Good morning, friends!

So, if you read my blog post from last week, you’ll remember that I promised a pretty big announcement on Monday.

And as my sister so dutifully reminded me, I didn’t make that announcement on Monday. Whoops!

I’ve been a little busy. And if you follow me on Twitter, you probably already know this. But I’m going to say it anyway.

That big announcement that I’ve been holding in for the past few weeks? I’m moving.

To Virginia.

I recently accepted a job with an amazing company in the Charlottesville, Virginia area. It was quite unexpected; I wasn’t actively looking for a new job – a recruiter contacted me – but the opportunity was so good for my career that I just couldn’t pass it up.

So I’m moving. Away from St. Louis. Away from the city I’ve lived in for my entire life. Away from the city that I’ve grown to absolutely adore.

Am I excited? Absolutely. The company I’ll be working for is fantastic, and the job I’ll be doing? It’s in my field (Chemistry), it’s a huge step up for my career, and I’ll be doing the things I absolutely love to do.

But you know what? Even though I’m over the moon about this, I’m also terrified. I’ll be living in a completely new city. Away from my family. Away from my friends. Away from everything I’ve ever known.

As I’ve announced my news to family and friends, one of the first questions I’ve been asked is “What are you going to do about your blog?”

It’s a very legitimate question. After all, the title of my blog is Off the Eaten Path St. Louis. However, even though my blog is pretty region-specific, it can easily be broadened to reflect whatever city I’m in.

I’ve thought about that option quite a bit – changing the blog to Off the Eaten Path Charlottesville. I could even change the blog to Off the Eaten Path, and write reviews of restaurants in any city I happen to be in.

I’ve bounced around a few other options that I’m keeping under wraps for now, as well. The point is, I’ve thought about the future of my blog. A lot.

And I’ve come to the conclusion that while I’m not going to shut this blog down, I’m going to go on hiatus. How long will this hiatus last? I don’t know for sure. It could be a few weeks. It could be a few months. It could be longer than that. My priorities right now are getting settled in my new city (I’m moving in two days!), getting adjusted to my new job, and starting my new life.

When I started blogging in March of 2010, I was not in a great place. I was unhappy with a lot of things in my life. I felt unfulfilled in my job. My social life was pretty nonexistent.

And as silly as this sounds, blogging changed everything. It gave me confidence in my skills as a writer. I joined Twitter, mostly to promote my blog, and I ended up connecting with a lot of amazing people. I started Yelping more, and met even more fantastic friends through that avenue. Thanks to my blog, I was able to have the opportunity to freelance for Patch. This improved my people skills like no other; immersing myself in the local community and talking with people from all walks of life improved my communication skills in ways that I never thought imaginable.

It wasn’t until after I started blogging that I had the courage to take on another passion: running. I joined a few running groups, and six half marathons (and one full marathon!) later, it’s safe to say that I’m in love with the sport and all of the great people I’ve met through it.

Blogging has showed me that there are other people out there who share my passion for food. It’s made me a stronger writer. It’s introduced me to new people, new cuisines, and new opportunities that would have never presented themselves otherwise.

However, most importantly, blogging has made me fall in love with St. Louis in ways that I never thought possible. I’ve seen so many great things in this city. I’ve met so many amazing people. I don’t think that would have been possible had I not started this blog.

And while I don’t want to lose any of that, I need to take a step back for now. Right now, my career is the most important thing in my life, and I don’t want anything to stand in the way of that. Writing quality blog posts takes a lot of time, and while I probably could churn out weekly blog posts (on restaurants in St. Louis and elsewhere; you wouldn’t believe the amount of reviews I have waiting to be queued up!) I don’t want the quality of this blog to suffer.

So there you have it. This isn’t “goodbye,”, it’s “see you later.” I promise to keep you updated on Twitter and Facebook, as always.

Thanks for being loyal readers of Off the Eaten Path. I’ll see you all soon.

Good morning, food lovers! I hope you’re having a wonderful day. I’m assuming that you are, since it’s Friday and all.

Anyway, let’s get to business.

I recently went to Three Kings Pub!

This sweet spot is located on the Delmar Loop. I’ve been wanting to try this place since it first opened, and I was happy to finally have the chance to check it out.

True to its name, the inside is very pub-like.

I love pubs. Something about the atmosphere makes me want to chow down on unhealthy food and chug beer.

So I did.

