I was in the far eastern suburbs of St. Louis recently spending the night before I did a training for American TV the next morning. Near my hotel was a Texas Roadhouse and a Buffalo Wild Wings. It was late when I got in and I wasn't up for doing any research to find any "new" place to eat, so I headed over that direction, fully intending to make up my mind between the two when I pulled up. But something caught my eye as I turned the corner - a restaurant about the size of the other two by the name of Outlaw Blues. (see map) I thought, "Huh! Well, let me see what this is all about."
Outlaw Blues bills itself as a restaurant and saloon, with barbecue and southern-style food being the main draw. They primarily do steaks, ribs, fried chicken, seafood, burgers, sandwiches, salads - a little bit of everything. The menu was pretty full and diverse.
Steve and Karen Edwards opened Outlaw Blues in November of 2008. The Edwards also own Farmer's Restaurant in nearby Highland, and are part owners of Ravanelli's Restaurant with two locations in Collinsville and Granite City. Steve Edwards wanted to have a restaurant that featured both Memphis-style and New Orleans-style barbecue. And he wanted to have a restaurant that had a big bar. He certainly accomplished his goals with Outlaw Blues.
I got into Outlaw Blues around 8:30 on a Monday evening. I was greeted by a hostess who wanted to know if I wanted a seat in the dining room. I looked into the bar area and decided I wanted to sit in there. There were a handful of people in the dining room, and a couple people in the bar. I was greeted by the very friendly bartender and I ordered up a Schlafly pale ale, which they had on tap.
So much on the menu sounded so good. I get a little skeptical with a restaurant that has a vast and varied menu. Those are usually the restaurants that can do everything well, but they don't do anything very well. I was sort of interested in trying their barbecue, but their comfort food - including a meat loaf entree - was sort of enticing.
I saw something that caught my eye at the bottom of one of the menu pages - the Perfect Pair. You could get two pieces of Southern fried chicken and either some pulled pork or a 1/3 slab of baby back ribs. Then they had the trifecta at the end - fried chicken, pulled pork AND a 1/3 slab of ribs. Oh, boy. I get to try a little bit of everything. And I got two sides to go along with it.
To my horror, I found that Outlaw Blues didn't feature baked beans as a side. A barbecue place that has no baked beans? What the hell is this? Baked beans are a staple in barbecue joints. Well, Outlaw Blues wasn't quite a "joint", but I would have thought they would have had baked beans. Instead, I took red beans and rice, and a side of pickled beets. (I don't see pickled beets on the menu very often. Cindy got me hooked on pickled beets when she'd bring home jars of them from her grandma years ago.)
The bartender, a petite Asian girl, came over to take my order. I ordered up the "trifecta" and she asked me, "What kind of chicken meat do you want? White or dark?"
Now, I'm a fully grown man. I don't have the faintest idea as to which pieces of the chicken are white or dark. All I know are "thighs", "wings", "legs", etc. I have no idea which is which. I've never learned the difference. I said, "Can I just get a couple of legs?" She said she'd make sure that's what I got.
It was a beautiful evening and Outlaw Blues features an outdoor dining area. I contemplated going out there, but I was comfortable at the bar and they had something on TV that was pretty interesting. Plus, the bartender - whose name I completely forgot - was very attentive. When my beer glass had one last swallow, she was over asking me if I needed another. Of course, there were only two other people sitting at the bar.
The bartender brought out my food. She said, "The cook gave you three legs. I hope that's OK." I told her I could live with it.
All right - where do I start? Well, I had to try the fried chicken first. The batter was flavorful and the legs were meaty. They were very good. I could have easily just gotten the chicken and been happy. I don't think the chicken was quite as good as what I had in Savannah, but it was still very good.
The pulled pork and the baby back ribs were very good. The ribs were meaty, as well, and the pulled pork was tender and moist. The barbecue sauce was nothing special. It was a tomato base and didn't have a lot of pizazz to it. It really did nothing to add to the flavor of both the pulled pork and baby back ribs.
The red beans and rice were - eh! Nothing special. But the pickled beets were absolutely wonderful. They were sweet and didn't have that earthy taste you get from some beets. And I was also served corn bread with maple butter. I'm not big on corn bread, but this was very good. The sweet maple butter was a wonderful complement to the bread.
All in all the meal was good to very good. Surprisingly, good to very good. Pleasantly surprisingly good to very good. I was a little disappointed in the barbecue sauce, plus the fact Outlaw Blues didn't offer baked beans as a side. The red beans and rice were nothing special. But the Southern fried chicken, pulled pork, and ribs were very good. The pickled beets were excellent. And I enjoyed the corn bread with the maple butter. While Outlaw Blues does a little bit of everything, they do it well above average. I was impressed with Outlaw Blues. I hope the Edwards make a go of it.
(Update - Well, it appeared the Edwards didn't make a go of Outlaw Blues. They closed the doors in March of 2011. However, the place reopened as the third location of Edwards' Ravenelli's Restaurant. They still have the great fried chicken on the menu, but all the barbecue and Cajun foods are now gone.)
All those years of Dad's fried chicken and you still don't know which is dark or white?
Posted by: Norman | September 21, 2009 at 01:46 PM