Pig Up & Go BBQ

Pig Up & Go BBQ

1659 S. Elmwood Dr

Mexico, Mo

Last fall I was searching for BBQ restaurants and was surprised to find a listing for a restaurant in Mexico Missouri.  You get these false listings sometimes, often because someone has a BBQ competition team and the internet bots think it is a regular restaurant.

Having found the listing, it meant I needed to take a road trip and I found the building above.  Not exactly what most restaurants look like.  It could have been a plumbing business, or any small service company. At the time there were a few cars in the parking lot, and a few people standing around but nothing that made me think restaurant. I decided I was on the wrong track, so I did not even stop.  I went on by, and went on to the other BBQ in Mexico.  When I got home and rechecked my source I was pretty sure that I had been in the right place, just not the right amount of gumption. That meant a return trip would be needed!

I got busy and another trip was not to occur until last week.  I had a Thursday open, and I needed to renew a license on a trailer and 4-wheeler. It is so much easier to do this in Mexico rather than Columbia, so off I went.  This time I stopped at the address listed. I found a very nice BBQ restaurant.  It is not open on Sunday or Monday at all. It is open Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday for lunch only 11:00-1:00. It is open on Friday and Saturday for lunch and dinner.  This is a rather interesting schedule, if you try to find the restaurant I would check and even call ahead to make sure it is open.....

It is located in the industrial park of Mexico.  Which sounds a lot seeder that it actually is.  There are a number of mid size manufacturing companies.  If it is any indication it is next to the Mexico School District Administrative office. I do not think there is another resturant around it.  It certainly has not spent any money on signs, or advertising.  They have spent money on a nice decor.  The inside of the building follows the form of the exterior.  It is clean, new, attractive and functional.

It does provide a good meal.  I think they aim for carryout meals to workers from the surrounding businesses.  While I was there several people stopped by and picked up larger orders.  It also had a few other customers that intended to eat in.It sits a decent number of people, and with the quick service I would expect provides a nice dinning experience even for those "on the clock."

It was a rather basic BBQ menu, I suspect designed for fast service.  Plates were available very quickly, by the time I got my drink it was ready.  The meals were on disposable plates.  They did not have fries, but did have a variety of side options.  They provided only one sauce option, a sweet KC BBQ sauce that was OK.  I had the brisket, and was pleased.  My wife had the pulled pork.  I suspect that the pork was smoked there.  The brisket I think was cooked in an oven rather than smoked.  It had a very nice flavor, but was moist, and cut thick the way you do when you are slow cooking a brisket in a pan rather than in a smoker.  The potato salad and coleslaw were good, though the amount was a little less than I desired.  I would say they targeted the working men, but their prices were a little more than other BBQ restaurants that target that group.

It was a very nice experience.  It certainly was a nice meal.  I would recommend it to anyone.  It is certainly worth a trip if you, like me, enjoy finding and trying the different BBQ restaurants that are available.  If you are a Mexico resident it would be a place that I would come to often.

Shotgun Pete's BBQ Shack

Shotgun Pete's BBQ Shack
28th N 9th Columbia Missouri

If I have it correct, and anything that has to do with memory is suspect I think that Shotgun Pete's use to be a shack in the parking lot of  Parkade Center.  It was on the opposite side of town, and had a relatively erratic schedule that kept me from being able to frequent it.  Sometime last year it moved to the "District" in downtown Columbia.  It is a good location, but again not one I find myself near except when I was accompanied by family members who were not so enamored with BBQ.  I decided it had gone long enough.  I invited my wife, and off we went.....

It was a pleasant experience. It has a nice decor, really makes you connect to the traditional BBQ experience.  This is not a chain restaurant! 

I had the brisket and my wife the pork. Both were good.  The pork was traditional pulled pork, had a nice color and flavor.  The brisket was a pulled brisket, with a nice flavor.  It was a little dry for my taste, but agreeable.  Following the lead of many restaurants it does not have fries, but offers a variety of sides.  I tried the slaw and potato salad.  I would have preferred to have fries... I do not understand why they think slaw needs to be spiced up. It is getting hard to find a BBQ restaurant that will not add horseradish or some other hot spice to their slaw.....I prefer the vinegar slaw and of course fries.
It was a nice experience and I would recommend it  to anyone that is in Columbia.

Snow

We have had a warm winter, and are predicted to have a very warm spring.  Still winter comes to Missouri!  We normally get three weeks of very cold weather with highs in the 0-10 degree range.  This year we have rarely gone below 10 degrees for a low.  I had just about given up any hope for a reasonable snow when we have gotten several good snow storms.  The first gave us 11 inches, then we had a little warm weather, then another storm that gave us 10 inches, then a few days of minor snow accumulations in the less than 1 inch range.

