Monday, May 22, 2017

Sugarfire Smoke House, Downtown Saint Louis


On our first day of vacation in Saint Louis, we had to get some authentic BBQ from somewhere. I am a huge Food Network fan and Sugarfire has been featured on multiple shows, and what BBQ contests HASN'T it won? The best part, is that since we picked one of the busiest times to visit Saint Louis and kept our car parked at our hotel, this was in easy walking distance from us.


The bad part of our experience at Sugarfire had absolutely nothing to do with the food. The food was fantastic, as we will get into here shortly. I am the type of person who gets semi flustered in large crowds of people who are all waiting in line so I was pleased when we went at an "off" time after lunch and were the only ones in line. I'm sure to wait on people here and be in the buffet line you have to be a rockstar and are used to dealing with large quantities of people. It doesn't mean, however, that when someone tells you they have never eaten here before, that you roll your eyes and start acting impatient. There was no one else in line! We had ordered the food already which was being made, but the person at the cash register was absolutely rude like we were holding up a line of 100 people. This is why I usually choose a sit down restaurant because I hate the feeling of someone rushing you and belittling you when it is your first time and experience in a new place. No matter how great the food is after that, you have already given me a negative reaction to wanting to eat at that restaurant again because if I end up feeling uncomfortable for no reason other than someone's impatience, why would you go back again? Thank goodness for the waitress who runs food to the table, and how nice they were and made a quick joke about his attitude, because I probably would have thrown my shake at the cashier and just walked out at that point.


Speaking of shakes, I ordered the White Russian shake for a drink. Thank goodness they had alcohol! I not only needed it at this point, but it was the hottest day that we were there and it was very refreshing to have a nice cold drink while waiting for food. It was on the stronger side, but once I mixed in the whipped topping with my straw it was perfect.


The appetizer we ordered were the pork belly hush puppies with jalapeno jelly. I couldn't really taste the pork belly part of the description, but the hush puppy dipped in the jelly was really good. My husband ended up stealing most of them because they were his perfect consistency. He liked them still a little bit gooey (or raw technically) in the middle, and I like it cooked all of the way through so it's more like cornbread.


The mac and cheese for my side dish was a melted gooey container of liquid gold heaven. I don't know how much more positive I could get describing a mac and cheese dish. It was creamy, cheesy, not too liquid where you feel like your noodles are swimming, but not dry that it sticks together like paste. It was just great mac and cheese.


We both ordered the special, which was the Ultimate Ham and Cheese sandwich. It was layered with smoked country ham, Swiss and smoked Gouda cheese, Parmesan, Truffle and Arugula. That is a mighty fancy grilled cheese if you ask me, and it was all amazing. The salty ham and the melted cheese with the sharp arugula on top was delicious. It was the perfect combination of flavors and nothing overpowered anything else and every bite was filled with gooey melted cheese and ham.

If someone else picked this restaurant to eat at again, I would totally do it, but I would order it online on the website so that I wasn't rushed and meant to feel like an idiot. All of the food looks amazing, and everything we tasted was delicious, but I can't deal with rude people like that. Going to new restaurants and traveling should be a fun experience and if your restaurant is that well known and famous, they are obviously doing everything right as far as food goes. Was it just an off day for the cashier? Maybe, which is why I didn't say anything back to be polite. However, that experience could have been so much better with a fake smile and polite attitude, even if you didn't want to be at work that day.

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