Pappy's Smokehouse-St. Louis, MO

When the average food lover thinks about BBQ food, they think of Texas. Texas is known for their big steaks covered in butter and loaded with flavorful fat and their beef ribs. Large, meaty and smoked out back for hours. After my experience sampling BBQ in St. Louis, MO, it is safe to safe that Texas is taking a backseat in the BBQ kingdom. Pappy's Smokehouse sits near St. Louis University just outside downtown St. Louis. It has been Visited by the Travel Channel food fanatic Adam Richman and absolutely lives up to it's expectation. Pappy's Smokehouse takes pride in their meat. They spend 5 hours smoking their ribs to get the scintillating pink smoke ring that captures the surface of their ribs. And these aren't ordinary BBQ ribs, these are NO SAUCE PORK ribs with a phenomenal dry rub. They are the meatiest ribs on the planet and the meat just falls off the bone. A half rack at Pappy's can feed a family consisting of 7 delicious ribs!
Then there's the pulled pork. When meat spends 20 hours in the smoker...holy shit, it is an absolute tender masterpiece flavored by the hickory smoke and succulent juices from the meat. It is truely the most outstanding BBQ and puts Texas to shame. Both of these entrees are served with two sides...sweet potato fries and applesauce. I don't know about you but I haven't had homemade applesauce since I was a kid and it immediately brought me back to playing on the swing set after school coming home and opening up a jar. It was sweet and accompanied by little chunks of apples. The sweet potato fries had a little twist as well. They were deep fried and then soaked in their original juices to give them a sweet, sticky deep fried deliciousness!
In short, Pappy's Smokehouse has reinvented and is dominating the ever important man meal BBQ!

Saticoy Donut

Typically when you think of donuts, you think of two names...Yum Yum and Dunkin Donuts. These donuts are some of the best in the business. Well let me tell you, there is a new sheriff in town and his name is Saticoy Donuts. Saticoy Donuts is located on the far east end of Ventura,CA in the city of Saticoy. When you drive through Saticoy, you don't really see much. It is a poor town with old town shacks and new track homes that no one lives in. You also find a pass through industrialized part of Ventura. Then in the middle of no where next to a gas station and the freeway, you find a gem called Saticoy Donuts. Once inside the room is filled with the fresh aroma of cake and cinnamon gently surrounding the only two small cases of donuts. My personal preference is a cake donut but today however I decided to try a new type based on their recommendation. This taste of excellence was Saticoy Donut's version of a crumb donut. The average crumb donut is a cake donut dusted with a light glaze and a cinnamon sugar sprinkle. This donut was a little bit different. This donut was light and fluffy, with not only a cinnamon sprinkle but a brown sugar sprinkle that was absolutely palette pleasing. It melted as is grazed my lips and absolutely was the talk of breakfast for the remainder of the day. This is a place that must be tried and will give you a new appreciation for an old breakfast treat!

KD Donuts

National Donut Day is supposed to be a momentous occasion in the donut consuming world. With this expectation in mind, I decided to try a new donut shop in the middle of Ventura called KD Donuts. As I walked up to the beaten and graffiti struck building, my expectations were not significantly high. There were approximately two racks of donuts, none of which were cake, an absolute staple in the donut community. The two raves consisted of glaze and chocolate bars, two sprinkles (unacceptable), and two rows of sugar donuts. There were no other patrons in the shop and the electricity was completely off. I went for a mixed dozen beginning with a fluffy white donut with a light glaze and rainbow sprinkle. The donut was under glazed and lacked any sort of melt in my mouth. After sharing the mixed donuts with a couple of colleagues, they disappointment met mine. Both of them became slightly ill and National Donut Day was nothing short of a bust! KD Donuts...one star!