I started with a Goose Island Matilda, and it was perfect. Crisp, ice cold, and a little fruity. Just the way I like my beer.

I was really hungry (and I came with a few friends!), so we ordered an appetizer to start. Chorizo Nachos, anyone?

This was piled high with queso blanco, pico de gallo, guacamole, jalapenos, and spicy chorizo, of course. It was delicious. We were definitely all fighting for the last cheese-covered bite.

For my entrée, I went with the Salmon BLT. Bacon, lettuce, tomato, and salmon? Sold!

It came with a generous helping of sweet potato fries, which were tasty.

The sandwich itself?

I loved it! It was toasty, warm, and all of the flavors worked together wonderfully. I couldn’t get enough of this sandwich, and it was so big that I could only eat half! Yay for leftovers.

The service at Three Kings was fantastic. Our waiter was extremely attentive and knew the menu like the back of his hand. He was very willing to make recommendations to us, which I appreciated.

I would definitely come back here. Two thumbs up!

This is the part of the post where I would normally say “See you next week,” but I have a pretty big announcement that can’t wait until then…so I’ll see you on Monday!

Whew! Last week’s blog post was a heavy one, wasn’t it? If you follow me on Twitter, you know how nervous I was about posting that review of Pastaria. But you know what? I really had nothing to worry about! I have the best blog readers in the world, I swear. I received lots of feedback from you all, and all of it was constructive (even if a few didn’t agree with me!). Thank you, thank you, thank you for making this a great place to have real conversations about food. Your support means so much to me!

Now that that’s out of the way, let’s talk food, shall we? This week’s review is a good one, I promise!

I recently went to this cute little shop for my lunch break:

Hot Pot Smoothie Shop! I heard a lot of good things about it, and I was anxious to give it a try.

Hot Pot Smoothie Shop (can I shorten this to HPSS? Yes? Thank you!) is located in a quiet strip mall in Kirkwood. It just opened a few weeks ago, and I love what they did with the space!

How adorable is this? I especially loved how each table had a pretty wine bottle on it as decoration.

Just in time for Halloween!

The menu is expansive; HPSS offers everything from salads to wraps to smoothies. Mmmm, smoothies!

Naturally I had to start with a smoothie. I ordered the Godzilla smoothie: pineapples, raspberries, coconut cream and a splash of ginger.

It was cool, refreshing, and it definitely hit the spot. I loved the spicy zing of ginger!

For my meal, I went with the Bulgogi Beef Bowl.

This had brown rice (you can also choose from udon noodles or thai rice noodles), bulgogi beef (lean spicy Korean beef), spinach, mushrooms, and spicy miso sauce.

Wow. Wow. This was amazing! The veggies were super fresh, and the beef was tender and juicy. The spicy miso sauce added a punch of flavor, even though it wasn’t spicy at all. I adored this dish.

Service at HPSS was quick and friendly. I asked a million questions about the menu, and they were all answered with a smile. The price was decent, too! My meal was less than $15.

I absolutely can’t wait to come back, and I highly recommend it.

See ya next week!

Another Friday, another review. Who’s up for some Italian? If there’s one style of food I definitely don’t eat enough, it’s Italian. Pasta, bread, and cheese? It’s a carb-lover’s dream!

So it’s safe to say that I was really looking forward to trying out the newest Italian restaurant in town.

Pastaria! This restaurant is the newest brainchild of well-known chef and restaurateur, Gerard Craft. He’s the guy behind Brasserie, Taste, and Niche. I most recently helped judge the Atomicdust BBQ competition with him a few weeks ago! He’s a nice guy, and I’m a huge fan of Brasserie and Taste, so I was super pumped to check out Pastaria.

Two of my buddies joined me for this girls night dinner:

Hi Chung and Dae! I love these girls.

Anyway, let’s get down to business. We arrived on a busy Friday night; apparently, we weren’t the only ones excited to chow down on pasta!

I absolutely love what they did with the space. It was bright and open. It felt very chic. And there were tons of neat things to look at!

I’m a sucker for good scenery.

But enough about that; let’s talk about the food! Pastaria has a pretty interesting menu; there were lots of yummy sounding items to choose from. Everything from pistachio ravioli to oven-roasted lasagna was on the menu. There were lots of salads to choose from, and there was even pizza!

The one item that caught my eye, however, was the toasted spaghetti. The menu described it as containing “clams, butter, garlic, white wine, and bread crumbs.” Sold!

