Even before arriving in St. Louis, I knew I needed to check out the St. Louis-style barbeque. I started inquiring on the plane about the best place. Then I asked the bellman at the hotel. The recurring name was Salt + Smoke.
From a couple of blocks away, I could tell I was almost there, as that barbecue aroma wafted into the air. Cords of wood piled up outside stood waiting for the smoker, let me know I had arrived.
Location: Salt + Smoke, located at 6525 Delmar Boulevard, in the Delmar Loop neighborhood of Saint Louis, Missouri. Find the restaurant’s website here. Salt + Smoke has five locations throughout the greater St. Louis area.
Menu: Salt + Smoke is an all-American barbeque restaurant featuring classic barbeque dishes with some original twists.
They mark items on the menu that are or can be made gluten-free with small alterations. Check with the server to ensure they serve the modifications as required.
Salt + Smoke also offers a children’s menu.
Thoughts: The atmosphere is a casual, family-friendly environment. Summer dining includes street-front patio seating under their yellow awning.
From fries to pies, everything at Salt + Smoke is scratch-made in-house. Even their four varieties of barbeque sauce are house-made. My Sweet Bestie was my favorite, a classic sweet heat with a slightly smokey flavor. Hotangy is a medium spicy vinegar wash while Mustarolina is a tangy mustard barbeque sauce. The I Can’t Even is a very spicy sauce made with chili de Arbol and apricots. A fifth one is available upon request. You can get the Alabama Ranch sauce, which is a white sauce that is egg-based with horseradish and black pepper.
Both toasted ravioli and barbeque are famous St. Louis specialties. At Salt + Smoke, they formed a mash-up of these two favorites resulting in the Burnt End Toasted Ravs. The creation is one tasty appetizer.
Salt in the name Salt + Smoke comes from the rub for the meats, which is a combination of salt, pepper, and paprika. The prime brisket sandwich came topped with deep-fried crispy tobacco onions served on a brioche bun that they spread with burnt end mayo.
To accompany the lunch, I selected creamed corn, which, unlike other barbeque restaurants, doesn’t include jalapenos, so the flavor was sweeter than spicy.
My other side was the pit beans with smoked pork and bacon. Both were flavorful sides.
For dessert, there’s pie and a la mode or plain. All the pies are made in house from scratch. The chocolate cream pie was my personal favorite. The creamy dark chocolate custard tops a brownie-like bottom crust with the whipped cream providing a creamy contrast to the dark chocolate.
Then there’s the all-American apple pie a la mode. They served it in an oval dish that keeps the apples moist in their juices. It has a perfectly flakey crust, and vanilla ice cream tops it off.
A lengthy whiskey menu is worthy of their tag line, BBQ, Bourbon, Beer.
To avoid lengthy waits, you can order online for pick-up or delivery. Although they don’t take reservations, they do have an app to get on an online waiting list.
As members of the Green Dining Alliance, Salt + Smoke takes reducing their impact on the environment seriously. Some actions they’ve taken as part of this initiative are paper rather than plastic straws, and water served only on request.
Price Range: Starters range from $4.99 for the fried house pickles to $10.99 for the dry rub smoked wings or the burnt ends toasted ravioli. Plates that include meat and two sides range from $12.99 to $26.99. You can also purchase meat by the pound. Sides range between $3 and $5. Dinner for two is about $50, including taxes and gratuity.
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