I believe St. Louis is a food town. In my 17 years living here, I have found that any craving I have can be satisfied by one of the many restaurants offering various cuisines across St. Louis. Some of the best food St. Louis has to offer comes from restaurants started by alumni of our very own St. Louis U. High. In a new Prep News Entertainment Series we’re calling “Lunch with the Deans,” we will review meals from SLUH-made restaurants with Dean of Students Brock Kesterson and Director of Security Dan Schulte. Our first restaurant will be Salt + Smoke. 

As the name suggests, this delectable barbecue joint, operating out of four locations across St. Louis, prioritizes flavor up and down its menu. With a mission to “treat meat right,” Salt and Smoke has built up a reputation for offering quality, mid-range barbecue that tastes great.

Dr. Kesterson is well-acquainted with Salt + Smoke, and enjoys dining there with his family.

“When we do barbecue, this is where we go,” he said.

Mr. Schulte is no stranger to St. Louis barbecue, but he usually prefers the meats and sides at BEAST Butcher and Block, a Belleville-based restaurant that recently opened a location in the Grove.

“We’re a Beast family, we go to the one in Belleville,” he explained. “However, Salt and Smoke is moderately priced for high-end barbecue, and they deliver.”

For lunch, we ordered the family meal: a smorgasbord with two meats of choice and plenty of sides. Mr. Schulte selected pulled pork and burnt ends with sides of coleslaw, creamed corn, deviled eggs with bacon, and white cheddar cracker mac. The meal also came with a pack of Hawaiian buns.

Salt + Smoke was love at first bite. Despite making the 20-minute trek from the restaurant to SLUH, the meat was juicy and tender, the coleslaw sweet and zingy, the cracker mac rich and creamy.

For Mr. Schulte, though, it was the deviled eggs that completed the meal.

“My favorite are the burnt ends now that the deviled egg is gone,” he said. “I am a married man, but I would leave my wife for those deviled eggs.”

When the deviled eggs were gone, the pimento cheese on which they rested remained in the container. Dr. Kesterson decided to clean it up.

“Yes, I’m gonna do this,” he said as he scraped the container clean.

In many ways, the sides make the meal. They balance the generally salty and smokey meat with unique flavors—whether creamy, acidic, or mustardy.

“It’s all a bit different, and that’s what I love about it,” Kesterson said.

Nevertheless, the quality of meat at Salt + Smoke is what brings the eating experience from good to great. The pulled pork was chewy, tender, and full of flavor. The burnt ends were crispy on the outside and juicy and delicious on the inside. Salt + Smoke is a carnivore’s dream.

Mr. Schulte’s go-to order is burnt ends and pulled chicken with a side of creamed corn.

“The creamed corn is mine, I don’t share that one,” he said. Indeed, Dr. Kesterson and I were not allowed a single bite of creamed corn, so we cannot attest to its greatness.

Dr. Kesterson prefers a “meat extravaganza” of burnt ends, pulled pork, and ribs with a side of white cheddar cracker mac.

With all of Salt + Smoke’s universally loved menu items, the white cheddar cracker mac is a source of debate. Personally, I enjoy the first few bites but feel I can never finish it.

“The mac and cheese is too much sometimes,” said Dr. Kesterson.

Overall, though, Salt + Smoke is a tasty meal for lunch or dinner. They deliver each time, and you can rely on them for high-quality food at a reasonable price. 

“It’s consistent,” said Schulte. “It has been sitting here for a while and it’s still great. It’s not dry, it’s not greasy, it’s great.”