Stuff to eat. Mostly around St. Louis.
Balkan Treat Box
Balkan Treat Box is the best food truck in St. Louis. Hell, I’d even go so far as to say the food coming out of this is more flavorful and exciting than the food you find at a lot of restaurants in town.
There are really two ways you can treat a food truck: you can use it as a mobile food delivery service (scoop-and-serve; you’re bringing pre-cooked food to people) or you can use it as a mobile restaurant, which is what owners Loryn and Edo Nalic do.
What you get when you order from their truck is truly freshly made as you wait. Well, besides the airy somun bread (pita’s Bosnian cousin), which is baked fresh in the truck’s goddamn wood-fired oven just before service.
The cevapi (che-va-pee) are like mini-sausages made of a simple mix of ground beef mixed with onion and garlic, finished on the goddamn wood-fired grill—yes, they have a grill and oven inside of their truck, and yes, it’s about 1,000 degrees in there during the summer. Don’t be deceived by the simplicity; I can’t stop eating this hamburger stick sandwich, served with kajmak (kind of like a cream cheese) and ajvar (a mildly spicy roasted red pepper relish).
For the döner kebab—one of the world’s great drunk foods—Loryn makes seasoned chicken thighs with aleppo, urfa, fresh herbs, sumac, and more before stacking them into a meat mountain and letting them slowly roast on a spit until their edges are crispy. The end result, a mix of crunchy, juicy chicken on somun with cabbage salad, lettuce, tomato, and a yogurt-based doner sauce, is one of the best sandwiches in town.
Now let’s talk about my two favorite things that Balkan makes: the pide (pee-day) and the lahmacun (la-ma-june).
Imagine a Turkish man making a calzone, but getting distracted in the middle. That’s the pide. It’s like an enormous boat filled with filled with seasoned meat, Turkish cheese, kajmak, and ajvar, and it’s also one of the world’s great drunk foods.
You probably won’t finish it in one seating unless you’re sharing or an impressive eater, but if you’re sharing this, you’re dumb. Make your friend/coworker/spouse/child order their own. Take your leftovers and eat them for breakfast the next day.
Side note: Once in a blue moon, Balkan Treat Box teams up with the Stellar Hog for The Stellar Pide, where they use chef Alex Cupp’s smoked brisket. It’s one of the best things I ate in 2017.
Finally, the lahmacun. This is almost as rare as The Stellar Pide, but I’m hoping this post and your vocal support will change things.
Loryn rolls out the somun dough until flattened, like a gigantic Bosnian tortilla, tops it with spiced ground lamb, then fires it in the oven. Once it’s cooked, it’s topped with lemon, parsley salad, cabbage, herbs, tomato, and the doner yogurt sauce, then rolled up (or not—your call…but get it rolled). I cannot accurately express to you how delicious it is, but I can tell you that when I bite into it, this is what I hear.
Hunt down Balkan Treat Box. Give them your money. Help them open a restaurant. Make St. Louis a better place. Thank you.
SOmun Bread
Cevapi
somun bread, onion, spicy pepper, cabbage salad
Chicken Doner
On the spit
Chicken Doner
Served as a sandwich
Beef pide
Lahmacun
the love of my life
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.
Brisket
Taqueria Durango's Torta Ahogada
I do my best not to do the standard Food Network reaction when I eat something delicious (you know the one: they take a bite, then simultaneously roll their eyes and their head in a circular motion, then say something like “Yummo!” or “holy moly, this is money!”), but there are times it just happens.
Most recently, it was brought on by the torta ahogada from Taqueria Durango, a football-sized behemoth, drowned in sauce. Which makes sense if you speak Spanish, because a tortais a Mexican sandwich and ahogada means drowned. If you really want to impress the staff, say, “Uno torta ahogada, s’il vous plaît!”
I went years without trying this sandwich, choosing instead to focus my eating on Durango’s tacos—which are some of the best in St. Louis—because I am a dumb person. Ian Froeb has talked about this sandwich for as long as I can remember, and I just ignored him. Sorry, Froeb. You were on the money with this yummo sandwich.