But first? Bread. We were seated for a while before our waitress remembered to bring us bread, but it was a busy night, and I was willing to overlook that.

It was well worth the wait! It was soft, warm, and delicious, especially dipped in savory olive oil.

Our entrees came out really quickly; Not even ten minutes after we ordered, this was placed in front of me:

Yum. It certainly looked tasty! And the portion size was much larger than what I was expecting. I had high hopes for this baby.

And…how can I say this tactfully? I didn’t like this dish. At all.

It’s hard when you really want to like something, and you just don’t. Trust me – I know Gerard Craft’s reputation. Not just anyone can run multiple (very successful) restaurants. Not just anyone gets nominated for multiple James Beard awards. The guy has talent. And this dish, in my opinion, was not reflective of that talent whatsoever.

Flavor-wise, it was bad. I adore clams. I adore butter. Garlic. White wine. Bring it on, baby. The more the merrier. But none of those flavors were present in this dish. What did I taste? Well, if you ever wanted to know what an over salted, over peppered, rushed-out-because-it’s-Friday-night-and-5-BILLION-people-are-here-waiting-for-their-food tastes like, it’s this.

Toasted spaghetti? If toasted spaghetti is supposed to taste hard and chewy, then this was spot on. SPOT ON.

In short? This was a huge no. No. No no no no no. Oh god, no.

Ahem.

Now that that’s out of my system, let’s talk dessert, shall we? Chung went with the panna cotta.

I had a bite of this, and it was creamy, sweet, and delicious. Two thumbs up! She enjoyed it as well.

I ordered the tiramisu. Fun fact: tiramisu used to be my favorite dessert before bread pudding took over my life.

Let me pause for a minute. Let me check myself. When your name is Gerard Craft and you have the reputation you do, you’re going to be held to a higher standard. When you’re a high-profile, award-winning chef, you’re going to be judged more critically. Is it fair? That’s not for me to answer. But that’s the truth. It is what it is.

And that tiramisu right there? If this was plopped in front of me at, say, the Olive Garden or Maggiano’s, I wouldn’t bat an eye. Because (and this is my food snob coming out, so I apologize in advance) I hold those restaurants to a lower standard.

But knowing that this came from the kitchen of Pastaria, I couldn’t help but be a little disappointed. Presentation-wise, this is sad. Aside from it looking pathetic, I wasn’t impressed with the ladyfinger to mascarpone cheese ratio. I adore mascarpone cheese, but when it is 95% of the dish, that’s not right.

This is what tiramisu should look like:

(source)

Huge difference there.

Anyway, I’ve said it before, but it bears repeating: I really don’t like writing negative reviews. Two years ago, I wrote a negative review of the now-nonexistent Newstead Tower Public House. I had a bad experience there. I was honest about my experience, and I got ripped to shreds because of it. I was told that I was destroying someone’s livelihood. I was told that I was “unprofessional,” and that I “made all food bloggers look bad” because of that review.

Here’s the thing: I don’t regret a single word I wrote in that review. And that review stands, in its entirety, on my blog today.

At the end of the day, I’m not a professional food critic. This isn’t my job. I’m just a girl who loves to eat. I didn’t go to culinary school, and my palate isn’t as refined as someone who does this professionally.  I’m not getting paid to write these reviews. 99% of the meals I write about on this blog? I pay for those out of my own pocket. I don’t have close personal relationships with any chefs or restaurant owners, nor do I wish to have one. Because, let’s face it: if I was friends with Gerard Craft, this review would be impossible (or a heck of a lot harder) to write.

But I think that’s the beauty of what this blog is all about. I’m your average American consumer. I’m a customer of Pastaria. Of Brasserie. Of Farmhaus. Of Milagro. And heck, I enjoy some KFC from time to time as well.

I know that I’ll get reamed for this review, whether it be publicly or in private. I know I’ll get written off by restaurant owners and the so-called “professional” food bloggers of St. Louis. I’ll get written off as just another person who likes to run her mouth and destroy livelihoods and (gasp!) write Yelp reviews of restaurants.

I know that and I don’t care.

I write this blog for people like my mom. For my friends. For picky people and adventurous eaters alike. I write this blog for people who don’t want to spend $16+ on a mediocre pasta dish. For people who don’t want to spend their hard-earned money on food that sucks. And in my humble opinion, the food I had at Pastaria tonight was not good. It was not worth waiting 45 minutes to be seated. It was not worth the money I paid.

