We love Hermann. It’s not the wineries, although those are nice. It’s the short trip for a weekend getaway in a quaint town. It’s the cute little shops. It’s the walkability. It’s the handful of restaurants to return to year after year. Our favorite stay has been an adorable Airbnb right next to the Espresso Laine Coffee Shop. We have stayed here on several occasions. You can reserve the whole house for a two bedroom/two bath option or the top/bottom levels separately. Because we don’t like sharing our space, we reserve the entire thing even when it’s just the two of us.
This year we alternated between relaxing in the Airbnb, walking up and down the streets checking out the shops, drinking coffee, and eating. We tried two new spots for food. One was the Concert Hall and Barrel Tavern. We have walked past this place countless times and never gone in. This time, it was the only place open past 6 pm on Sunday so we gave it a try. A sign on a mirror behind the bar professed it to be the “Oldest continually operating tavern west of the Mississippi”. The food was pretty good. Trey had chili (I had a couple of bites. It reminded me of my mom’s chili), and a brat with sweet potato fries. The fries were excellent and came with cinnamon butter-great idea and really good. I had a tenderloin with house chips. I would try something different in the future. I’ve been spoiled by some excellent tenderloin sandwiches recently and the chips were pretty stale.
The other new spot, Zydeco, was fantastic. It’s cajun/creole food. I believe the owners may also own the local pizza joint (4th Street Pizza) which is also very good. At Zydeco we shared fried oysters with a zesty remoulade, gumbo, cornbread, and a shrimp po-boy. Our server said everything was good and he was correct! We also had lunch at Vintage at Stone Hill Winery, a must stop for every visit. Their french onion soup is to die for. We also had a rueben for me and an braunschweiger sandwich for Trey.
On the way home we stopped to see our grand-doggies (Olive & Nova) and have brunch with Madison at Breakfast and Burgers in St. Louis. It’s a reliably good local diner with great prices! Nothing fancy but solid food. It was a great getaway on a HOT Labor Day weekend.