Leg 3 of crazy traveling... St Louis

I got stuck working in St Louis this weekend, because I don't get paid overtime, Pfizer needs to cut costs, so I get stuck working. It wasn't all too bad, got to do some exploring in St Louis, MO.

First off, weather blows here. It's hot as hell, humid as hell. Outside of St Louis, you realize that your in Missouri (READ: It's your basic bunch of white trash). Inside the city it's actually really cultured, something I would expect in San Francisco or Seattle, maybe even Chicago, but not the mid-west.

The city has done a great job developing City Garden with great public art and green space. It reminds me of a sized down version of Millennium Park in Chicago. Check out this work:

It reminds me of a statue of Emperor Constantine with hollowed out eyes. The weeping wall gives it a really nice touch.

The Komen Race for the Cure was in town and everything was in pink, including the public fountains:

I don't know how I feel about pink fountains... but the hypocrisy of some of the bottle there was pretty blatant. Yes, breast cancer is bad, but you know what else is bad? Smoking. That also increase the risk of breast cancer and lung cancer. I'm not going to go into that, but just saying.

The food, minus the BBQ, is sub-par. Went to The Hill the first night on the recommendation that it has GREAT Italian food. Went to Guido's for Italian and Tapas. The owner is Spanish, but moved the place to The Hill, historically Italian, hired some Italian chef and claims to make excellent Italian food. At the recommendation of the bartender and the guy sitting next to me, I got the tortellini. Like I've said so many times before, salt covers up all your short comings, and so does garlic. When using prosciutto or any other charcuterie, please don't add any more salt. If you need to add more salt, get better charcuterie. The homemade pasta was good, really good and the stuffing was decent, but the sauce was overly salty and the prosciutto tasted more like canned ham than prosciutto. St Louis Italian, your not Boston, and your no where close to New York.

Breakfast today was a Mimi's Cafe. Let's just say cinnamon brioche french toast does not mean a fried Cinnabun. Two VERY different things! And they claim to be French, that's troubling.

Now, the good part. Pappy's. Everyone from the hotel front desk to taxi drivers to my cousin has told me to go there. It is THAT good. If you like BBQ (who doesn't?), you'd love this place. St Louis style dry rub ribs are the BEST, and I haven't had it this good for a long time. Pull pork is also excellent. Its not too lean, real juicy, and doesn't need sauce, which is hard to do. Get there early though! They tend to run out of food almost daily. It is a St Louis tradition and rightfully so!

I'm not exactly in a capoeira mood for the past little bit, so no capoeira travels for a couple of weeks. But I leave you with this cool picture of the Gateway Arch (I think its cool):

Southport, NC... would never be here if not for a wedding

So my good friend Palmito is getting married in Southport, NC. Where is Southport, NC you may ask? It's 40 miles south of Wilmington and is kind of the middle of nowhere. Everything closes at 9PM on Saturday, and NOTHING is open on Sunday. Check out the cities website, it SCREAMS excitement! Yup, super fun....oh and needless to say no capoeira

It is surprising that Southport actually has a lot of decent beaches. For the east coast, its not bad. It's not great. To be fair, in the last 2 years, I was on beaches in Spain and Jamaica, so I'm spoiled. The only issue with this beach was the jelly fish that washed up on the beach. Everything was better, though, with the amazing weather we are getting, and hopefully it holds up for Palmito and Ashely's wedding on Sunday.

The REALLY surprising thing is the food. 2 our of 3 places I've been have REALLY good. So the first place we went, Provisions, was pretty cool. It had a dock on the back, all seating is outdoors and had a really good feel. The only good thing about that place was that beer was on an honor system, you grabbed what you wanted out of the fridge. Not to say I would steal anything, but the convenience is just well worth. It also had Red Stripe, and after drinking that for a whole week in Jamaica, it has grown on me. The food was sub-par to say the least. I had the crab cake sandwich, and since I've lived in Maryland for such a long time, I have great expectations. Needless to say, it failed. Too much filler, no lump crab, made from this blended and chopped crab, and deep-fried (no, no). We also shared a 1/2 of steamed shrimp, and its really hard to fuck that up, which they didn't, but it wasn't exceptional either.

Now, the 2nd place was great for lunch. Bob's Dogs has some great ideas for hot dogs that works. Jamaican relish, mango salsa and mayo, are things I usually wouldn't associate with hot dogs, but they make it work really well. Its also REALLY cheap, which is always a plus.

This last place is almost worth coming here for. Loco Jo's has some of the most amazing grouper tacos. It's a fresh seafood/Viet place, but I really don't trust Asian food unless its made by Asians or places ran by Asians. The grouper tacos come grilled and blackened, I went with the grilled. I love fish tacos and the best EVER are this tiny shack on the boardwalk in Santa Barbara, but this place SERIOUSLY challenges that. The fish is fresh, the owner's friend speared, them 3 days ago, and the salsa they use is GREAT. They let the fish do the work, nothing fancy, no crazy spices, no "aioli" which SO MANY PLACES love doing now. Tackle Box, in Georgetown, is good, don't get me wrong, but the fish is a little bland and instead of cubing it, its one piece of dead, slightly overcooked fish. These are large chunks of PERFECTLY grilled grouper.

On a complete side note: Friends, Romans, Countrymen, please realize aioli is NOT spiced mayo. Its not made like mayo, it doesn't have the consistency of mayo. It is a very traditional, if not THE quintessential, Provence side dish/sauce. It is VERY difficult to make well, its one of those things that I will NOT attempt.

Anyways, Loco Jo's is owned by a women, Jo, of Vietnamese decent (she's a older women, and is beautiful, looks like a halfsy, so I'm immediately interested and has this cute southern accent, sadly married though) and her husband. 80% of the patrons are local, so that says something. They also have a GREAT beer and wine selection. Oh yeah, they also have a chocolate dipped key lime pie, flown in from Key West, for dessert. Yes it is as good, if not better, than it sounds.

If I were to ever drive/stay in the south, I might go out of the way to come here JUST for those fish tacos. Sadly, they are closed Sunday and I'm heading back to RDU on Monday, so no more Loco Jo's.

Finally, I want to give my congratulations to Palmito (aka Brian) and Ashley. You guys make a great couple and I, in person as well as cyberspace, wish you the great happiness for the rest of your lives.