The oversized bolillo roll is sliced in half, filled with carnitas and grilled onions, then doused with a smoky and mildly spicy red chile sauce. This is clearly a knife and fork sandwich (does that negate it from being a sandwich? Discuss below). It reminds me of something I’d come up with late at night, drunk, using all my leftovers from the previous night’s tacos—but much better. The sauce is so good, and the way the outside of the bread soaks that up, while the inside picks up all the char and pork fat from the carnitas and onions…it shivers me timbers.
This is one of the best sandwiches I’ve had in St. Louis. Maybe even in the top 10. It is a little spicy, so if you’re a weakling, order something else.
Torta Ahogada
carnitas, onions
Nathaniel Reid Bakery
Goodies Shelf at Nathaniel Reid Bakery
Entremet Case at Nathaniel Reid Bakery
I went to France for 2 weeks in 2006, which makes me uniquely qualified to discuss lespâtisseries viennoises, entremets, and baguettes. I see myself as a cross between Mary Berry and Pierre Hermé. When I heard Nathaniel Reid Bakery opened in Kirkwood, I wanted to make sure he knew who he was dealing with. I showed up looking Parisian as hell in my black and white striped shirt, tight black pants, and smug attitude. I peppered the staff with important questions, like where is your beurre from and do you have free samples. I don't want to brag, but they know me there now.
I've gone to Nathaniel Reid Bakery (NRB) close to 10 times now, I think. "Stop eating so much sugar and butter," my doctor would say if I had health insurance. But I do this for you people. I needed to try as much as I could so I could soundly recommend items. My altruistic, selfless nature never ceases to impress me.
When you walk in, before you even look at the display case, head to the far wall, a Willy Wonka-esque treasure trove of chocolates, nougats, caramels, meringues, chocolate pearls. The last two are perfect for prettying up that pathetic attempt at a cake you just made for your kid/spouse. My two favorite jarred goodies: the Spiced Caramel Spread and the strawberry-poppy flower jam. I'd never had poppy flower before (I hoped it would give some sort of opium buzz, but all I got was hyperglycemia), which I found out taste just like cotton candy. And I secretly love cotton candy.
If you'll kindly turn your head to the right, you'll see the display case. This is what you came here for. Colors. Glazes. Shapes. Ooh. NRB typically has 6 to 8 types of macarons in their case, each with a pronounced flavor but a texture that's fairly different than La Patisserie Chouquette's. I don't know if one is more French than the other because I didn't eat any macarons in France during that trip a decade ago. I would happily eat both, Nathaniel's in my left hand, Chouquette's in my right.
The viennoiserie options vary depending on the time of day, what's in season, etc. What I'm trying to say is that you might see a picture of an apple pastry today, but next week, when you go, it'll be pear. And you'll inevitably tweet at me about it, whining. You snooze, you lose.
If you're a NRB rookie, grab an assortment of breakfast pastries. Below, you'll see their pecan cinnamon roll, a croissant, and the love of my life: their twice baked almond-chocolate croissant. The croissant, decked out with dark chocolate, is sliced open and slathered with almond paste, topped with more chocolate, then baked until extra crispy. I like to bite into it while staring directly into Nathaniel's eyes and tell him "good bake" a la Paul Hollywood.
I've been watching a lot of Great British Bake Off lately.
NRB has delicious sandwiches (and salads, but salads are too healthy) available for lunch, with my favorite being the roast beef. It's a simple sandwich, the kind I'd buy on my morning stroll back when I was living in France for those two weeks, made with tender roast beef, slivers of red onion, a slice of cheese, and horseradish aioli. Though, to be honest, it's the bread that wins me over: brioche (aka butter) bread with a sprinkling of shaved parmesan on top. Molto Bene! as the French say.
Where NRB really shines is with their entremets, also known as "them fancy cakes" if you're from St. Charles. Reid's creations are incredible, undoubtedly some of the most delicious entremets I've ever had. And the detail work that goes into ever component is mind-boggling. Here's the recipe for the Amber cake below. Are you going to attempt that at home? I didn't think so.
He's so good, in fact, that the Nathaniel Reid you see in the picture below isn't even him. That's 6 feet of spun sugar. He's that good.
Almost all of the entremets are available as full sized cakes, or in miniature form. The Amber is all about pecans and caramel. For something more tropical, the tangerine-colored Polynesia is a banana-passion fruit cream and coconut mousse cake. Not pictured, because I ate it without thinking, is the Sambava, a mix of chocolate, hazelnut and vanilla. My current favorite, being that I'm addicted to pistachio, is the Jarmo pistachio cake with a berry gelée and pistachio cream.