Of course, this is just one person’s opinion. I urge you to check out Pastaria for yourself. Give it a shot – I’d love to hear your thoughts!

And, as always, I welcome all feedback. Positive and negative. It makes me a stronger writer. It makes me a better blogger. Comment away. Email away. Tweet me! Facebook me!

I will always be honest in my reviews. Always. Even when it’s not a popular opinion. I hope that comes through in all of my writing.

I’ll see y’all next week.

Hola! Who else took Spanish in highschool? I took it in both highschool and college (eight years total)! and sometimes I feel like I have very little to show for it. I’ve forgotten so much español over the years. Maybe one day I’ll make a concerted effort to really immerse myself in the language. I’d love to become fluent in Spanish one day.

Until then? I’ll just enjoy the food!

My latest food-related adventure took me to Crestwood, a small suburb of St. Louis. I was craving fish tacos like crazy, and I heard that San Jose Mexican Restaurant had a really tasty version! Only one way to find out for sure.

I walked in during a busy lunch hour, and I was immediately greeted, seated, and handed a menu. Before I could even open my menu and take a sip of my ice cold water, these were placed in front of me:

Come to mama! Boy, do I love chips and salsa. These chips were absolutely delicious! They were on the thicker side, which I enjoyed. They were lightly salted and were warm! I could have eaten these babies all by themselves, but I had to dig in to that delicious salsa. The salsa was tasty, but it was extremely mild. I like things a bit spicier.

Hot sauce to the rescue! San Jose had a few varieties to choose from; I chose the Chile Habanero pictured on the right. Yum! Mixing a bit of this into the salsa gave it just the kick I desired.

On to the food! Like I said, I was craving fish tacos, so that made my choice rather easy.

Done and done!

Not even 10 minutes later, my tacos were placed in front of me. Super fast service. I like it!

Before I tore into the fish tacos, I sampled the sides. The rice that accompanied my dish was, unfortunately, not the best that I’ve ever had. It was missing a lot of flavor; it was incredibly bland. Not even hot sauce could save it.

Fortunately, the fish tacos more than made up for the sub-par rice. These were piping hot and super flavorful! The fish was flaky, moist, and had a bit of a kick to it, thanks to the spices that it was cooked in. I couldn’t get enough of these tacos; adding a bit of hot sauce made them taste even better!

Service at San Jose Mexican Restaurant was perfect. I couldn’t ask for a friendlier waiter. My water was kept full, and I lost count of how many times he came to check on me!

Prices here were very reasonable. Cheap Mexican food makes this food blogger very happy.

I would highly recommend San Jose Mexican if you’re in the area. And you’ve gotta go for the fish tacos! Trust me on this one.

Adios, and I’ll see you next week!

So it’s a pretty well-known fact that I love pizza.

And when it comes to pizza, Dewey’s has some of my favorite. If you’ve been reading the blog for a while, you’ll remember that I blogged about Dewey’s before!

So when I was recently invited to Dewey’s to make my own pizza at their appropriately named “Pizza School,” I was more than excited to participate.

And I invited my sister along!

She had never been to Dewey’s before; what better way to get her acquainted with their awesome pizza?

While we waited for our class to start, we sat at the bar and sipped on some beer. Dewey’s has a lot of beers on tap (and they switch them out quite frequently!). I settled with a Rogue Dead Guy Ale.

Interesting name, right? It was pretty tasty.

Soon after we finished our beers, it was time for our class to start. We went back into the kitchen, where one of the cooks explained Dewey’s pizza making process.

Dewey’s uses a very high temperature pizza oven; it’s over 500 degrees! Because of this, their baking process is super quick – it only takes about 7 to 8 minutes to cook a pizza. This quick process ensures that the crust is chewy and delicious; not dried out and tough. Yum.

I took a look at some of the pizzas made by the class before us.

Yum!

It was time for us to get started. First step? Tossing the dough! We received very detailed instructions on how to do so. It was fun to watch!

He made it look so easy.

Our turn! I snapped away as my sister went to work.

After our dough was sufficiently tossed (it’s a lot harder than it looks!), it was time to top our pizzas with whatever we desired. There were lots of toppings to choose from!

I spy bacon!

Dewey’s had a few “cheat sheets” for us to use as a reference if we desired:

But I wanted to wing it!

I started with a light amount of sauce:

And added a ton of mozzarella cheese.

Then I added green peppers, black olives, and bacon. Lots and lots of bacon!

