Today, I want to talk about the food. Oh, the food. Have you ever planned a vacation around places you want to visit... to eat the food they have there? If you have, we should be friends. That's one of the first things I look into when we go anywhere. We had a list before we went on our trip and hit every single one (plus some extras). So before you keep going, you have to promise not to judge. I already know that I ate way too much, but it was part of a plan. I wanted to eat so much delicious food that I would be sick of Southern food and wouldn't miss it as much while I was in Utah. Spoiler alert: I ate enough food to make me sick, but not sick of Southern food. Sad, I know.
I love food from the South. I can't believe I went 25 years without knowing what it was really about. I can't believe part of that time was spent at culinary school where the are still convinced the French know everything about cooking and that the best of food comes from there. Well, I am here to tell you that there are people from France (not sure who they are, but I'd like to meet them someday and hug them) who moved to the South and perfected an aspect of food the French don't get. So, what I am trying to say is that Le Cordon Bleu needs to add a completely new class focusing on barbecue. (Noun, not a verb.) Teachers would need to be from the South. I am willing to interview for those positions, in case you have connections and can set this all up.
I am ready to tell you about the places we visited. (Don't worry, I have a towel nearby for when I start drooling. Yes, that will probably happen. No, I will not tell you when.) We stopped for the first night just outside of Wichita, Kansas. We decided we would only eat at places we don't have in Utah so up first was Long John Silvers. I know what you are thinking. It isn't BBQ and seems like an odd choice since it is a chain. Well, at one point in our lives, Joe and I lived close to a LJS and fell in love with their tacos. It's weird, but they are good. Plus I really like their shrimp and the coleslaw is delightful. I am sure there will be a LJS in Utah soon. (They keep playing commercials for it, and that happened just before they opened a Popeyes so it makes sense.)
Next in line wasn't a restaurant. Joe's aunt is exactly what I picture when I think of someone from the South. She is so sweet and welcoming. I will tell you more about her in another post, but I had to mention that she made us dinner. She knew that we would only be at her house for a little while before having a dinner meeting with the organizers of the event in Memphis. She couldn't let us stop without feeding us. It was so good - home-made rolls and pasta. Yum. The only downfall was that she was worried about making food for me since I went to culinary school. I feel so bad when people say that. (Please know that I am not a food critic. I am just a food lover. I'm not a picky eater and food is always good when it is made with love. The end.)
That dinner meeting happened at Texas Road House. It made me a little sad that it was a place we have out west, but I was craving steak, so it worked out. It was so good. I order my steaks medium-well to give chefs a break. I don't want to be that person that sends back her steak for a different temperature. I like my steaks medium-well, but I will eat it at medium and well-done. So everyone wins. Luckily, it was perfectly medium-well. The only other thing I will say about Texas Road House is that I don't usually order steaks there. I love their salmon. Yum.
From now on, I won't tell you when we ate at the following places, I will just tell you about them. We went to Krystals next. It is a Southern White Castle. We actually tried both on this trip, and with a vote of 2-0, Krystals is the little hamburger place of choice. I think that the chili cheese pups tipped the scales. (Imagine chili cheese dogs that are about 3 inches long. Then call them pups instead of dogs. CUTE!)
The first BBQ place we went to is Joe's favorite BBQ sandwich. (That means it is a pulled pork sandwich. It comes with pulled pork, a little sauce on top and coleslaw.) Tops BBQ was good. They toast their buns which is a big plus in my book, but they didn't have a spicy version of their sandwich. I love spicy things. So this wasn't my favorite.
Next up was Kream Kastle. It is Joe's mom's favorite. It is in Blytheville, AR. She talks about it when we talk about BBQ. So we couldn't be that close and NOT visit. We also couldn't visit and not send her a picture to rub it in. (Don't worry, I am not cold hearted, she had it a couple months ago.) It was good BBQ. Definitely better than anything we have tried in Utah, but this one wasn't my favorite either.
