Peno Soul Food

A couple years ago we started a list on our phones for new restaurants we had heard, read or someone talked about.  The list keeps growing.   It is larger than we would like at the moment because of the shutdowns this past year. And honestly I need to go back through to see how many are still even open.   However the first restaurant on that list, and we still hadn’t visited, was Peno Soul Food in Clayton, MO.   So with our anniversary approaching, we decided it was time to tackle this first entry.

Peno Soul Food has been open for a couple years and is in what I would  refer to as the quieter, more established part of Clayton.   The space had been a couple different types of restaurants, however it has been revamped inside and also has added a lot of outside seating which spills out onto the parking lot.   They have added some greenery, soft seating and ambiance to make the outdoor area work as a white-tablecloth restaurant.  On this nice evening, we enjoyed sitting outside. 

We tried 3 dishes on our trip.   We started with the Mediterranean Octopus which is served in a fennel sausage and tomato basil sauce.   For those of you who have not tried octopus, you should.   We almost always get it when we see it on the menu and have rarely been disappointed.   The octopus was very tender and served with a robust red sauce.  Their table bread is infused with olive oil butter and is a great accompaniment for the sauce in the appetizer.

For main dishes Tom had the Shrimp Scampi which was served with ditali pasta and diced zucchini in their red sauce.   The shrimp were large and seared with a light bread crumb coating and a lemon butter sauce.   I went with the veal cannelloni in their house red sauce with bechamel over the top.   You could tell the cannelloni pasta was made in house and was lite yet firm enough to hold the smooth veal filling.   The red sauce was also very good.

Peno has found its niche in this space.   Their hand rolled pastas and inhouse sauces with a menu which changes with what is in season and fresh, makes this a place to keep on our list to return to.