Family Barbecue

So I was eating lunch at a restaurant and saw an ad sheet describing a program where a taxi’s will pick up and deliver food from a restaurant.  An interesting program, but not all that interesting to me since I have the freedom to go to a restaurant, and enjoy the chance to eat away from my desk.  What caught my attention was the list of restaurants that were part of this program.  I was familiar with, and had eaten at most of them.  There were a couple I am not familiar with.  One in particular jumped off the page at me….A BBQ Restaurant!  I really thought I knew of all of the BBQ restaurants in Jefferson City.  I mean I have been in active search for the past six years, frequently checking the internet and restaurant review sites for any indication of BBQ availability.  I update my GPS frequently, more to see if it lists new restaurants than if the roads change. I monitor business signs as I drive and I certainly question potential knowledgeable sources.  Here was a “new restaurant!”

No address was listed….but I searched for Family Barbecue in Jefferson City and was given the address of 1209 Mo Blvd.  This is a road that I drive frequently, at least once a week.  I could not believe that there was a BBQ restaurant on this stretch of street.  Still it was enough to get my hopes up, and off I went with high anticipation.  There it was.  A sign for Family Barbecue right where they said it would be.  It was not exactly easy to see…well that is not quite true the sign is fairly large and right on the road.  It is a restaurant location that has been closed for a number of years.  The front of the building has been taken over by a used car dealer.  Still there was a big sign for the old restaurant that had a new sign covering part of the old sign that clearly announced “Family Barbecue.”

The restaurant is around back.  The parking lot has a number of obviously derelict cars.  There was a door clearly marked “entrance.”  I entered a clean, relatively small restaurant space.  It was after 1:00pm but I was the only customer.  A friendly man welcomed me and as the only employee gave me a menu.  The menu listed the BBQ items one would expect from a good BBQ.  I ordered a brisket sandwich and fries.  In a relatively short time I was delivered a generous amount of thinly sliced brisket between two slices of thick white bread, and home cut fries.  The brisket came with a pleasant sauce, not sweet or spicy.  It did not over power the meat, but accompanied it.  More sauce was provided.  The brisket was a little dry, so the sauce was nice.  To be clear I liked the brisket.  It had a nice flavor.  This was BBQ made by someone who knows how to cook meat. The fries were good, I would have liked for them to be cooked a little longer, but that is my taste.

Since I was the only customer I felt comfortable striking up a conversation.  I asked when they opened and was informed they had opened last April!   In the conversation I became aware that he had cooked for Johnnies BBQ before it closed, and had cooked in recent years at a couple of other places.  It was obvious that this is a man that who knows BBQ, and has his particular take on the favorites.  This is not an expensive restaurant, it is a good restaurant.  I want to go back!  I hope that others will take the effort to find this place and will frequent it.  Jefferson City needs a BBQ place like this.  It is not a chain.  It is BBQ for the working man who likes BBQ! 

Family Barbecue

1209 Mo Blvd

Jefferson City, MO

 

Katy Trail mm 153-143 Hartsburg to North Jefferson

I road this stretch of the KATY Trail in February on a 65 degree day and road it today the 30th day of November on a 70 degree day.  It is as stretch that I use to ride frequently starting at Hartsburg and going toward North Jefferson, a short distance north of Jefferson City.  What appealed me was that Hartsburg is a pretty little community not far off of HWY 63.  It has had a bike shop in the past, now it has several restaurants and a winery.

It had a nice restroom, which until the last few years was open year round.....

Most of the restrooms along the trail are traditional "pit" toilets that do not require heat in the winter, and while acceptable, it is far nicer to have a nice warm restroom to change from my business attire into my riding attire.  With many meetings in Jefferson City, it was easy to pack a bike in the car, and after the conclusion of the meeting, take a ride.  So Hartsburg moved up my list of favorite starting points.  You can go west toward McBane or east toward North Jefferson both are nice rides.  While not spectacular, they are varied from bluff to field to river.

There are a nice number of riders that use the trail either from Columbia or Jefferson City, and usually a car or two in the parking lot at Hartsburg. I like to have some other riders on the trail.  Today I passed, or was passed by approximately six riders.  What interested me is the greeting, or really the lack there of that comes from all but two of the riders.  All but one of the riders were male.  The only female was the only one that was riding full-out fast.  She was on a bike with aerobars and was focused, but she could still wave a hand and say hello.  One of the men had earphones in his ears, and so one could conjecture that the tunes were pumping loud.  That does not explain that the others did not wave, nod or say any greeting or acknowledge any greeting.   I mean there are six riders in a stretch of 20 miles and two hours, that could not even acknowledge that the person they were passing or meeting was saying hello to them.....I am not expecting a long conversation on the beauty of the day, just a simple howdy.  Something has gone in this world....or I look at lot more frightening than I think I look....as a 60 year old man that looks a lot like Kris Kringle.......

