Stuff to eat. Mostly around St. Louis.

Spencer 5/8/17 Spencer 5/8/17

Salt + Smoke's Brisket

There are a lot of things to like about Salt + Smoke, like owner Tom Schmidt's sultry voice and his Leonidas beard, dense as Germany's Black Forest, dark as night. And chef/pitmaster Haley Riley, who not only cooks meat that can't be beat, but once won a Jon Snow lookalike contest at West County mall. But what I like the most about Salt + Smoke is the brisket.

I've written about their burnt end t-ravs before, but I've never written about the brisket itself.

Brisket is my smoked meat of choice. I would pick fall-apart-tender, Texas style brisket over ribs and pulled pork any day. At the time of writing, there are three places that can quash my qraving for it in St. Louis: Salt + Smoke (obviously), Big Baby Q, and The Stellar Hog.

Before being smoked over white oak for the better part of the day, the brisket is rubbed with a simple salt and freshly ground (pre-ground stuff is for people that don't like flavor) pepper mix. Then it goes in. That's it.

The result is brisket that manages to stay together and fall apart all at the same time. It's smoky. The bark is crunchy. It's juicy, like a meat Starburst. I love it.

You can get the brisket either as a platter, which comes with two sides (I'd probably get the garlic and herb fries and white cheddar cracker mac) and a cheddar-bacon popover, or you can get it as a sandwich with burnt end mayo and tobacco onions.

When you order it, you'll get the option of lean, fatty, or burnt ends. You should order the lean—that leaves more of the good stuff for me. Oh, and I don't want to forget: Salt + Smoke has William Larue Weller bourbon in right now. Treat yo' self.

Spencer 3/27/16 Spencer 3/27/16

Salt + Smoke's Burnt End T-Ravs

I can understand why other cities haven't welcomed St. Louis favorites like gooey butter cake and Provel cheese with open arms. But there's no good reason that every city in America shouldn't be serving toasted ravioli (a.k.a. t-ravs). For the uninitiated, toasted ravioli are just like your normal ravioli, except they're breaded and fried—no, there's not toasting involved here. We're talking about a Midwestern speciality, after all. The typical t-rav is filled with a nondescript meat, basil, and oregano—basically a meatball. Some are filled with cheese to appease vegetarians.

That's not the case here at The Delmar Loop's Salt + Smoke. No, sir. Salt + Smoke has, over the last 6 or so months, become my go-to for any kind of BBQ meat relating to the cow. Owner Tom Schmidt and his crew have mastered beef. Expect another post later this summer on their brisket, but in the mean time, make a note-to-self: I must go to Salt + Smoke and order the brisket. If they have the option of burnt ends, I must tweet at Spencer so he can come eat them instead of me.

You know what burnt ends are, right? I won't say there's no shame in not knowing. You're an adult. You should know by now. Burnt ends could more appropriately be called Brisket Gold, Diamonds in Le Boeuf, or just the emoji for the crying smiley face. Super fatty chunks of the brisket are cut and smoked extra long, allowing the fat to render out and produce bites of brisket as smoky as Don Draper's office and as crunchy as meat bark can be.

They are my single favorite bite of BBQ.

Salt + Smoke takes their burnt ends, chops them up, then stuffs ravioli with them. These are ravioli that are 15+ hours in the making. It is impossible for them not to taste like heaven. Especially when served with white BBQ sauce—a tangy, even more fattening version of normal BBQ. It's mayo-based and loaded with horseradish and vinegar. It's like ranch 2.0.

To recap: fatty, smoked meat stuffed into pasta, then fried. In a post-apocalyptic world, I would accept these as currency.

Spencer 1/7/15 Spencer 1/7/15

Seoul Taco

I know, I know. It's ridiculous that I hadn't written about Seoul Taco until now. Even worse is the fact that I hadn't actually eaten Seoul Taco since moving back to St. Louis. I thought about not even admitting to that, but I couldn't lie to you. You mean too much to me.

I headed over to Seoul Taco's new spot on a cold, rainy day, looking for the fire of gochujang to warm me up. Their new location in the Loop, next to The Good Pie and soon-to-open Publico, is badass. You step inside and the restaurant is split in half: the left side, dark and upscale, is for the upcoming Korean BBQ restaurant Seoul Q, while the right side is for Seoul Taco. The design is funky. Eclectic. Designed in a way that not many places in St. Louis are. There are Japanese cherry blossoms mixed with graffiti, luchador-masked judo masters, vibrantly painted stereos and a food truck cut out. I'm totally into it.

For those of you familiar with a normal Korean BBQ experience, you know that you often times leave smelling like grilled meat. Personally, I enjoy that. The ladies do not. Seoul Q's got the top of the line Korean BBQ vents, which do a damn fine job of letting you leave smelling the same way you did when you entered.

I'm probably not telling you anything you don't already know, but Seoul Taco's menu is limited to four main dishes: tacos, quesadillas, burritos, and Gogi bowls, which are somewhere between a rice bowl and a salad.

I decided to get a little of everything. My main dish was the [symple_highlight color="blue"]spicy pork Gogi bowl[/symple_highlight], which I devoured. The pork was gooooood. Nice heat, lots of crispy bits, not fatty. The dish is tossed with a good amount of sesame oil--aka the king of flavored oils. Sesame oil is adds this toasty flavor that is irresistible to most humans. Toss all that with some fresh greens (not iceberg lettuce!), rice, spicy gochujang and you're golden. Oh, and there's a fried egg on top. Bonus points. I used to get an extra egg on my bibimbap sometimes because the mix of creamy egg + toasty sesame oil + spicy gochujang cannot be beat.

My sister went with the [symple_highlight color="blue"]bulgogi quesadilla[/symple_highlight], which I forced her to share with me. The bulgogi - beef marinated in all sorts of delicious stuff - gets an A+ in my book. The Choi family recipe should be kept in a locked vault somewhere. You know that if the beef is great, the quesadilla is going to be great. Anything sandwiched between two tortillas and some cheese is going to be good. The 'dilla is topped with a mix of their "Seoul Sauces" - a housemade taco sauce and and a wasabi sauce.

I want to eat this again right now.

I wanted to try the chicken, so we got one taco with it. I think my comments from a previous Kim Cheese write up hold true here: the restaurant offers a really plain chicken option to deal with people who don't want the delicious spicy pork or bulgogi. It's for that friend that hates anything different from their normal day to day eats. There's really no comparison between this and the other two meats. Just to be clear: the chicken is not bad, it just lacks the top-notch flavor that the pork & beef have.

I agree with the masses: Seoul Taco is not to be missed. I dream of a future St. Louis with Seoul Taco's dotting the streets in place of [insert crappy national chain here]. I can't wait to get back here again to devour a football sized burrito. Definitely give it a try if you've never been before.

Seoul Taco

6665 Delmar Avenue

University City, MO 63130

314.863.1148