Smokin Al's vs Ms Piggies

We took a small horde to Ms Piggies today, including some newbies - no small feat considering the place only holds twelve. We had a good variety, two rib tip and one each pulled pork, pulled beef, turkey & chicken. A good variety of sides too - Paul crowned them "Best Sweet Potatoes".

After the feast, the three who had been to both Smokin' Al's & Ms. Piggies caucused. Steve M. went with Ms. Piggies and Carey with Smokin' Al's. Having the tie breaker and having had rib tips at both joints, I had to consider the following:

Meat - Big edge to Ms. Piggies. Tender and well smoked. Al's was well smoked, but you had to work that meat off the bone.

Sauce - Smokin' Al's - especially the Wolf Sauce. Ms. Piggies is more subtle and grows on you.

The winner is:


Ms. Piggies


She'll be up against Richard's Ribs in their bracket next week.

Smokin Al's Wins Loser's Bracket . . .

. . . almost by default. The joints are dropping like flies. I called Wills today and got the dreaded 'not in service' message (I am not going on a 50 mi. round trip to confirm either). Steve D. & I both agreed Smokin' Al's had Mi Hungry beat, so it makes it to the playoffs.

I'll be confirming the continued existence of the other candidates, and publishing the remaining restaurants here in a few days. Stay tuned!

Rib City Gone

My scouts tell me there is no new Rib City in Des Peres. This leaves the following joints in the loser's bracket:

Smokin' Al's
Mi Hungry
Wills

We hope to revisit Wills this week.

Mi Hungry

Steve D., Matt, & I made it for a return trip to Mi Hungry. The service was a little less enthusiastic than last year and the juke box wasn't working, but the food was as good as I remembered.

All three of us had rib tips and all three of us were mopping up the sauce with bread at the end of the meal. It's a thin but zesty sauce. The meat was well smoked but could have had a little more of the fat Q'ed out.

The sides were fantastic. I had beans & greens - both packed with flavor and the greens came with a hunk of ham bigger than has been served on some sandwiches I've had. The other guys both commented on the bold flavor of the spaghetti.

We kind of stuck out in the neighborhood with our ties. As we walked from the car, a child asked his dad, "What are those?"

"I think they're businessmen, son."

As we were eating, a woman approached asking for a donation of "fifty cents or a dollar" to raise money to bury her grandchild, bolstering her claim with her driver's license, a bill from the mortuary, a picture of the child, and an offer to send a thank you card if we'd give her our name & address. I didn't have the heart to point out the poor economics of sending a thank you card for a fifty cent donation.

But I digress. Good food. Average price. A decent joint. Check 'em out here.

RIP Red's

After hearing rumors and getting a ‘number out of service’ message, I drove by Red the BBQ Man last night. I am sad to report it is closed down, all but one smoker hauled off and the windows broken.

Red’s was the top seed from last year’s visits. Now the competition for Best Q in St. Loo is truly wide open.

Pappy's

Wel,l we got there for lunch today and man! was it crowded. Riding high on recent press and drawing from Midtown and Downtown both, we had about a 10 minute wait in line to order. Once the order went in though, the food was quick to find it's way to our table.

No rib tips, so I had the brisket sandwich. Given the joint's connection to Supersmoker's, I wanted to see if the brisket lived up to my memory. Not quite, but still pretty good - nice smoke, decent rub. Out of the five of us we managed to try the brisket, pulled pork & chicken. Everyone was satisfied with their meats.

You'll find a selection of sauces on the table (the meats come dry - ribs may be an exception, we didn't try those). Pappy's Original gets my vote; it's got a bite that I thought was hotter than the so-called hot sauce. The sweet sauce reminded me of McDonald's but to each his own.

The sides were a little weak. Two of us had the sweet potato fries and left most of them on the plate. I had the neon green beans - probably healthily steamed, but I don't go to BBQ joints to be healthy; give me boiled with bacon every time.

The price was no bargain but for a sit-down joint in a decent neighborhood not too bad. I had a large sandwich, two sides, & a soda for $10-something. I'm sure we'll be going back.

Pappy's - CORRECTION

I cruised by Pappy's last night hoping to bring home some brisket, but at 6:30 they'd already sold out. The location is actually on Cardinal at Olive, a block east of Compton in the same building as the new Buffalo Brewpub. They are open for lunch at 11:00 and the plan is to pay them a visit on Thursday. Stay tuned for a review.

Rib City Closed on Natural Bridge - New Spot in Midtown

I drove by the old Rib City site Thursday to find it closed. I'll get the scouts out to West Co. to check out the possible relocation.

Darren clued me into Pappy's at 3106 Olive (at Vandeventer if memory serves). I drove by about a month ago and it was not yet open. According to Darren, the pitmaster is Super Smoker's old PM. Very good news.

Smokin' Al's

We'd planned on going to Rib City today but a call there left me with a 'number not in service' screech. I looked them up in the online yellow pages and there is a Rib City by Manchester & 270 now. I called but got no answer (at least it rang). I'll follow up to see if they moved.

Plan B:

We'd cruise by Rib City and go on to Red's if they were not open. Got a 'number not in service' at Red's!! This is much worse news. I'll reconnoiter both of these soon to see if they are still in business.

Plan C:

We packed up two cars for Smokin' Al's AYCE rib tip Tuesday. Two of us got this and were debating how refills worked. Silly us - a plateful was all either of us could down. Jackie got the regular tips and had nearly as much as we did. This was my first trip with the tips here and they were tender, meaty, smoky, and well, I'm a big fan of the 'Wolf' sauce. No one walked away hungry or disappointed.