Day 32 - St Louis to Louisville
First stop today was Budget rent a car to try to straighten some things out with the car I rented and then I headed over to Smokin Als for some food. I told them I was from out of town so they suggested the half and half and add two. I came to find out this means you get to try two meats and add two ribs. They suggested the pulled pork and beef brisket with the two ribs and I took the plunge. It also came with two sides and I chose the apple sauce and fries. They make all the sides on location from scratch but I pretty much knew I would not be able to eat them after the 10 pounds of meat anyway. They offer a choice of their award winning Wolf sauce or some other regular sauce. Naturally, I requested the Wolf sauce. It was all excellent. Meat and sauce got wolfed down pretty quick. The sauce flavor was different than Arthur Bryant’s in Kansas City but they both shared a heavy apparent dosage of spices which could be detected almost as if there was sand in the sauce. Not something I am used to in NY. All the ribs I have in NY have smooth barbecue sauces, perhaps thick but not with any rough texture inside. Adequately stuffed I hit the road for Louisville.
I arrived in Louisville around 4:00 and headed to the batting cages at the Louisville Slugger Museum to take some swings. It was pretty crowded so I only went for one round. Not exactly legitimate exercise but it felt good to be doing something after sitting in the car most of the day. After that I headed across the street to the Frazier International Museum which, as I found out after I was in there, was about the history of US firearms dating back to their origins in Britain. It seemed pretty interesting but I only had about 30 minutes to look around before it closed. I left there and headed over to Meghan’s to meet up with her and her husband Michael. Michael and I headed over to the Bluegrass Brewing Company for some beers. They brew all their own (obviously) and I tried the Nut Brown Ale and the Altbier. They were both pretty good. The Altbier tasted like it had a subtle toasted aftertaste that made it interesting. Wednesday night also turned out to be the open bluegrass jam night where people could just bring their instruments and sit down and jam anywhere. We listened to a little music but then left to get some dinner. For dinner we headed to Bourbons Bistro for some fine dining. I ordered yet another burger which ended up being the tallest one I have ever seen. The burger was topped with lettuce, tomato, two large onion rings, a portabella mushroom, jalapeno mayo and apricot bourbon mustard. The thing must have been a foot tall when it arrived. I took off one of the onion rings then flattened the behemoth down to an edible size and enjoyed another delicious burger. We washed the meals down with some smooth Woodford Reserve and headed over to The Phoenix Hill for some music. Meghan and Michael had never been there so I was happy to help them experience somewhere new. The Phoenix Hill is an enormous bar with enough different rooms to allow there to be four or five different bands playing at the same time. They also have an outdoor area which is nice when its not 90 degrees out. This was not one of those nights. We went to order some beers and the bartender told us the special was $1.50 domestic beers. I asked if they had Sam Adams but they only had Sam Lite. Close enough. We ordered three and the guy told us it would be $13.50. What the guy should have said was shitty beer was $1.50 not domestic beer. It made no sense so we refused the $13.50 Sam Lite and went with some Miller Lite. Its not that we couldn’t afford the Sam Lite but it was just principal. After that fiasco we headed upstairs to check out some music. We ended up settling in one room watching a small acoustic act play a bunch of covers. They were pretty good but eventually we had enough and took off before they finished. Overall it was another good night in Louisville. This is my fifth time here and so far I’ve never had a bad time here. Thanks to Meghan and Michael for giving me a place to stay and for hanging out with me; much appreciated.
5th time’s a charm
Wednesday, August 2, 2006