Before we go, I have to give special kudos to Señor Reid, for he has done the impossible. He has taken up the challenge of improving the much maligned, oft ignored fruit cake and turning it into something people actually want to eat. I guess opening a bakery and having a baby in the last 4 or so months wasn't hard enough.
I'm pleased to say that I enjoyed his fruit cake, which he tells me took nearly 7 years to perfect, immensely. It doesn't feel like you're eating a spiced brick, thanks in part to a proprietary technique he developed. He soaks and candies all the the fruits and nuts himself. It's a labor of love and you can taste it.
I know it's hard to believe, but your friends and family will actually thank you for bringing it to their [Insert Holiday] party.
Jams
chocolates
macarons
breakfast pastries
Chocolate Almond croissant
Roast beef sandwich
Amber
buttery shortbread, salted caramel mousse, pecan caramel
polynesia
coconut mousse, mango and banana cream, moist almond cake
jarmo
pistachio cream, pistachio cake, strawberries, raspberries
fruitcake
Smoked & Braised Lamb Shoulder
Few things in the wide world of food can compete with the beautiful simplicity of smoked meat. If done properly, it's a perfect meld of soft fat and crunchy bark, smoke and sweetness. I love pork ribs just as much as the next guy, and a slow-smoked brisket is hard to beat, but I'll be bold: my favorite meat for the smoker is lamb. Buying high quality bone-in lamb is imperative for this recipe—if you cheap out, you're going to end up with gamey, dry meat. For those of you in St. Louis, no where comes close to Bolyard's Meat and Provisions. The recipe is based off Chef Edward Lee's pulled lamb BBQ, from his cookbook Smoke and Pickles.
The quick smoke at the beginning of the recipe helps develop the crust and give the lamb a nice hint of smoke, and the braise turns it all into one heaping pile of easily shreddable meat. The leftover jus makes for great French dip sandwiches, but I've used this recipe to make tacos, rice bowls, and pastas. It's a fantastic way to prepare lamb that skips the red wine and rosemary like every other recipe out there.
Smoked & Braised Lamb Shoulder
Smoked & Braised Lamb Shoulder
SERVES: 6-8 | PREP: 15 MINUTES | TOTAL: 4 HOURS AND 45 MINUTES
INGREDIENTS
SPICE RUB:
2 T kosher salt
1 T black pepper
1 T dry mustard
1 T smoked paprika
1 T ground cumin
1 T garlic powder
1 T Korean chili flakes
1 T brown sugar
1 t cayenne pepper
1 t coriander
LAMB:
1 3 lb. lamb shoulder
5 c beef stock
1 bottle stout
1/4 c apple cider vinegar
1 T soy sauce
1 t tabasco sauce
METHOD
Combine all the rub ingredients and mix. Rub the meat with the spice rub until well covered. It’s best to let the meat sit uncovered in the fridge overnight, but if you’re short on time, leave it to rest for at least 1 hour.
Light your smoker and get the temperature between 225-250F (lower is better). Once there, add your smoker wood chunks. I prefer a 50/50 mix of apple and oak. Add the meat, leave to smoke. Preheat your oven to 300F. After 1.5 hours, remove the lamb from smoker and place in a roasting pan.
Add the liquid ingredients and cover with foil. Put the pan in the oven and check on it in 3 hours.
Lamb’s looking and smelling sexy, right? Remove from the oven and place the lamb on a cutting board. Pull it apart—wear disposable gloves to help from burning your hands. Eat all the good crusty bits when no one’s looking.
Strain the liquid and use it as jus, or use to cook grains in. Quinoa cooked in smoky lamb jus is orgasmic.
Byrd & Barrel
A few years back, St. Louis got hooked on the idea of frozen yogurt. Everywhere you turned, a new place popped up. Yogoluv, FroYo, Chill, Red Mango dotted the city (or mostly the 'burbs, I guess) like pimples on a teenagers face. Two years later, barely any are open. Shockingly, people didn't want to eat a delicious frozen treat the 6 months of the year that it's goddamn freezing here. As the yogurt trend melted away, something new emerged: good quality BBQ shops. Tired of the garbage that is Bandana's, St. Louisans flocked to Pappy's and Sugarfire, both of which have expanded rapidly and successfully. It came as a shock to no one (except for vegans probably, but no one cares what they think) that people loved to be able to eat fantastic BBQ whenever and wherever they were.
