Date with the housemates

This summer, I have new apartment-mates!  The girls are subleasing with Debra and Elaine, so they share a room right next to mine.  The day I came back, I asked them if they wanted to go eat dinner together the next night, so that I could show them a little bit of the Clayton area ^^  *actually has very little knowledge of the Clayton area*  haha!

I came back from swimming and took a furiously fast shower before jumping into their room and declaring that I was ready to go eat.  Haha~  :P  We went to Clayton and walked down a few streets with the restaurants, and I got to see so many new ones!  They're not actually new, but if I happen to pass by these streets during the school year, it's always by car, so I never get to take a good look at them.  This time, we walked to each restaurant and looked at their menu.  Using a group effort, we decided on John P. Field's!  What an interesting name for a restaurant, right?

Dining right outside!

The weather was nice, so we asked for a table outside.  You have to call the servers from the bar to help you out though, I think if we continued standing at the door, we would have waited until the restaurant closed ._.''  The waiters/esses are really nice!

Liz is excited for some nice food

And Hannah's enjoying the weather

Liz and I were both craving some fish and chips, so that's what we ordered.  We actually had identical orders, because you get to choose a side and if you wanted potato chips or fries, and we ordered fries and vegetables.  Because if you get fish and chips, you want fish and chips!  (Chips is "french fry" in Britain!)  :D 

Hannah ordered a burger from their menu.  The burgers all look really tasty, and most of them are 1/2 lbs!  :)  I'm curious / want to try a sandwich with au jus dipping sauce.  Does that really make it taste better?  They also had cool appetizers like fried pickles!

John P. Field's also has a seating area in the back with space heaters when needed.  It's fenced off and private with three or so tables and a cozy space with porch chairs and couches.  There was a couple drinking casually in the back and I didn't want to be creepy and take a picture of them, so you get a picture of the couches! ;)

There are also booths and tables inside, but almost everyone indoors was seated at the bar.  Haha, it seemed very typical, men at the bar watching sports after work.  The bartender seemed really friendly, and they were all smiling and chatting away :D  Liz suggested we come back and sit at the bar to watch the 2012 Olympics at London this summer!  Haha!  I can't even imagine the three of us... eating fries or something at the bar with the men there XD

Liz said that the service was slow, but our food came out all at the same time.  Hannah's burger was really cute, and the cheese melted perfectly on the patty.  Neither runny or plastic-looking!  Mm, looks really good ^^

Liz and I got the same fish and chips, and I took a bad picture, because the two pieces of fish are actually a lot bigger than they look!  It's just that the portion of fries was so generous that it overwhelms everything on the plate ^^''  (I finished them D:)  The fish was excellent; even after sitting there for a while, the second piece was still crispy.  Inside, the fish was tender and steam would escape when you first bit into it.  The beer-battered fish was golden brown and nicely seasoned.  I could taste the pepper and salt :)  And I love, love, LOOOOVE tartar sauce!  I was dipping both the fish and the fries into it.  Liz said that their tartar sauce was definitely above average, since she usually doesn't like it but she liked John P. Field's!

Ooh, and the fries were nicely seasoned too!  I guess that's why there's no ketchup.  Perhaps there are bottles on the tables inside~  Hannah said they were really salty, but I just thought they were delish :D  The dish came with coleslaw, which was good, but I can't really say much more (not hard-core coleslaw fan).  I think there might have been too much mayo (kind of liquidy?), but the veggies were crisp and flavorful.

Fish and Chips!

We talked about some random stuff like dorms and cameras just to get to know one another a bit more :)  Turns out Hannah's undecided but likely to follow the biochemistry track like me.  And Liz and I are both foodies at heart and food picture-takers!  Since I'm taking digital photography in the fall and she's looking to replace her old camera, we'll be browsing the web for what cameras to look for ^^

Yep, yep, so if you're in the Clayton area and want some comforting grub in either a pub setting or casual atmosphere, try John P. Field's!  Hannah and Liz actually favored the restaurant more, since the prices were "more normal" (not as expensive as all the other Clayton restaurants!)~  :D  Try the fried pickles and tell me how they are ;)

JP Field's Pub & Restaurant

26 North Central Avenue

St. Louis, MO 63105

I'm glad we made it a date in Clayton for dinner!  Not only did we get to chat, but I got to walk around the restaurant area too ^w^

~*~

Totally off topic, but I *just* realized where Volkswagon got its logo from.  Did anyone else realize that the logo comprises of a V sitting atop a W?? @_______@  *mind blown*  I thought it was just some random, geometric design!  Got this picture via Google images: