St. Louis - Give me MO'

Back when I was sowing wild oats as a foreign student in Japan, one of our assignments was to write a descriptive essay about American food. My friend chose to write about fresh Krispey Kreme doughnuts. He asked his roommate, a native Japanesian named Kio, how to say “orgasmic” in Japanese, to which Kio suggested “すごいです　ね！ ”, which is the equivalent of, “jeepers, that was awful swell!”

I think about that incident now as I try to translate into words the intense physiological reaction to the half rack at Pappy’s Smokehouse (3106 Olive Street). There’s a reason why this place appeared in Man vs. Food. I could attempt to describe the delicate interplay between the perfectly smoked ribs and 3 different kinds of sauces, and yet words appeal to reason when the appropriate reaction should be something much more guttural:

U-City Grill (6696 Enright Ave) has won local accolades as “St. Louis’s best Korean food,” which is damning with faint praise as much as anything else. Its bulgogi lacked the playfulness of Crisp’s. Still, if you find yourself a long-term resident of STL, and you have to choose between U-City or Qdobo Grill, the bibimbap will satisfy certain East Asian cravings, though probably not the ones that matter most. And on another level, I really enjoyed having a proprietor that makes it clear that our patronage of his establishment is interrupting his TV watching in the back room.

However, not all Asian food in STL needs be qualified as “great…for STL.” Banh Miso #1 (4071 S Grand Blvd), Vietnamese for ‘#1 Sandwich’, would be a gem in any city (if only Banh Miso #1 had been located in LA rather than STL, I can just imagine skinny-jean-clad voyeurs flocking in droves after a canonization from St. Jonathon Gold). The Bun Bo Buong Cha Gio and Salmon Chien alone would make Charley leave his foxhole for the carpet bombing your taste buds will receive (too soon?). Even a week eating every meal there would not suffice to exhaust the treasures at this establishment. And while there, why not take a picture standing next to the picture of the MO governor standing in front of the restaurant?

St. Louis: high crime rate, but a higher taste rate. No. Never mind. That crime rate is pretty high.