It's like everyone collectively acknowledged that we, as Midwesterners, love huge portions of food with buckets of flavor. BBQ was the gateway drug—the next wave is fried chicken.
It seems that if there's one thing Josh Galliano taught his young Padawans at Monarch, The Libertine, and An American Place, it's how to expertly pull off fried chicken. His proteges include Rick Lewis, the man behind Southern, and Bob Brazell, the dude who decided to refurbish an old Popeye's and make it Byrd & Barrel.
Both Lewis and Brazell opened restaurants this summer, both with a focus on god's greatest gift to mankind, fried chicken. Southern's focus is on Nashville Hot Chicken and comfort food, while Byrd aims to use gourmet fried chicken in a whole mess of ways.
byrd & barrel st.louis menu
byrd & barrel interior st.louis
byrd & barrel st.louis bar
byrd & barrel counter st.louis
Months ago, Brazell (whose team includes former Gallianites Tommy "Salami" Andrews, Will "Tugboat" Volny, and Ryan "Ryan" Mcdonald) told me some of the ideas he was kicking around for his menu. The one that got my engine revved up right away was the South Side Poutine. B&B substitutes the fries typically seen in the dish with big tater tot balls, tasting like Waffle House hashbrowns that have been clumped together and deep fried. The balls are topped with tender smoked chicken, cheese curds, chicken (or mushroom) gravy, and chives.
If I ever make a "Top 10 Drunk Foods" for St. Louis, this will be at the top. Cheese, gravy, fried, meat. Winner.
byrd & barrel st.louis poutine
It was a nice surprise to see that their chicken skins aren't done the way every restaurant seems to do it—that is to say, copy what Sean Brock's Husk has done and just dust them in a spicy southern seasoning. Instead, these skins are drizzled with a General Tso's style sauce, giving them a little tang and sweetness. Not eating this entire plate of skins took a LOT of mental fortitude.
byrd & barrel fried chicken skin
Feeling guilty about our first two dishes, I had to throw some vegetables in. The roasted cauliflower came with toasted cashews, grana padano cheese, salsa verde, and a slightly spicy peppadew aioli. The plating style keeps with the other dishes of being sort of a controlled mess on the plate, but the flavors are clearly from experienced chefs. I would get these again, without a doubt.
byrd & barrel sauces st.louis
byrd & barrel st.louis cauliflower
If you can emphatically say that you love chicken livers, then you must get the banh mi. This is the most chicken livery thing I've eaten in St. Louis, and that includes all the chicken liver mousses. Crispy fried livers are tucked into french bread and topped with pickled carrots, cilantro, jalapeños, cucumbers, and aioli, like every other banh mi.
The one thing you must get your first time at B&B is the Mother Clucker: a giant, juicy, wonderful, fried chicken thigh topped with caramelized onions, a sweet and spicy pepper jelly, and provel cheese whiz (just typing that makes me aroused). To finish, Red Hot Riplets are delicately placed on top.
I've already vowed to name my first born (male or female) Bob Brazell Pernikoff because of this sandwich.
byrd & barrel chicken liver sandwich
byrd & barrel fried chicken sandwich
I knew going into the meal that I'd love Bob's thighs, but I had no idea how much I'd love his pickle.
The Tickled Pickle is probably the most ridiculous dish I've seen in St. Louis. A hot dog is stuffed in a pickle, then breaded and fried like a corn dog. It's preposterous, but it works so well. Dipped in the housemade sriracha grain mustard, it's perfect. I think for that drunk meal I mentioned before, the poutine would be my starter and this would be my entree.
byrd & barrel hot dog pickle corndog
I was worried about having St. Louis having two new fried chicken places opening at the same time, but now I'm wishing there were more Southerns and Byrd & Barrels all over. One day...
