Tuesday, September 3, 2013

Bizarre Foods of St. Louis are not that bizarre

Or maybe that is just because we live here and the things that we grew up with and are part of our own culture and city-wide heritage, are normal.  This bast Spring, Andrew Zimmern came to St. Louis for his show: Bizarre Foods America.  In this show, Andrew travels all over America and eats bizarre and strange things in cities all over.  Some things seem pretty normal and other times the things are quite strange.  Well, his show was on this past Monday night and I think that everything in St. Louis seemed pretty normal.

http://www.travelchannel.com/tv-shows/bizarre-foods/episodes/st-louis-pig-snouts-and-paddlefish

He had fried and cooked pig snouts in North City.  While the idea may sound strange at first, the way that they were cooked and how they looked, reminded me of some very thick pork rinds.  In fact, that may get me to go up there and get some.http://smokios.net/

He tried the "hot salami" at Gioias Deli, which also features pig snouts in the mix.  http://www.gioiasdeli.com/

He also went for pig heart pastrami at Farmhaus.  I have written about Farmhaus before and it is awesome. The food is very fresh, very tasty and prepared perfectly.  Also, remember to buy beers for the crew.http://farmhausrestaurant.com/

He also took some time at Soulard Market.  What most people have a hard time coming to terms with, is that Soulard Market really is the oldest outdoor market, West of the Mississippi.  This means older than anything in California or older than anything in Louisiana.  Most of America doesn't really quite associate St. Louis with The West, but considering that the Arch was built as a monument that would come to symbolize the "Gateway to the West", this would mean that everything West of the Arch, is in the West.  That is the same West that Westerns are about, the same West where Route 66 goes and the same West where everything is cool.  Welcome to St. Louis, Gateway of the West.

Now, click here to see the places that he visited in the episode:
http://www.travelchannel.com/tv-shows/bizarre-foods/travel-guides/st.-louis-travel-guide

When I was young, my father always talked about, and on special occasions had, a brain sandwich.  There used to be places all over St. Louis that served fried cow brain sandwiches.  I always joked as a child, asking if you could acquire any of the memories of the cow, from eating its brain.  Now, it seems that only a few places serve brain sandwiches any more.  Schottzie's Bar and Grill, is where Andrew went for one of these deep fried brain sandwiches and he seemed to have enjoyed every bite of it. http://www.schottzies.com/

2 comments:

  1. Didn't The Back Door down by Wolf's florist have brain sandwichs too?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I think I did, but I doubt it anymore. They say that wen mad cow disease hit, they changed from calf brain to pig brain.

      Delete