4 St. Louis barbecue spots we're excited about right now

Hot sun, sizzling grills and saucy fingers: It’s barbecue season, folks, an area St. Louis excels in. We’re picky here about our ‘que which, traditionally, isn’t dry-rubbed and smoked, but grilled then sauced. This means – believe it or not – our city, per capita, is said to get through more barbecue sauce than anywhere else in the country. Isn’t that a notch in our (tightening) belt? Here, then, are a few recently opened and forthcoming options — both saucy and smoky — to tuck your bibs in for.

Fourth City Barbecue
Anyone who’s in the mood for some brisket-smothered fries, raise your hands. Can it get any more delicious than this, or is there a more glorious twist on meat-and-potatoes dining? Located on Cherokee Street in Fortune Teller Bar, this scratch-made, all-wood craft barbecue tells it like it is: There’s nothing like white oak or hickory smoke to flavor meat. The sad thing is, the aforementioned meat and potatoes is not on the regular menu (no, you can’t have it every day), but it is one of the specials which change weekly. The mainstays here are things like barbecue meat platters, sandwiches on Damn Fine Hand Pies buns, and sides like small salads and cornbread with hot honey butter. Slabs of brisket smoke for 12 hours, rest for another 12, and result in succulent meat with just the right amount of juicy fat.
2635 Cherokee St., St. Louis, 314.669.6505, fourthcitybbq.com

 

 

Smoke & Kettle
Out in Fairview Heights and O’Fallon, Illinois, it’s all about fish, chicken and barbecue. Opened earlier this year, Smoke & Kettle is the latest concept from pitmaster David Sandusky of Belleville’s Beast Craft BBQ Co. Here, Sandusky is concentrating on beasts of sea and field, specifically battered cod, shrimp and cornbread-crusted catfish; perhaps even some snoots. But there’s a surprise element to all of this, because Sandusky says he’s not quite ready to divulge the specific details of his menu. Know that you’re in good hands, with a chef whose reputation for quality barbecue precedes him, and make the trip.
Multiple locations, smokeandkettle.com

DeeBeeQue Barbeque & Catering
Although Darnell Banks has yet to operate his business from a brick-and-mortar, he is becoming known across the city for some pretty excellent barbecue. With his trailer, he has catered events large and small, from the Saint Louis Zoo’s Zoofari to backyard cookouts. Banks and his wife Brukelle launched DeeBeeQue’s in 2019. He is best known, he said, for chicken wings, rib tips, potato salad and his fromscratch, tomato-based sauce. “I’m a blend of smoking and grilling,” Banks said, adding that he’s been told his pulled pork is some of the best around.
deebeequestl.com

Expat BBQ
The latest concept from Niche Food Group is aiming to open its split-level space at City Foundry STL by mid-August. Executive chef Sam Nawrocki explained the concept as being “like culinary Mad Libs.” This (sort of) means Expat will offer an avant-garde take on barbecue by combining flavors and techniques from around the world. “Think of it as a pitmaster cooking barbecue in someone else’s pantry,” Nawrocki said. If this results in the kind of creative artistry that can come of “making do with what you have,” then we are pretty excited about all this. Nawrocki threw out a few examples: A Midwestern barbecue sauce becomes far more interesting by switching out molasses for black bean paste, and a rack of ribs becomes 1,000 times more delicious by adding Chinese five-spice to its rub. Yeah, I think we’re getting it. “Food naturally evolves with travel,” Nawrocki said. “Authenticity is a moving target.”
3730 Foundry Way, St. Louis, expatstl.com