Byrd & Barrel
3422 S Jefferson Ave
St. Louis, MO 63118
314.875.9998
Tiong Bahru
I constantly find myself looking up when walking around Singapore. The country is notorious for its constantly changing landscape; down goes an old apartment complex and hawker center, up go the kind of modern marvels you don't even see in the US. I'm a sucker for them - if I had my way, I'd live in one those sixty story condo complexes with jungle gardens, rooftop pools, and robot butlers. I've always wanted to live in the futuristic world you see in movies, but since that doesn't exist, Singapore and Korea are suitable substitutes. With a country the size of Singapore (somewhere bigger than the city of Chicago and smaller than Memphis...with 5 million people), the effect of the build, build, build way of thinking has obvious effects on the once historical neighborhoods. Traditional homes and shophouses have been swept aside, with a few notable omissions. One of which is the Tiong Bahru neighborhood.
Tiong Bahru Singapore Art Deco
Tiong Bahru Singapore Architecture
I'd been to Tiong Bahru before, but mostly in the evening and never set about to explore it. As Patricia, my girlfriend, and I ambled around, I suddenly felt like I wasn't in Singapore at all. The Tiong Bahru Estate was built in the 1930's with an Art Deco meets Singaporean shophouse design. Flat roofs and rounded buildings abound. It's like someone in Singapore visited Miami and said "that's what I'm going to build!"
Tiong Bahru Singapore Street
Tiong Bahru Singapore Window
Tiong Bahru Singapore Center
Tiong Bahru Singapore Street Art
Tiong Bahru Singapore Gardens
Tiong Bahru Singapore Spiral Staircase
Tiong Bahru Singapore Lanterns
Within 30 minutes of our walkabout, the heat had defeated us. Dehydration was creeping in. Luckily (I guess), Tiong Bahru has become a bit of a hipster hideaway. Replacing the old chicken rice and curry puff stalls are rows of artisan coffee houses, cafes, eateries, and art stores. It's on its way to being Singapore's Williamsburg.
Tiong Bahru Singapore Pizza Shop
I felt like I was in Portlandia when I went into BooksActually, a store that actually sells books. The young staff all wore the same glasses their parents did in the 80's, there were two mean cats eyeballing me, and the back of store was a mini-antique shop, selling old cups, Japanese magazines, and various other oddities no one will ever buy.
Tiong Bahru Singapore Bookstore
Tiong Bahru Singapore Cafe
We made our way into Forty Hands Coffee, an Australian-owned shop. They partnered with Five Senses Coffee Australia to create Common Man Coffee Roasters, importing and roasting their beans in Singapore. The result is an elevated coffee experience, not unlike Sump or Blueprint in St. Louis. Below is their cold-drip, perfect for helping your kidneys regain functionality after a long walk outside.
Tiong Bahru Singapore 40 Hands
Tiong Bahru Singapore Forty Hands Coffee
The menu is primarily Western, with sandwiches, salads, and mac & cheese, but there's Asian influence, as well. The menu touts their tau sar pau (red bean bun) as being Singapore's best, they have a red bean poster on the wall, and the staff said we should get it. So we did.
The hockey puck sized bun was dropped off just after it came out of the steamer. Lacking patience, I cut/tore it in half (burning my fingers), then took a bite (burning my mouth). I haven't had all that many red bean buns in my life, but this was the best I can remember. Super fluffy bread and a smooth, not overly sweet paste inside.
Tiong Bahru Singapore Forty Hands Tau Sar Pau
Tiong Bahru Singapore Tau Sar Pau
I've been let down so many times by Western dishes in Singapore, but I couldn't help myself: I had to try the 40 Hands Cubano. To our surprise, they pulled it off! Mojo pork, honey-smoked ham, jalapeño, and cheese on crusty Tiong Bahru Bakery baguette made for a solid sandwich, though meats both could have been more flavorful. When you say the ham is smoked, I want to taste that.
Tiong Bahru Singapore Forty Hands Cuban
Tiong Bahru Singapore Pork Bun Forty Hands
Tiong Bahru Singapore Braised Pork Forty Hands
The real surprise came from the Kong Bak Pau (Asian pork sliders). Steamed buns, lettuce, and a cup full of fall-apart tender pork braised in a soy-garlic concoction. I could have eaten 3 or 4 of these myself.
Feeling a bit unhealthy after our carbs and pork lunch, we decided to walk down the street to Plain Vanilla, a cafe and bakery. I loved the design - They made the front section a covered outdoor seating area with the door to actually go inside the shop way back there. A pretty bold move to not have an airconned sitting area for customers in a place just off the equator, but it was surprisingly pleasant out there.
