The lids on the smokers at Skip Steele's long-awaited Bogart's Smokehouse will flip open this Friday at 11 AM. You thought Pappy's was cool? Wait till you get a whiff of this place. Among the highlights: smoked pastrami and prime rib; a signature dry -rubbed sausage "fatty;" pit-baked beans, lovingly cooked with the brisket in the smoker overnight; and the ribs--ah, the ribs.
When asked if the ribs were dry rubbed or wet, partner Niki Puto replied "a little of both." After cooking and just before serving, the dry-rubbed ribs (a rub slightly different than Pappys') will be brushed with a wet glaze and finished with a blowtorch. "It came to Skip in the middle of the night," Nikki says. Wow. The question is: can we wait till Friday?
And we didn't even mention the dern cole slaw: when Steele's Hogapalooza team competed in the Whole Hog Division at Memphis in May this last May (the team placed a respectable 6th out of 29), they also entered their slaw in the Cole Slaw Competition, an ancillary category new at MiM this year. That Friday evening, as the team was stoking smokers and hoisting a few dark bottles, they heard their name called: Hogapalooza had placed first in cole slaw, having been judged superior to 41 others in "taste, texture, flavor, and overall impression." According to Puto, this same cole slaw has, in fact, been tweaked and improved, and will be the everyday slaw at Bogart's.
You can find the inaugural menu on Bogarts' facebook page, and the website should be live sometime Friday. Thankfully, the weather should be mild this weekend...to make standing in that line so much more bearable.
Bogart's is located at 1627 S. Ninth, in Soulard, in the the former Fat Toney's/Soulard Smokehouse space.