My sister went pretty heavy on the bacon, as well. Yep – we’re definitely related!

Our pizzas were popped into the oven, and we had a seat in the dining room and waited. Before we knew it, our pizzas were ready!

Oh boy!

This tasted just as good as it looked. The dough was perfectly chewy, and all of the toppings worked together perfectly. I couldn’t get enough of this pizza. I’m so glad I had tons to take home as leftovers! My sister was a big fan as well.

Thanks to Dewey’s for letting me and my sister stop by for pizza school! We had a blast.

See you next week with another fun review!

Guess what, y’all?

I ate BBQ again!

I know that I said I was tired of BBQ (and especially ribs) after my 5-week, 10 restaurant rib challenge. I think I also said that I wasn’t going to eat ribs again for a long long time.

Well…I just couldn’t resist! I had to have more!

Actually…I’m just kidding. I do love ribs, and I always will, but I’m still taking a break from them.

So why am I talking about Bully Boys (again)?

Well, when I visited the first time around (for the ribs challenge), I had more than just ribs.

Much more.

And I want to talk about that today. So let’s hop to it, shall we?

As you know from my previous review, Bully Boys is located on a quiet strip of Gravois in south county.

You think I’m above recycling pictures? Think again!

Unfortunately, the ribs at Bully Boys didn’t wow me, but there was definitely more food on my plate.

Like chicken:

This hunk of chicken was quite tasty! It was tender, juicy, and had the best tasting skin I’ve had in a long time. It was crispy, flavorful, and a bit spicy!

I also had a bit of garlic bread and some fries.

Stephanie loves bread. Stephanie loves fries. Stephanie loves to speak in the third person…

It was all good. The bread was hot, toasty, and super buttery. The fries were crispy and hot, but let’s be real – they probably came straight out of an Ore Ida bag. That’s okay; they were still quite good! In addition to recycled pictures, I’m also not above frozen fries.

In my attempt to throw something “healthy” into the mix, I had some corn on the cob.

I know, I know…corn is not a vegetable. But this was pretty darn tasty! Buttery, hot, and delicious. Two thumbs up!

All of these sides were good, but I saved the star of the show for last.

You see those beans? You’re looking at the best baked beans in the world. In the world!

I can’t even describe how amazing these were. I haven’t been this speechless since I tried the tots at Blood & Sand! These beans were spicy, flavorful, and had pulled pork mixed in. Pulled pork! Who does that? Bully Boys does that. And they do it well. I could have eaten an entire trough (yes, a trough) of these beans. Heavenly. Just heavenly.

Service at Bully Boys was top notch. Prices were unbelievably cheap. And while the ribs weren’t my favorite, everything else more than made up for them. Especially those beans. Wowza.

I definitely recommend Bully Boys. Go there. Now!

See you next week.

You know what? I don’t think I blog about dessert enough. Admittedly, ever since my bread pudding challenge, I haven’t been in a dessert-eating mood. I’m still recovering from that sugar overload from January.

However, when Pie Oh My opened up in Maplewood, I knew I had to blog about it. An entire shop devoted to pie? Count me in!

The place itself is adorable.

Pie Oh My offers full sized pies, as well as five inch pies and individual (tart-sized) pies.

It was late in the afternoon when I visited, so the selection of pies had dwindled down at that point.

However, there were still enough mini pies left for me to get a good sampling!

Aren’t they just adorable? If you follow me on Instagram, you’ve already seen this picture.

I was excited to dig in. I started with the banana cream pie, which was delicious.

The filling was sweet, custard-y, and creamy. There were even a few slices of banana in there! I’m not a huge banana fan, but this was good.

Next up? The lemon meringue pie.

Again, I’m not a huge lemon meringue fan, but this pie won me over. I loved the meringue (is that a tricky word to spell or what!?) On top, and the filling was thick and very lemon-y!

I went with the caramel apple pie next.

I was most excited about this pie; I love apples and caramel! This pie was tasty, but I felt like the apples were in such large chunks that it was difficult to eat. The flavor of the pie, however, was good.

Finally, I tried the pecan pie.

I’m going to be honest: I’m not the biggest fan of pecan pie. Something about the filling just turns me off. It’s so…weird…and brown. How it’s made is a mystery to me, and that freaks me out.

However, one bite of this pie, and everything I ever believed about pecan pie went right out the window. This was great! It was, hands down, my favorite out of the bunch. I couldn’t believe how tasty this was.