Tiong Bahru Singapore Plain Vanilla
Tiong Bahru Singapore Plain Vanilla Patio
Tiong Bahru Singapore Plain Vanilla Seating
Tiong Bahru Singapore Plain Vanilla Table
Tiong Bahru Singapore Plain Vanilla Art
While you wait for your coffee or pastry to be prepared, you can spin around and check out their wall of goods for sale, ranging from gourmet honey and jam to decorative pillows that you'll remove before guests arrive so they don't touch them with their filthy hands.
Tiong Bahru Singapore Plain Vanilla Jam
Plain Vanilla Tiong Bahru Singapore Pastries
Plain Vanilla Tiong Bahru Singapore Interior
Thank god I had already eaten lunch, because I would have gone mental in here otherwise. Salted caramel truffle tarts beckoned me, massive brownies dusted in cocoa powder begged me to eat them, lemon cream tarts taunted me. I regained control of myself and took a step back, stopping myself from ordering one of everything. Seeing as Patricia is the Tiong Bahru expert and person who brought me to Plain Vanilla, I let her pick.
Plain Vanilla Tiong Bahru Singapore Caramel Tart
Plain Vanilla Tiong Bahru Lemon Tart Singapore
Brownies Plain Vanilla Tiong Bahru Singapore
Plain Vanilla Tiong Bahru Singapore Shortbread
She went for the Earl Grey Lavender Cupcake, a bold choice because cupcakes are usually worthless pieces of garbage. Shitty bakeries get away with selling cupcakes because they can dress them up pretty. If I can make the same thing at home with little effort, I don't want to spend $5 on each one at your shop.
Every once in awhile, I can be wrong. The Earl Grey Lavender cupcake was actually delicious. Soft cake with the distinct Earl Grey flavor of black tea and bergamot, topped with a light (and most importantly, not too sweet) lavender icing. Cupcakes are still bullshit, but Plain Vanilla gets a pass.
Cupcakes Plain Vanilla Tiong Bahru Singapore
Plain Vanilla Tiong Bahru Earl Grey Singapore Cupcake
If you're a visitor to Singapore or a local Singaporean who hasn't spent much time in Tiong Bahru, I implore you to go. Support the small local businesses, spend some time walking through the old neighborhoods. Who knows when it will all be torn down to make way for something 'better'.
Bolyard's Meat & Provisions
After suffering through three years of eating Australian, Malaysian, and Chinese beef and pork in Singapore (there's no room for animals to roam there - some houses in Frontenac are bigger than the whole island), I had all but given up eating meat. The pork lacked flavor and the beef's taste was abysmal. I needed American beef! American pork! The good stuff. When I washed ashore in the US, I slowly began adding it back into my diet. Then I turned it up to 11. All of a sudden my freezer and fridge were full of sausages, burgers, cured meats, smoked meats, raw meats, cooked meats, dried meats! Why the sudden change? Two reasons: Truffles Butchery and Bolyard's Meat & Provisions.
If you don't already know, Bolyard's is owned by Chris (formerly of Sidney Street Cafe) and Abbie Bolyard, though I believe the brains of the operation may actually be Betty, their adorable, chorizo munching daughter. They offer lamb, pork, beef, and chicken, all sourced from small Midwestern farms. When you walk in, you'll see a big board with the cuts available, plus a display case with all their creations. The creations range from the known (hot dogs, hamburgers, meatballs), to the more unfamiliar (tasso, lamb merguez, country pate), to the OMG is that?? (beef heart pastrami, blood bologna, confit chicken hearts).
Inside Boylard's Meat and Provisions
Boylard's Meat and Provisions
Shelves at Boylard's Meat and Provisions
Butcher Area at Boylard's Meat and Provisions
Chris Bolyard at Boylard's Meat and Provisions
Pork at Boylard's Meat and Provisions
Watching Chris prepare a pork shoulder for smoking was awe-inspiring. His finesse with his knives was so smooth and precise - I went home and attempted to prepare my own pork shoulder at Chris Boylard speed and now have 2 less fingers. As he finished up the shoulder, a truck pulled up with two huge freezers in the back. Chris smirked and beckoned me outside.
