Brad and Katie’s Eating Extravaganza Road Trip to Memphis (via Springfield and the Lou)

So, one night Brad and I got this great idea to use up our airline and credit card points for a spontaneous trip to Belgium. Hey, that’s the kind of people we are! We also bought our car in a blizzard – not just a bad snow storm, a certified blizzard. We wanted a car and we were going to get it. We didn’t know there was going to be a blizzard…

Anyway, said Belgium trip would have taken place about a month from that night, to coincide with a Muse concert in Brussels. Yeah…maybe we had had too many beverages that night. The trip started to sound so amazing and we got really excited (I even expedited my new passport the next day). However, the more we researched details and concert costs (tix only available through a broker) our newly mature 30-year-old minds realized that we probably should wait and take a little more time to plan a trip to Europe - especially because neither of us had been there since we were in high school.

We were saddened by this mature decision, but we had still taken the whole week off and Brad became adamant about at least taking some kind of trip (we also have a wedding anniversary in November, so there was some impetus for a trip as well).

I’m not even entirely sure how a trip to Memphis came up. But, we always see the sign on the highway that says “57 to Memphis” and always joke about how we should just get on the road and drive there. Oh, and we love to eat BBQ. I know, I know – if you know me you are saying “Katie you don’t eat meat!” Well, I really don’t, but BBQ does include chicken…and sauce…which, um, I LOVE. I was known as the “dip queen” as a child after all. (Think French onion dip and Ruffles. Yeah.). I’ve also started to give pork a chance. Pulled pork – mmmmm.

So, here we are. I’m actually in the car on 55 as I’m writing this. Our trip is mainly centered around food – and we have NO problem with that. Our clothes might not fit at the end of this, but we’ll just roll it into Thanksgiving and holiday eating. YUM!

We started our trip eating a little early on Thursday at Smoque in Chicago – so we could have a “control” in our Memphis BBQ eating extravaganza. Even though Smoque specializes in St. Louis ribs (cut from spare ribs to make a more uniform, rectangular rack.), we were going with friends to celebrate a special occasion.

Here’s a quick review:

Smoque, Chicago

Attendees: Me, Brad, Erik, Megan

Food: Pulled pork sandwich, roasted chicken on salad, baby back ribs, spare ribs, corn bread, mac n cheese, fries, baked beans, slaw.

Thoughts:

• Katie and Megan: Had leftovers. We both got the salad with chicken. It was good, but not amazing. I think we liked the sides better – the handcut fries and mac n cheese were fresh and delish.
• Brad: Cleaned his plate. He got the pulled pork sandwich. It was GIANT and I tasted it – it was meaty, not very saucy though.
• Erik: Needed a wet nap. He got the ribs…and loved them. We all tried a bite and even Megan and I (who don’t really like ribs) agreed that they were great – especially the spare ribs. Not too fatty, good bark (haha, do I sound like a pit master?).
  

Other thoughts:

• It’s kinda like eating in a cafeteria – food is served on metal trays.
• Sauce was just OK. I prefer Smoke Daddy’s sauce and the fact that they have three varieties in squeeze bottles on each table so you can sauce up to your heart’s content.
• The restaurant is small and can get busy.
• It’s BYOB, so pack up your favorite brews (maybe some Texas Shiner Bock?) and give it a whirl!

Stay tuned for more BBQ reviews as we travel through Illinois, MO and TN!