classic seafood pad thai, delicious and crunchy with peanuts, soft and delightful with tofu, leads the noodle and rice dishes, all of which show a strong Asian touch.

But Felix had shown his skills long before the entrées were served, some of them in bowls whose tops are angled just enough to cause a moment of panic when they are placed on the table. The three soups on the menu are marvelous, light and tasty, with hints of spice and herb that are so familiar to the mouth.

Chicken nems, a word that never was completely translated for me, are spring rolls that are then wrapped in a lettuce leaf, and they’re delicious, especially with any of the dipping sauces that come alongside. Baby back ribs, tender and lean, have a sweetish aftertaste that was satisfactory but undistinguished.

The wine list is riddled with too many misspellings, but it shows a good range with a number of good values in midrange wines. The list is nicely divided, reds as light, spicy, jammy and full, whites as bubbly, sweet, fruity and aromatic. Oddly, while most by-the-glass offerings are properly priced at a fourth of the cost of a bottle, a few show higher prices on a per-glass basis.

Desserts were the perfect ending, led by a simple dish of fresh raspberries, big and tart. They arrived with cream, brown sugar, a red currant sauce and another thinner, tropical-tasting dipping sauce, for the diner to mix and match. Alongside was what looked like a toasted marshmallow but was a marvelous macaroon, nicely caramelized and a treat even for those who consider themselves coconut phobic, with several toppings and a scoop of cinnamon ice cream nearby. Perhaps the most winning item was also chocolate – both milk and dark chocolate – and a Guru gurgle over milk chocolate is compliment enough. It’s a bombe, a mound of dark chocolate ganache covering a thick layer of milk chocolate mousse, which in turn holds a heart of a lemon-ginger filling, the whole on a crispy bit of cookie dough.

Felix, whom the Guru first met when the slender, talented chef was cooking at Faust’s, is all over the room. He laughs and talks and explains and teases, his accent a joy, and apologizes for the undraped corridor that leads to the rear of the kitchen as servers carry trays back to the dishwashers in the glaringly unkind light. A drape is on order, he said. He’s a superior chef, and I hope he will keep surprising us with his worldwide range of talent.