If those guys weren't all wearing butcher's aprons and Bolyard's shirts, neighbors might get the wrong idea about what goes on inside Bolyard's. It's not every day you see a bunch of meat hook wielding gents carrying a massive plastic wrapped body. I would have offered to help them carry in the humongous cow quarters, but, you know, I was busy photographing.
Cow Delivery at Boylard's Meat and Provisions
Steer Quarter at Boylard's Meat and Provisions
The Walk In at Boylard's Meat and Provisions
Butchering at at Boylard's Meat and Provisions
Pork at Boylard's Meat and Provisions
Omnivurger at Boylard's Meat and Provisions
Burger at Boylard's Meat and Provisions
As part of the James Beard Better Burger Project, Bolyard's has been making "omnivurgers", a beef and mushroom hamburger patty that is just off the chain. I don't even really like mushrooms and I've got 12 or so of these in my freezer. Just look at that bad boy cooked and ready to be devoured.
The other thing that Bolyard's is doing right are their weekly sandwiches. Seriously. As part of my research for this post, I have eaten said sandwiches. Let's see what I've consumed the last few weeks:
Roast Beef Sandwich at Boylard's Meat and Provisions
Spicy Roast Beef Sandwich at Boylard's Meat and Provisions
Route 66: Roast beef, porchetta di testa, arugula, pickled red onion, chipotle aioli, all on a Companion Peacemaker roll. SO F***ING GOOD.
The meatball sub: housemade meatballs (get them, freeze them, break them out whenever you're feeling low), housemade sauce, shredded cheese. REALLY F***ING GOOD.
Meatball Sub at Boylard's Meat and Provisions
My favorite so far has been the special this week, the [symple_highlight color="blue"]Seoul Mate[/symple_highlight]: ham, roast beef, Korean barbecue aioli, kimchi, sunflower sprouts, crunchy Ramen noodles. Just let that sink in. How smart is it to smash up ramen noodles and use them as a topping? 5/5, EXTREMELY F***ING GOOD.
Sandwich Prep at Boylard's Meat and Provisions
Korean Sandwich at Boylard's Meat and Provisions
Korean Beef Sandwich at Boylard's Meat and Provisions
Seoul Mate Sandwich at Boylard's Meat and Provisions
Walking into a place like Bolyard's is, in a lot of ways, what things were like in days past, I imagine. Before the era of Schnucks, Dierbergs, and the faceless butcher. Chris and his team know what I like and what my family likes. They remember the things I ordered before. You want something custom ordered or prepared differently? Just ask.
If you haven't visited Bolyard's, this week is the perfect opportunity to do so. You want to impress your friends on the 4th, right? That all starts with having great meat. You can try your luck by just showing up, or you can call and order ahead. My recommendation: Omnivurgers and Berzerkers, a beef, bacon, horseradish, and cheddar sausage. Bring a military ID and get 20% off. And, if you're reading this today (Thursday), they're doing their Thursday night smoke out. Call to inquire about what's available (I do know they're doing a rabbit porcheta stuffed with bratwurst!).
Seriously. Go. This is what I've got in my fridge and freezer right now from Bolyard's: Omnivurgers, lamb merguez, berzerkers, hot dogs, bratwurst, buffalo turkey sausages, meatballs, pickled red onions, bread and butter pickles, beef tallow. I'm ready for the 4th.
Bolyard's Meat and Provisions
2810 Sutton Blvd
Maplewood, MO 63143
(314) 647-2567
Gobble Stop Smokehouse
I've written about Gobble Stop Smokehouse before, a family-owner BBQ restaurant in Creve Coeur specializing in poultry, but I wasn't happy with my photo of their turkey ribs. At least that's the excuse I'll use. I don't have much to add to my last post - this place has the best smoked poultry in town. My go-to are always the turkey ribs; they're smokey, they're juicy, they're meaty. Look at them compared to the corn on the cob below. Big.
If I'm not getting the turkey ribs, I'm probably getting the turkey tenderloin sandwich. Sliced smoked turkey tenderloin is piled high on a warm pretzel roll with portobello mushrooms, onions, and some provolone cheese. You must get this with their signature mustard BBQ sauce. Same goes for the turkey ribs. It has a unique and exceptional flavor. I've taken home extra before and used it on meatloaf and as a glaze on salmon.