The thing I liked the most about these pies were the size. They were so small I was able to sample just enough of each flavor.

One potential drawback: the crust-to-filling ratio. This wasn’t an issue for me; I like a lot of crust in my pies. I actually prefer the crust more than the filling! However, if you’re the opposite (as I believe most people are), this might be an issue.

Service at Pie Oh My was beyond friendly. The sweet owner was there and she answered any questions that I had about the pie. Whole pies are done on an as-ordered basis right now, so if you have a hankering for an entire pumpkin pie, you may want to call ahead.

I can’t wait to come back to this little gem and try more flavors! I’m officially addicted. Pie challenge, anyone?

I’m kidding. Kidding! No more challenges for me for a while.

See you next week!

Whenever I go grocery shopping, I rarely buy bread. In fact, I can’t remember the last time I had a loaf of bread in my house! It’s been months.

Why, you ask? Well, it’s definitely not because I’m avoiding carbs. Me? On a diet? Hah – never! In fact, if I could only eat one thing for the rest of my life, chances are good that bread would be near the top of my list.

So why don’t I buy bread? Well…what do people usually make with bread? Sandwiches.

I’m terrible at making sandwiches.

I don’t know why I struggle with this; it can’t be that hard to slap a few ingredients between two slices of bread, can it? Can it?!

Yes. It is. Aside from peanut butter and jelly sandwiches (or biscoff and jelly…or cookie butter and jelly!), I’m useless when it comes to this. Believe it or not, there is definitely an art to making a sandwich. It’s all about getting the right proportion of ingredients and layering them in the perfect way to get a great meal. And I Just. Can’t. Do it.

So I leave it to the experts.

(source)

Welcome to Foundation Grounds!

This Maplewood coffee shop is known for much more than…well…coffee. It also has a great variety of pastries, smoothies, and sandwiches! Jackpot.

Foundation Grounds (or FoGro, as I like to call it) has a wide selection of sandwiches to choose from. I decided to go with The Lacy.

This grilled sandwich consists of organic tomatoes, organic spinach, brie, basil pesto, olive oil, and parmesan cheese. Yum-O! It’s served with your choice of side. You can choose from fresh fruit, a side salad, chips, or soup. I went with fruit. Who doesn’t love apples?

This sandwich was heavenly! It was obvious that the ingredients were super fresh. The tomato was super flavorful and tasted like it had just been picked from the garden. The spinach was crisp and tasty. And the brie and parmesan cheese? Creamy and amazing! I fell in love. This, my friends, is a sandwich. How does FoGro manage to make something so simple taste so decadent? I will never figure this out.

Prices at FoGro are super reasonable; my meal was less than $10. And the service? Fantastic. The people who work at this neighborhood spot love their jobs, and you can tell. It’s impossible to leave here without a smile on your face.

I highly recommend Foundation Grounds. Two huge thumbs up!

Oh, one more thing! You’re probably wondering who won the $100 giveaway. Well…I picked a winner! You’ll have to pay me a visit on Facebook to find out who it was.

See you next week!

Good morning, loves!

I’m feeling a little groggy today. I didn’t get much sleep last night, because I was busy rocking out to Jason Mraz!

I was in the 5th row, front and center. And it rocked my world. Totally worth the missed hours of sleep.

Anyway, on to food. We have ribs to talk about! And I have a winner to crown!

Before I pick my personal favorite, I’ll do a quick rundown of each place I visited (in order). Let’s do this!

Week 1: Smoki O’s and Bully Boys

Smoki O’s, located in north city, was quite the experience. The area is a little rough, but the moment I stepped in the door, all was forgotten. The smoky smell of BBQ made me forget where I was!

These ribs were saucy and delicious. The meat fell right off of the bone! They were a bit messy, but that’s what wet naps are for, right?

Bully Boys was on the other side of town, in South St. Louis. Their ribs were a bit different; they weren’t drowning in sauce, and relied more on a flavorful dry rub.

These look amazing, but they honestly weren’t my favorite. They were a little tough. Tough meat = no bueno!

Week 2: Richard’s Ribs and Charlotte’s Ribs

Richard’s Ribs is located in Kirkwood, and much like Smoki O’s, these ribs came already sauced.

It’s just too bad they didn’t taste as good as Smoki O’s! The meat itself was tasty, but the sauce destroyed any chance these ribs may have had in my challenge. Bad sauce is a dealbreaker for me. Next!

