Text 24572, 94 rader
Skriven 2015-03-05 09:08:00 av MICHAEL LOO (1:123/140)
Ärende: bbq trip 315
====================
St. Louis BBQ

Schlafly's Tap Room, the restaurant outlet of a local brewery,
is within a mile of the hotel and has a famous offering called
plate o' swine. We split one of these; I had a beer sampler, of
which I found little to find either pleasure or fault with. There
was a high-gravity porter that went nicely with the food.

The swine include beer steamed bratwurst, pretty standard, a
rather disappointingly dry (being overtrimmed and thin) pork chop,
and a couple logs of beer-battered bacon, which were greasy in a
bad way, tasting more of cooking oil than bacon fat.

German potato salad and sauerkraut are the normal sides, but
Lilli doesn't like sauerkraut, so we substituted red cabbage and
mash and gravy. The cabbage was as sour as sauerkraut, but the
gravy was quite appetizing - very porky, medium thick, touch of
sweetness from I believe some brown sugar (a cheat, I know).

-

The supposed shining light of St. Louis BBQ is Pappy's, which is
conveniently a mile and change, an easy walk, from the hotel. It
was raining a dreary drizzle at lunchtime, and as the temperature
was not much above freezing, unpleasant. By the time we were
wetted enough to be really uncomfortable, it wouldn't have made
sense to wait for the bus, and anyhow we were at a between-buses
time, which I guess must have had something to do with why we
didn't take it in the first place.

Though we got there not too long after midday, they were out of
brisket of all kinds except for burnt ends, which were sort of
chewy, a bit burned and dry for my taste, not nearly enough
fatty deliciousness. I suspect they trim off too much of the
outside before smoking, whereas I maintain that they should do
most of the trimming after cooking, the way it's done in real
barbecue regions. I think this way you get more smoke for less
wood, but there's too much creosotiness - plus where did the
fat go? These were presauced with a ketchupy goo that was both
too salty and too sweet and despite the claim that it has a kick
in fact has virtually none. It's to their credit that they
offer a hot sauce at table; it's to their discredit that the hot
sauce has also got virtually no kick. They also offer Hoo Doo
sauce, of which they say "On a scale of 1 to 10 its an 8."
Wrong, St. Louis, it's a 3.

-

Bogart's - this is widely regarded to be the other main
contender for best in town, and I was pretty eager to try it.
It's one bus ride and a quarter mile walk, what could be bad.
What could be bad was that the bus schedules are works of
fiction, and the buses come when they darn well feel like it.
Several routes take you within walking distance of the place,
so we were in luck. The one we got on, though, lets one off
across a highway bridge (windy and cold) and a few blocks away.
Not a huge problem, though Lilli was insufficiently protected
against the weather, on this day no rain but howling winds.

The restaurant, a smallish storefront in a mixed-use
neighborhood with housing and a wholesale market nearby, is
pretty easy to find, from the pretty nice smells if nothing
else. We ordered fatty brisket with sides of pork rinds and
fries. The meat was quite insufficiently fatty and also
though smoky quite insufficiently cooked; I went back to the
counter to comment, and the guy cut a few slices of pure fat
to moisten our order with, plus a couple more meaty slices
just because. Eating the fat with the lean yielded an okay
experience. Pork rinds are a rarely encountered side dish, and
I was hoping for the best when ordering them; what came was a
commercial product not made there - very fresh, though, and
pretty tasty though way salty. The fries were normal to a
fault. Afterward some person in authority came and asked if
everything had been to our satisfaction. We lied and said yes.

Verdict. Go to Sugarfire (as we didn't rent a car to get
into an ice accident in, we didn't get there this trip).

UA3677 STL ORD 1652 1813 CR7 2A

Courvoisier. A less nice aircraft than the Embraer, but it
did the job. Much time at Chicago, so there was time for
cheese and crackers and acrid and sweet at the same time
red wine, all free.

UA1548 ORD BWI 1950 2242 738 2A

Courvoisier. We got in late, and I considered SOSing the
Shipps, but I needed to be downtown in the morning so just
hung out until the trains started in the wee hours.

___ Blue Wave/386 v2.30
--- Platinum Xpress/Win/WINServer v3.0pr5
 * Origin: Check Out Doc's QWK Mail  Via Web BBS > DocsPlace.org  (1:123/140)