Barbecue Archives - Good Food St. Louis

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From behind a spiffy, yellow awning, Salt+Smoke is spicing up the Delmar Loop on the corner next to Chuck Berry’s statue. The enticing aroma of the Texas-style barbecue drifting onto the street quickly lassos your taste buds and draws you in.

Once indoors you know this isn’t your run-of-the-mill, roadside barbecue joint. For starters, S+S has red-checkered, cloth napkins big enough to bib a bison and the décor is deliberately casual without being tacky.

A pre-COVID photo of the interior. But this past weekend the balmy weather caused us to opt for a table on the street.

Lucy Peruses the Menu

A curbside table allows diners to soak up the ambiance of the area. Along with your outdoor BBQ, you can watch the sidewalk musicians, the trolley, and an eclectic parade of folks enjoying a stroll along Delmar.

Try the Trolley

Before I could say, “By golly, Ollie, here comes the trolley,” our food was on the table. (Yes, the heritage trolley is running once again._

Smoky, Spicy Goodness

Pulled pork sandwich with potato salad

I’m indoors munching on ribs in this pre-Covid era photo

BLT with smoked paprika aioli and a side of pit beans with smoked bacon beans

Kale Salad with Brussels sprouts, cabbage, walnuts, goat cheese, dried apricots, red onion, and grape tomatoes. This one is topped with chicken.

It’s worth mentioning that the bill doesn’t make for indigestion.

When you have a hankerin’ for good BBQ give Salt + Smoke a taste. There’s four locations, so there’s bound to be one nearby. (Sadly the CWE location had a fire this year and is undergoing extensive repairs.)

Pappy’s BBQ Ribs—messy and wonderful.

Gnawin’ Down in Rib Town

As we all know, barbecue is an art form. Especially ribs, that can range from a funky Picasso to a subtle Van Gogh. The beauty is on the palate of the partaker.

Which leads me to Pappy’s Smokehouse—or should I call it a BBQ Art Museum? The place has been around the Lou since 2008. But too often when I go there, the line runs down the hall, out the door, and around the corner.

If you see this sign, you must be standing in line at Pappy’s Smokehouse, where they serve Memphis-style BBQ. In the barbecue pit wars, Zagat ranked Pappy’s among the Ten Best Barbecue Restaurants in America.

This “barbecue blaster” can launch some smokin’ ribs. Meat is slow smoked up to 24 hours over sweet apple or cherry wood.

Not a happy sign

“BBQ may not be the road to world peace, but it’s a start.”
~Anthony Bourdain

While I’m no authority on barbecue, I recognize that there are individual and geographic preferences. Some like Memphis-style, or Texas, or Kansas City-style. Each area has a subset of followers—Kansas City has fans of Arthur Bryant’s, Gates, Jack’s Stack, Joe’s, or Danny Edwards and many more.

In St. Louis there are defenders of Salt & Smoke, Bogarts, Beast, Sugarfire and Shaved Duck.

But the polls tell us that there’s agreement on one thing: Tennessee, Texas and Missouri (in that order) are the titans of American barbecue.

“Keep the line movin’, folks.”

It was mid-week with a prediction of rain in the forecast, when my friend, Lucy, and I made the 20-minute drive to Pappy’s. There were parking places and no lines! Whoop-dee-do!

The fold up sign at the entrance welcomed diner, so we drove around it and parked the car. Only then did we notice that the sign said “Sold Out.”

We were about to drive off, when we noticed other people going inside. I looked back and saw that the Welcome sign was on the backside of the “Sold Out” sign.

We ordered quickly before anyone decided to flip the sign around.

Note: The restaurant hours (listed at end of post) are a little quirky, so you might want to tattoo them on your forearm.

Rip Roarin’ Ribs. Menu here.

Pulled Pork. Pappy’s offers 3 sauces: Original, Sweet Baby Jane, and HooDoo.

As is typical in barbecue joints, everything comes in disposable containers. But barbecue aficionados could care less. They’re looking for the bark on that brisket or the pink smoke ring on those ribs.

All’s well that ends well.

A Cut Above

In the world of competitive barbecue, Pappy’s has “smoked” their rivals in the porcine playoffs. The Travel Channel included Pappy’s in its “101 Tastiest Places to Chow Down in America.” Southern Living dished up its “Best BBQ in Missouri” award to Pappy’s. And a “Best Ribs in America” designation was awarded by Food Network.

Looking at the faces, fingers, and plates inside Pappy’s, you can tell customers are happy with the food. I know we were.

Pappy’s Smokehouse, 3106 Olive Street. Open: Mon-Tue Closed; Wed 11a-4p; Thu 11a-6p; Fri-Sat 11-7; Sun 11a-4p. Menu: here.