Sometimes when I get a free Saturday (hard to do in the real estate biz), my husband and I take a "penny hike."
The name comes from the old Girl Scout practice of walking to an intersection, flipping a penny and deciding to go left or right depending on whether the coin lands on heads or tails.
Yesterday the penny led us to the Missouri side of our bi-state metropolitan area. One of the stops we made was at De's Best Bar-B-Que. (Their cook trailer is pictured here).
De's is currently located at 5186 Dr. Martin Luther King Blvd. between North Kingshighway and Goodfellow. The owners tell us that they are moving soon. (Location TBA. We left our phone number so they can let us know and we'll pass along the info in a future post.)
The number one rule of finding good Q is to order what the neighborhood locals are eating. I did just that -- through the old-school rotating pay window set into the wall inside the restaurant -- by asking for a small order of Rib Tips. The sign at the order window tells customers to be patient, "because good food takes time." They were right. The wait was long, but worth it.
The tips came in a styrofoam clam shell, double-wrapped in plastic to keep the sauce intact. And, just as I hoped, they were served in true St. Louis style with two pieces of white bread and a scoop of potato salad plopped on top. Steaming hot and meaty, the tips were covered in a sauce that was clearly a house-made secret recipe. It had a hint of sweet and a back-end taste that just might have been grape jelly mixed with the tomato base. They had been smoked and grilled on Kingsford charcoal -- in the parking lot smoke trailer -- and had that just barely charred quality that popped right through the sauce. The accompanying potato salad was worthy of the Q, made with both mustard and mayo and enhanced with big chunks of hard-boiled eggs and just a hint of sweet pickle relish.
Eating rib tips properly is not a dainty operation. Pick them up in your hands, dig in and don't forget to ask for plenty of napkins.
Bon Appetit!
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About the Author: Nancy Milton, GRI, is a Realtor with the Just Ducky Homes team at Coldwell Banker Brown Realtors in Edwardsville, Illinois. She and Kristina Pratt help their customers buy and sell homes and investment properties in St. Louis' Illinois suburbs of Madison and St. Clair counties with special emphasis on the communities of Edwardsville, Glen Carbon, Maryville, Collinsville and Troy. For more information, visit their web site at http://www.JustDuckyHomes.com.
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About the Author: Nancy Milton, GRI, is a REALTOR with the GoshenRealtyGroup at RE/MAX Preferred Partners in Edwardsville, Illinois. She and Kristina Pratt help their customers buy and sell homes and investment properties in St. Louis' Illinois suburbs with special emphasis on homes for sale in Madison County and the communities of Edwardsville, Glen Carbon, Maryville, Collinsville, Troy, Bethalto and surrounding areas.
Goshen Realty Group takes its name from the earliest nickname for Madison County, Illinois -- the Land of Goshen -- coined when the region's first settlers compared their new home east of the Mississippi River to the biblical land of peace and plenty.
For more information, visit GoshenRealtyGroup.com or e-mail Nancy at Nancy@GoshenRealtyGroup.com. Text or call Nancy at 618-791-8007. REMAX Preferred Partners is located at One 157 Center, Edwardsville, IL 62025.
Please note that individual listings periodically mentioned in this blog are accurately described in terms of availability and price at the time of the posting. Because properties are constantly coming on and off the market, please contact Nancy for the latest information on those that are of particular interest to you.
Ha! Love the side of the trailer with the pig on it. Always funny when the animal you are eating acts like it's a hip thing to do.
Inside the place, the pig was airbrushed on the walls. He was riding a motorcycle and holding a plate of Q.