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Sunday, October 24, 2010

STL Eats, Pt. 2: What's...Pappy's, precious?

by EP



My second day in STL was chilly and drizzly and I was glad to start the day with a trip to an old college haunt, Kaldi's coffee. After a nice cup o' joe and a piece of pumpkin bread, Annie and I were off to the downtown area to check out Pappy's Smokehouse. Yes, immediately following breakfast, we found ourselves waiting in line for lunch at Pappy's at approximately 10:45am. The rule around there is they make what they make, and when they run out, they're out - get there too late and you're out of luck.



I had heard about Pappy's from several different people, all singing its praises, so I was very excited to try it out. We got there and there was already a line forming -- remember it was 10:45am! While we waited we looked over the menu and chatted with the staff about what to get. They ALL recommended the ribs and the sweet potato fries, so those were definitely on the list. We also ended up getting a pulled pork sandwich, beef brisket, the cole slaw, baked beans, and green beans.



Annie's excited for Pappy's!

Even with the long line, we easily found a table and our food came out almost immediately. The ribs were coated in an amazing rub and were cooked perfectly -- they definitely lived up to the hype!



Ribs, SP fries, green beans, and beef brisket hiding underneath



Pulled pork sandwich, cole slaw, baked beans


Ribs!

Plus, Pappy's provided a few house-made BBQ sauces, which were all great on the ribs. I was a little worried about putting BBQ sauce on any of the meats since some people go crazy when you improperly sauce a meat that should just stand on its own...but I caught a glimpse of others putting sauce on the ribs, so I figured it was an acceptable practice.



The pulled pork and beef brisket were both good, but definitely outshone by the superb ribs.

Now let's talk sides: the sweet potato fries were some of the best I've ever had!



They were right up there with the SP fries at Annabel Lee, for you Bmore folks. The fries were really thin-cut and coated in cinnamon-sugar, and Pappy's provided a generous portion, the best kind of portion when it comes to fries of any sort. The cole slaw was a vinegar-based slaw (not creamy), which was good with the pulled pork especially. It was a great meal at Pappy's and a nice welcome back to the Midwest!

After lunch we walked around the Wash U campus, which was great. It was so fun to be back and see so many familiar places, but at the same time see all the exciting changes on campus.



That evening we met up with WU friend Max and a few of his colleagues for a few beers, and then had dinner at Newstead Tower Public House, known for delicious grass-fed burgers and local beers.





We all ordered burgers, and Annie and I split a burger with caramelized onions and grilled mushrooms.





The burger was great and perfectly cooked, and when we got shorted on our fries (see the picture above, there are like 3 fries on the plate!), the waitress brought us a complimentary order. Very nice (and delicious) indeed. And yes, we had fries twice in one day - don't judge, I was on vacation!

After dinner, we went to the Fountain on Locust, a late-night grown-up ice cream parlour!



The vibe was retro and fun, yet still dark and cozy. They have lunch and dinner menus, but we were most interested in the cocktail and dessert menus, which included old-timey cocktails, martinis made with ice cream, in addition to lots of ice cream sundaes and other treats. They make everything in-house (chocolate sauce, caramel sauce, whipped cream, etc.) except, strangely, their ice cream, which comes from a family farm in Wisconsin that ages their ice cream - interesting!

We ordered a "Chocolate Brownie Cake in a Cup," a brownie sundae with hot fudge, vanilla ice cream, and a brownie baked right in the mug in which it's served.



We also ordered a "Dark and Sinister," which included chocolate ice cream, hot fudge, marshmallow sauce, and a chocolate coin. Not sure how marshmallows are "sinister" (except in Ghostbusters) but it was delicious and we finished it with no problem.



We also had to get an ice cream-based martini, so we ordered an Espresso Martini, made with coffee, vanilla vodka, coffee liquor, and vanilla ice cream - yum! Full and on a sugar-high, we made our way home, already discussing the menu for the next (and final) day in STL :)




Happy Pappy's -
EP

2 comments:

  1. aged ice cream-- did it taste any different than fresh? My theory is that aging is going to be the next big food trend. I mean, we're already aging meat, chocolate chip cookie dough, and egg nog (and apparently ice cream), I wonder what's next!

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  2. X - I couldn't really taste a difference but that might have been because (a) I was focused on devouring everything in sight, and (b) because there were a lot of other competing flavors. I agree with you on the food trend prediction!!

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