St Louis: Cielo

Our final night in St. Louis and Cielo Restaurant, in the newly opened Four Seasons Hotel, played host to an amazing four-course dinner, perfectly portioned and expertly paired with a wide variety of wines from the hotel's resident somelier. Conversation was barely audible over the plethora of diners gathering for the much sought after sights, sounds, tastes and delights of Cielo.

Floor-to-ceiling glass panels showcase the illuminated skyline in the restaurant's beautifully designed dining room. Beyond the rectangular swimming pool, hot tub and cabana area, the St. Louis arch is visible in all its glory- a definite highlight for July 4th celebrations.

Spring ramps risotto with roasted quail breast and pearl tomatoes kicked off a magnificent offering by Chef, Marc Kusche, paired with a 2007 Viogneir from Mt. Harlan.

The main event of pan seared halibut with diver scallop, cauliflower puree and red wine reduction was cooked to perfection and served with a stylists' eye. Paired with a tasty Santa Maria Pinot Noir it was exactly what the doctor ordered after days of gluttony in the name of culinary research.

Clean, tasty and fresh, an intermediate dish, designed to cleanse the palette and add a further dimension to the evenings courses was served by way of calamansi lime sorbetto with amaretti and dried plum sauce.

Finally, dessert of an organic chamomile panna cotta with Kumquat semifreddo cielo mint syrup and apricot sorbetto was served up thanks to Pastry Chef, Christopher Jordan. Paired with a Riesling Ice Wine from Mission Hills, Five Vineyards, Canada it was perhaps a fitting segue to my next adventure to Montreal.