This one is my favorite. Leonard's BBQ catered the speaking event in Memphis. Oh my goodness. The pork had a perfect smoky flavor and was super tender. They had hot BBQ sauce that was to die for. Seriously. So. Good. Joe went up after the dinner to ask the Leonard's employee if they sold it in their restaurant. Best thing about people in the South. They are super nice. This guy told him that of course they sell it, but that he should just take a bottle. So I got to bring a piece of heaven home with us. Something you should know about Leonard's is that they make a mustard coleslaw. It's different than any other coleslaw I've had and so delicious. It helped make the sandwich.
The next place we went was for my brother-in-law. It is one of his favorites. Corky's. I should mention here that one of my favorite things about visiting all of these places was the smell outside the restaurants. You can smell the flavored smoke. It is the perfect hook to get people to buy food. If I lived in the South, I would have to run errands on the same day because once I was out of the house and smelling the delicious food, I would have to buy it. I wouldn't have a choice. Corky's was really good. I had their BBQ nachos.
Picture this: tortilla chips topped by pulled pork, jalapeños, cheese sauce and a dusting of their BBQ rub. Yes, please. After the nachos, I realized I needed to take rub and sauce back with me. They sell that stuff everywhere. I ended up with two kinds of sauce from Corky's and sauce and rub from Rendezvous.
That brings me to Rendezvous. I loved Rendezvous. Since they are famous for their ribs, I decided to try them. That's new for me because I don't eat meat off the bone. It grosses me out. Turns out, I do eat meat off the bone when it is that good. They were so tender. The rub was so flavorful and the hot BBQ sauce was perfect.
I had sauce all over my fingers and face by the time I was done. It was worth it. Luckily, in places like that, people don't judge when you make a mess because they are doing the same thing. They have the little moist towelettes on every table. You need to use those when you are finished. When we were done eating, we watched the guys in charge of the smoking.
I wanted to move in. They had a wall of smokers built in and you could see the stacks of ribs and pork shoulders inside them. Now my dream house includes a smokehouse right next to my kitchen so we can smoke meat year round. You're welcome, future neighbors.
That was the end of Memphis. It was perfect. We went to St. Louis from there and after such amazing food in Memphis, I had super high expectations for St. Louis. The first couple of things I want to mention all have to do with Joe's aunt and uncle. They were such amazing hosts. He smoked ribs for us (luckily, I already knew that eating them off the bone wasn't a problem) and made homemade potato salad that complimented the ribs perfectly. He also made jambalaya that was so good! They made breakfast for us every morning that we were there. Biscuits and white gravy, sausage, bacon, eggs, and finally chocolate gravy. I was introduced to chocolate gravy just after we got married. It is still a little new to me, but it started growing on me after trying his uncle's version.
The last place in St. Louis that warrants mentioning is in the section known as The Hill. It was settled by Italians and has the cutest fire hydrants.
They also have bakeries and Italian restaurants. We went to Zia's. Let's start with toasted ravioli. This is my new challenge. I want to make them. I want to have the marinara sauce from Zia's. The recipe will do. It was so perfect. It didn't have the sweet or bitter flavors some sauces have. It was perfect. I can't say that enough. I wanted to drink it. Wish I was kidding.
It couldn't be an Italian restaurant without bread and dipping sauces. They had such delicious olive oil to dip bread in. I got a salad with my entree. The dressing was so good. The entree was perfect. (Can you tell that I wouldn't change a thing about this restaurant?) Let me tell you why. Here is the description: Mostaccioli prepared in a sage cream sauce with fresh grilled chicken, bacon, broccoli, tomatoes, and mushrooms. Topped with blended Italian cheese and seasoned bread crumbs and baked. Yep. It was as good as it sounds.
Just found out they sell the sauce and olive oil online. Yes, you may get that for me for Christmas. I will share with you. Maybe.
There is only one place left to tell you about. I am a little sad this is the end of the list. On our way home, we stopped in Ogallala, NE for the night. They are in the middle of nowhere and Urbanspoon had high ratings for the Peking Chinese Restaurant. Sounds a little weird that Chinese food would be good in NE, but we tried it anyway. It was really good! Plus the owner was so funny. We got it to go and when I walked in to pay, she asked about where we were going while she was running my card. After she was done she said goodbye without giving my food. Then she laughed and went to get it for me. It was super cute.
This was such a great food vacation! I am so glad we got to go to all of these wonderful places. I can't wait to go back and do it all over again! The only thing I will change is remembering to pack antacids.
