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Ask George: What’s the deal with all the barbeque joints of late? Hasn’t St. Louis reached the saturation point? Joe S. St. Louis

A recent Relish article mentioned that at least 15 barbeque restaurants have opened here within the last three years and that eight more were slated open in the remainder of 2014—one a month--and that number could rise as it was only April.

Along with Joe S., we sense an ugly crowd is gathering, muttering--no, screaming: “Enough already!”

So before blue smoke permanently enshrouds the Arch, before the day when we locals drown in a sea of sweet, red sauce, we took that query out back, to the pitmasters, to the men whose BBQ businesses were most likely to be affected by the slew of me-toos.

No better place to start than with the ‘que guru himself, Mike Emerson, owner of Pappy’s Smokehouse, the man who works a line better than a politician on a pre-election Monday, the guy who taught us to come early to Pappy’s, because when it’s gone, it’s gone. Emerson speaks of the recent groundswell to “upgrade and improve barbeque…to take it to the next level.” With a shrug of the shoulders, he rationalized that statement: “I'm not really sure barbeque needs to be taken any other level," he said. "It just needs to be done right.” He also noted that the barbeque scene in St. Louis—and the appetite for barbeque--has risen here fairly quickly, in comparison to longstanding meccas like Memphis, Kansas City, and Austin. Emerson ended the conversation the same way he starts them--with a smile and a welcome--two of the keynotes to his success: “Ya think there too many barbeque places in those cities? Nah, I’m cool with more.”

Emerson also predicts the rise of more barbeque- and smoked meat-themed restaurants, like The Salted Pig in Frontenac, where the smoker is only one piece of the concept, the theory being that barbeque, while popular, still has limited appeal, so casting a bigger net might be considered the safer bet.

Matt Stiffelman, owner of Vernon’s BBQ in U City (where the triple garage doors are now in the “up” position most days, by the way), reasoned, “it’s just like restaurants…barbeque joints can be neighborhood places or destinations—or if you’re lucky, both.” He also referenced the legendary crowds at Pappy’s: “...and as long as there’s a 45-minute wait out Mike’s door,” he said, “there will be room for more.”

When Ray Maxwell, wine guru for Glazer’s Distributors, said that “some guys’ mid-life crises involve convertibles, mine involves this,” and then pulled a picture of the competition-grade Durango smoker (left) out of his pocket, we knew our question would not be wasted on him. “St. Louis is on its way to becoming a destination barbeque city,” the backyard pitmaster said. “We have cuts of meat [pork steak, St. Louis-style ribs] that people across the country are familiar with. It makes sense that we should have great barbeque joints, too.” Then he stepped it up a notch: “I see no reason not to form a BBQ board whose sole purpose is promoting the barbeque scene in St. Louis.”

Paul Lamers, co-owner of PM BBQ in Chesterfield, agrees that St. Louis barbeque has indeed evolved. "Applebee's has its riblets and White Castle its pulled pork sliders," he quipped half-jokingly, "but there are a lot better options out there. When you have fine dining chefs taking on barbeque, it forces us all to examine what we are doing."

He's referring, of course to Mike Johnson, a renowned chef (with a great Q&A here) who's currently enjoying Pappy-esque success at two locations of Sugarfire Smoke House (Olivette and St. Charles), the third due to open early this month (in Winghaven). Like Maxwell, he'd love to see St. Louis become a barbeque destination, but cautions that the business is not as easy as it looks, "but the bad ones will just make us look better."

Mary Randall of BBQ ASAP in Ballwin addressed another part of the issue: increasing food costs. "If people considering entering the game looked closely at the profit structure of barbeque today, they might not get into the game at all," she said. Mike Emerson echoed that "pork prices have doubled in the last several years." The prices he can charge for that pork have not.

Dave Bailey, whose unnamed restaurant at 1011 Olive will enter the ‘que stakes later this year, hopes that “what Baileys' Range is to burgers, this place will be to barbeque.” There’ll even be a separate entity on the roof (vista shown below)--Baileys Roof, perhaps? When he was asked if there was too much ‘que in the Lou, the veteran restaurateur answered quickly and succinctly: “Never.”

I tend to agree with Bailey.

I see nothing wrong with a little differentiation—like Sugarfire's Mike Johnson creating a to-die-for sweet potato salad, or Stiffleman serving up smoked cod po’ boys, spritzing his fresh green beans with a little tequila and lime, or the guys out at WildSmoke cranking out Pig Candy (below) like its penny candy. We all should embrace such creativity. It raises the collective bar. And there’s never too much of that.