Charlotte’s Ribs were much better. This Ballwin spot was quite a drive for me. A long drive deserves two different styles of ribs, right?

Baby back and pork spare ribs. Both were amazing. Simply amazing. The sauce that Charlotte’s uses is thick, sweet and smoky. The meat fell of the bone and was tremendously flavorful. Good stuff!

Week 3: Rib City and Bandana’s BBQ

Rib City, located in West County, was the first chain BBQ spot I visited. My expectations were low (because I’m a ridiculous food snob sometimes).

Unfortunately, my instincts were correct. I was hoping to be proven wrong, but such was not the case with Rib City. Tiny ribs with tough meat? Looooooser! The sauce was tasty, but it wasn’t enough to save these sorry ribs.

Bandana’s BBQ wasn’t much better. The ribs looked fantastic…

…but the meat was so tough I couldn’t enjoy these. The dry rub was finger-lickin good, but if I can’t get the meat off of the bone, all of that fantastic dry rub is wasted, no?

Week 4: Rib Shack & Roper’s Ribs

Let’s go to Jennings, baby! Rib Shack was right in the thick of this north St. Louis county suburb. I couldn’t wait to see what they had to offer.

Sauced up ribs that were already separated for me! How sweet. Speaking of sweet, these ribs fell into that category. Sticky, sweet and messy sauce? Check. Meat that falls of the bone? Check. It was flavorful as all get out. Two (dirty) thumbs up. Where are my wet naps?

Roper’s Ribs was also in Jennings (not too far from Rib Shack, actually!).

Come on, baby. Kick them daisies. (Can you tell it’s late? I get really silly—and weird—at night!)

Enough of that. These ribs were the bomb. Not even joking. Aside from the meat being ridiculously tender and flavorful, the sauce was like nothing I’ve tasted in my life. Sweet. Spicy. Smoky. Tangy. This sauce was the boss!

Week 5: Holland Café & Meats and Boodle’s BBQ

Holland Café is located in the heart of Fenton. Not exactly where I would expect to find stellar BBQ, but I was hoping to be pleasantly surprised.

And surprised I was! These ribs knocked my socks off. You should have seen me tear these suckers apart. It was not pretty. Hey…I’m very serious about my ribs, okay? And I’m not afraid to get a little dirty.

I sound like a broken record at this point (I hope I receive a thesaurus for Christmas!), but it must be said: the meat fell off of the bone, and it was delicious and flavorful. The sauce coated these ribs perfectly. Fit like a snug glove. Or something like that. Again, it’s late. Just roll with it, okay?

Last (but not least)—Boodle’s BBQ!

Okay, I lied. These definitely my least favorite of the bunch. Good grief, where do I start? I hate tearing restaurants apart (Or do I? Just kidding. No, really…yes I am. Kidding. Spare me the hate mail, would ya?)

Anyway. Tough meat. Weird flavor. And the icing on the cake? These ribs smelled bad! How does something like that even happen?! Boo on you, Boodle’s. Boo. On. You.

Now you have the rundown. Ready for a winner? Drumroll please…

Roper’s Ribs!

Yes, Roper’s. Everything about these ribs were perfect. Delicious sauce, tender meat, and a hearty portion of ribs all factored into my decision to crown them as my winner. I highly highly recommend Roper’s. Take a drive to good old Jennings and try it out for yourself. Try to ignore the sketchy neighborhood. I promise it’s worth it.

Moving right along to a giveaway!

Remember when Chevy let me drive a 2013 Malibu Eco for a week?

Oh, how I miss that car.

Anyway, Chevy was generous enough to provide me with a $100 Visa Gift Card to give away to one of you! That will buy a lot of ribs (or whatever else your heart desires! But I recommend ribs…)

Winning the card is easy. There are just two requirements:

1. Follow @ChevySTLKeys on Twitter. If you don’t have Twitter, get an account! It’s 2012, people.

2. Become a fan of Off The Eaten Path STL on Facebook. Once you become a fan, leave a comment on my Facebook page telling me about your favorite place to order ribs. If you’re a vegetarian (or you just hate ribs/America/freedom), leave a comment with a recommendation for a restaurant you think I should review. Before you suggest a restaurant, you may want to check and make sure it’s not one I already visited.

That’s it! Two steps. 100 buckaroos. I’ll choose one lucky winner this Friday, so hop on it! And tell your friends.

That’s all, folks! See you back here on Friday.