A new addition to the menu is sliced turkey breast, something that has become a staple fridge item at home. The only competitor I've found that can rival its flavor and juiciness is the turkey from Truffles Butchery.
My only complaint about Gobble Stop's menu are the sides. If they can take those to the next level like they've done with poultry, they're golden.
Gobble Stop Smokehouse
1227 Castillon Arcade Plaza
Creve Coeur, MO 63141
314.878.5586
Salume Beddu
Salume Beddu closed their shop, but their sandwiches can still be found at Parker’s Table.
If there's ever a Saturday where you can't decide what to eat for lunch, you need to just head over to Salume Beddu. Their specials, no matter how simple they may sound, are out of this world. The highlights from my latest trip over:
The bruschetta of the day was topped with olive oil poached green chickpeas, pecorino cheese and Calabrian preserved Hen of the Woods mushrooms. Spicy. Cheesy. Healthy because it's green.
We tried a sample of their pancetta arrotolata, a nutty and buttery slice of heaven.
The sandwich of the day was a fennel-braised (!) pulled pork shoulder with brussel sprout slaw, preserved lemons and Turkish oil-cured black olives. Considering all the pork and bread, it still felt like a light sandwich. Absurdly good.
Braised pork shoulder
Replacing the long-time favorite "G.L.T." is this new masterpiece: roasted guanciale, radicchio, harissa and roasted winter squash puree. I am so thankful that Salume Beddu is far from my office because I would probably eat this every single day. Guanciale is cured pork jowl, but don't let that turn you off. On this sandwich, it's just like bacon. You've got the fatty crunch of the guanciale, a little bitterness from radicchio, then the combination of spicy harissa and a creamy squash puree. This is the kind of sandwich that keeps me worshiping at the altar of Marco Sanfilippo.
BLT
The Italian Store
Arlington, VA
When my friend recommended that we eat lunch at a local sandwich shop called "The Italian Store", I was agreeable. I'm always game for a good sandwich. What I wasn't expecting was that this place would be so popular that we'd have a 20+ minute wait. This is what we saw when we walked in:
The Italian Store
So many people! Rather than being aggravated or deterred, this only made me want the food more. If some little Italian grocery in Arlington is going to have over 30 people waiting for sandwiches and pizza at any given time, I want to know why.
We grabbed numbers for sandwich/pasta ordering, then squeezed down to the other end of the store to get some of their homemade pizza. The smell of freshly baked pizza is what I imagine heaven smells like. I ordered a slice of the supreme looking one below, but all my friends got the cheese. I should have copied them. They knew what they were doing. My slice was good, but their slice was very good. Obviously this isn't any fancy pizza; this is a New York style slice. To put it in Missouri terms, it's like Sbarro but with flavor. It was gooey and cheesy, which only a fool wouldn't like, but also a little on the oily side. It would be very good football watching pizza.
pizza Italian Store arlington
meat Italian Store arlington
Italian Store arlington groceries
I went halfsies with my brother for the sandwich portion of the lunch. We picked out [symple_highlight color="blue"]The Milano[/symple_highlight] and [symple_highlight color="blue"]The Napoli[/symple_highlight], which were $7.99 & $7.69, respectively. Each of these was the "small" option, which means the large sandwiches were probably the size of a baseball bat.
The Milano, below, is their most popular sub. It's packed with two types of Italian ham, Genoa salami, provolone cheese and all your typical sandwich toppers. You have the option of a soft or hard roll, and we picked soft for both of ours. We also got both sweet and hot peppers on both sandwiches.
The Napoli was my favorite of the two. Lean capacola ham, mozzarella cheese and some delicious, spicy pepperoni put this sandwich's flavor profile closer to pizza territory than submarine sandwich, so it should be no surprised I liked it.
milano sandwich Italian Store arlington
Napoli sandwich Italian Store arlington
I didn't love the Milano, but I'd get the Napoli again. I would also get them without the veggies and dressing, because with them on, the sandwich just got too messy and unwieldy. If I ever went back to The Italian Store, I'd probably just stick with the pizza and perhaps some of their prepared pasta dishes. A big Italian sandwich like this just doesn't do much for me. I'd much rather eat the equal amount of calories in Mexican food, pizza or perhaps a really huge Bahn Mi.
3123 Lee Hwy
Arlington, VA 22201