Cruising Through Paris on the Seine

Smoke and Salt...screen

After hearing so much about Salt and Smoke we decided to give it a try. We went to their restaurant at 501 South Main st. in St. Charles, MO. They have other locations in the Central West end, on Delmar, Hampton and coming soon to Ball Park Village downtown.

This is a great place for spirits drinkers with 64 bourbons, 58 ryes, 37 worldwide whiskeys, 28 scotches a multitude of craft beers on tap and in bottles and cans. The prices seem to be reasonable. They also have a wine list with red, white and sparkling wines. I must say I am not aware of many of the brand names of wines on their list.

Now let's talk about our dining experience. Salt and Smoke features BBQ and I almost always enjoy BBQ. We started out with fried pickles with a flax seed mustard. It was an excellent choice. It featured both pickle spears

and slices that were perfectly spiced and served hot and tasty.

Other appetizers of note include burnt end toasted ravs, hushpuppies with maple butter, fried chicken skin with honey grain mustard and more.

Salt and Smoke offers BBQ sandwiches and plates. Sandwiches come with one side, plates come with two sides and a bacon-cheddar popover. More on the popover later. Sides include; beef fat fries, pit beans with smoked bacon, sweet pepper potato salad, vinegar coleslaw, white cheddar cracker mac, green bean and tomato salad, BBQ sweet potato chips, creamed corn, brisket chili and a seasonal side.

Sue had the brisket plate with potato salad and white cheddar mac. I chose a half slab of ribs with the chili and pit beans. Both came with the popover. The popover was a thin skinned, hollow pastry item that had zero taste of bacon-cheddar. It was, in-fact, a perfect Yorkshire Pudding suitable for an English Sunday Roast. I think corn bread would be a better fit for their menu.

Both plates were equally large portions, especially for the price. Plates start at $12.00 and go up depending on the number of side items you order. Sue's brisket was hot and juicy. The potato salad was excellent, but the white cheddar mac was an abysmal failure. The macaroni was mushy, it was very dry with too many crackers and little, or no taste of white cheddar.

Everything on my plate came to the table barely warm. I asked our waitress to please zap the plate for a minute or two, and to their credit, she said they don't have a microwave. She took it back and served me a new meal that was at a satisfactory temperature. The pit beans were OK, the brisket chili was more of a very dry cassoulet. It was the first chili I have ever eaten with a fork. The ribs were smoked with a dry rub, lots of dry rub. In retrospect, I wish I had scraped it off before I started to eat them. The meat was “fall off the bone” tender, but very dry. The various sauces, Mustardolina, My sweet Bestie, Hot and Tangy and I Can't even ..can be summed up as “OK, if you say so”. All of the sauces were thin and watery. My Sweet Bestie was the best of the lot. The Mustardolina literally tasted like watered-down French's mustard. I honestly think my meal was warmed over items from the previous day of two. I was not impressed.

We split a piece of pecan pie with cinnamon ice cream. It was very good.

The service was OK, as was the ambiance. They are located in the historic Main street area of St. Charles, so the exposed brick walls decorated with the work of a local artist fit the scene. There is a large, outdoor patio service area as well.

In summary, I feel this is an average at best BBQ restaurant with a great bar. I don't think Salt and Smoke is representative of the St. Louis area's great BBQ tradition.

The Impossible Burger?

Sue and I decided to try the "Impossible burger" Our local Burger King had a special 2 for $6.00 special, so we went for it.  It looked like a regular burger, it smelled like a regular burger, and that was about it! It was as dry as a piece of cardboard. There was no taste of "juicy burger", in fact, the only taste was that of "char-broiled" something! At a special price of 2 for $6.00, I was not impressed, and at $5.89 each, there is no way I would buy this poorly fabricated sandwich!