It is fun to be riding on the trail on one side of the river and hear the train whistle from a train passing on the other side of the river.  Makes you wonder what you are going to find around the next corner of the rail trail.....

Katy Trail Bluffton-Steedman mm111-121

In my opinion the prettiest stretch of the KATY trail is between Bluffton and Steedman on either side of Portland. 

  It is a remarkable stretch as you ride between the bluffs and river.  It is not close to any urban area, so is relatively isolated.  I like to ride this early in the spring and late in the fall when the leaves are off the trees and you get good views of the river and the bluffs.  I often ride the entire stretch without seeing anyone, even in the town of Portland. I am sometimes think I am going to die in this stretch and they won’t find my body until after some dog drags a limb into town. Sorry that is meant to be humor…Actually one reason to ride this time of year is because if there are hunters they would have to be close enough to recognize a florescent orange shirt and yellow vest.....

I have ridden the KATY trail a number of times, and have only rarely seen evidence of horses on the trail.  Near Sedalia is a section that is clearly intended as a shared trail.  It is hard to hide the presence of a horse, they tend to leave lots of hoof prints in the trail not to mention frequent deposits of organic material.  I had not ever seen this sign before….I don’t know if it is an official sign or one that someone wanted to add for their own purpose.  

I find it interesting that bicyclists are to yield to everyone, and everyone yields to horses.  I wonder who made that decision. Why are horses so important?  I would think everyone should yield to hikers…..but it certainly difficult on a bike to go as slow as a horse is usually ridden, even an old codger like me rides faster.  Sure they can go faster for a short period of time, but they are usually not ridden that fast for very long. So what should we do when we come upon horses, stop?  This does not make sense. Why don’t we emphasize that everyone treats everyone with respect, and proceed carefully to insure the safety of all?

 

 I wonder what Lewis and Clark would would think of the speed with which we travel the same stretches that they painstakingly poled and paddled their way.  These two signs a short distance from each other represent almost a days travel....and only a few minutes for me.

Piggy's Bar BQ

Friday was a beautiful November day, work was not pressing so it was a good chance to get out and about.  For some reason I have not been eating BBQ.  To much work, not enough running around.....

I wanted some new BBQ and I decided to let my fingers do the walking and I found Piggy's Bar BQ in O'Fallon Mo.  It caught my attention because it indicated that it had won the Rural Missouri Magazine's Best BBQ in N.E. Missouri in 2008, 2009, 2010 & 2011. I have followed their competition, and while far from being a strictly objective process, it has lead me to some good restaurants.   Now understand, I have lived and traveled northeast Missouri for the better part of 40 years, and outside of St. Louis there has not been much that I considered good BBQ in Northeast Missouri. That sounds a lot more negative than I really intend.  It just that there has not been very many places that even served real BBQ.  Never-the-less the fact that one place had won the award for four years running indicated I needed to try it out. so a plan was made......

It was a nice place, easy to find on a main street a few blocks from I70.  It was not fancy, or large.  But was certainly clean and inviting.

I was there early, just as it opened.  They were busy cooking.....

I had the combo plate.  It came with "2 bones, 2 meats and 2 sides"  I am not that interested in the ribs, so I told them to hold them.  Brisket and pulled pork, slaw and potato salad.  The brisket was excellent.  Thin, full of flavor.  They had four sauces.  A sweet honey, a spicy, a sweet KC and a smokey.  None of those was particularly appealing, so I went without sauce.  It was a good choice, the brisket flavor came through delicate and very much to my liking.  The pulled pork tasted good, not great.  Being the first one in the restaurant on this day, I am guessing that I was eating some pork that had been cooked the day before, and reheated for today.  It was a little dark and would have benefited from a mustard based sauce. They lavished me with a huge quantity of meat, it filled a good size plate.  I was most disappointed in the sides.  Understand they were acceptable, just they appeared to be purchased not freshly made.  I do not understand why your  would spend all of the time to prepare quality meat, and then combine it with some off the shelf sides that were delivered by a truck and came in a plastic jar.  It is similar to what is sold in grocery stores and fast food restaurants up and down the street.....Of course I would have preferred fries, but they were not on the menu.  I had slaw and potato salad. 

I can see why Piggy's Bar BQ wins the  Rural Missouri Magazine's Best BBQ in N.E. Missouri frequently.  It is not a chain, it has good food, it is real BBQ, and obviously cooked right there.  It is a nice clean place, one you can take your wife to.....

I would go back for the brisket.....!