St. Louis report

We took our annual Thanksgiving trip to St. Louis this year, which was filled with the usual Turkey Day foodstuffs. One broadbreasted white, stuffing, cranberry sauce, etc. etc. I performed my only real food-related function of the weekend by disassembling the turkey. I do love the electric knife.

A few weeks before we left I started downloading the "Restaurant Guys" podcast. It's a radio show from New Jersey. They get terrific guests, strong opinions on food and great insights into the restaurant and food business.

I strolled through their older shows before we headed south and came upon their show from the "Big Apple Barbecue Block Party". Their first stop was sampling barbecue from The Salt Lick in Driftwood, Texas (about 20 minutes from where I used to live) which caused me a great deal of homesickness. They moved along and checked out a couple others and then ended up at Smoki O's from St. Louis. I grew up in Kansas City, and I was shocked that they even hard barbecue in St. Louis, let alone something that was so good they needed it in NYC.

Come to find out, the draw of Smoki O's is that they serve Pig Snoot Sandwiches. This, I had to see.

So, I was able to convince my brother-in-law and nephew to go along with me to what is, charitably, not the prettiest part of St. Louis and sample some snoot. I figure being in a lousy part of town is good sign, I do love Arthur Bryant's, after all.

So, we wandered in, ordered up snoot, rib tips and brisket.
That's the snoot in the foreground, the brisket off to the right. It came with bread and beans. I'm still trying to figure out what the cooking process is on the snoot. I believe it spends some time on the smoker, but it wasn't terribly smokey that I could tell. There was enough smoke in the restaurant that it might have thrown me off a little. But, after whatever pre-cooking method is used, they slice it thin and deep fry it, so it comes out crispy. The taste wasn't bad at all, much like pork rinds, which is a-ok with me. Here's a close-up, sorry my focus is a little off.

I thought the pieces that didn't have barbecue sauce on them were best. The sauce didn't agree with my tastes. It was as though it was sweetened with apple juice concentrate and had a strong kick of vinegar. I believe some tomato sauce or ketchup involved too. I'm not big on sauce anyway and when I use it I prefer a savory sauce like Arthur Bryant's or Gates from Kansas City. The brisket seemed fine, but it was smothered in the sauce. The rib I had was pretty good, it seemed like it may have been a different sauce, or perhaps it just complimented the ribs better.

All in all, I should have just driven across the state to AB's or my real favorite, Snead's in Belton. Snead's spicy sauce is the best of the best. But after more than my share of meals at Kreuz Market in Lockhart, Texas, you can just keep the sauce for all I care.

But I digress.

The best news I got while in St. Louis was the return of Guy's Potato Chips. They had shut down a few years back, but they were back on the shelves this year. Had to pick up a bag of the Green Onion chips. These chips are great because they don't use any faux dairy product, it's just onion flavor. I loathe cheese and sour cream flavored chips. Didn't see Tastee Mix though, the best snack mix of all time, there is no competition. I also picked up a sixer of Shiner Bock, which I can't get in Michigan. It's in Ohio now, just a short drive, so I should probably start bringing home Boulevard from KC or Schlafly's, which I understand is pretty good.

I somehow missed a trip to The Hill. I try to come back from St. Louis with a sackful of some of the terrific salame the meat markets down there have. Luckily, we get down there quite a bit, so I'll have plenty of opportunities.