Uncommon pair-ups are not so uncommon now – i.e., the Thai-Japanese menus and the Korean-burger mashup that's thriving out in Creve Coeur – but here's a new one. Spare No Rib is taking no prisoners on Gravois Avenue in south St. Louis. Barbecued ribs and tacos? Oh, why not?
Actually, the menu is a little wider than that, but not much. A couple of salads, some sandwiches, a decent beer list and hand-made (I'm sorry, but "hand-crafted" sounds like they're using a loom or a lathe) cocktails. Guacamole, of course, and good stuff it is, chunky and fresh, served at a temp that makes me think it was made to order. A little hit of heat, but mostly avocado, onion, a little tomato, some cumin and fresh chips. Those excellent chips, thin, warm and salted, also come with the two house salsas. And salsas they are, rather than the fresh, choppped vegetables of a pico de gallo. The yellow-beige one is roasted yellow peppers, deeply vegetal, a dish to offer to anyone who thinks there's no distinctive flavor to a ripe yellow pepper, and almost creamy in the mouth. The one that's addictive, however, is made of smoked tomatoes and other vegetables. The smokiness definitely isn't out of a chipotle can, as one bite will prove.This is like eating barbecue, utterly addictive and making it devilishly hard not to fill up on it and the chips. Yes, a moderate amount of heat with it.
These are a step up, maybe two, from the Cherokee Street tacos. Nothing wrong with most of those guys, of course, but expect something different. For example, cachete, which is beef cheek. Think of two soft corn tacos with the tender meat much like a short rib, but richer – that's cachete at SNR. Very beefy in flavor, and with a sploosh of that yellow pepper salsa. Carnitas, the nuggets of pork were tender, too, nicely un-greasy and, as with the cachete, generously served and a nicely biting red sauce atop. Of the three I tried, the fish taco came in third – mild, lightly breaded and fried, but I was hoping for the crunchy cabbage of the Baja style and these wore chopped peppers and a green, very mild sauce. For St. Louis, which frequently wants fish that doesn't taste like fish, they'd work well. Me, I prefer a little more character to it.
Dry-rubbed ribs come with three sauces, a citrus-y sweet one, a spicy one that also has some sugary notes, and a brown mustard that rings bells when paired with the pork. The ribs themselves are toothsome, not tough but not that falling-off-the-bone that many folks think is perfection but always makes me wonder if they've been steamed. The standard for barbecue in this town has been raised a lot in the last five years or so, but these will hold their own.
Sometimes, though, a hamburger is just what the mouth craves. The house burger arrives with cheese, tomato (a slice of nice red Roma) and lettuce. How rare? they asked. How thick? replied I. About an inch or maybe a little less was the finger-thumb measure. Medium-rare, please. Mixed results, technically: The very faintest trace of pink here and there – but astoundingly moist, and it certainly wasn't the tomato, because Romas are notoriously unjuicy. Proprietor Lassaad Jeliti says the beef is about 90% lean, and it was wonderfully flavorful, but the trick in keeping it moist was impressive. And frankly, I'm more concerned about how it tastes than what color the interior is. And a dab of that smoky salsa on one bitewas a nice experiment .
Not much rummaging around with the sides for me. The beans here are Great Northerns that are baked and turn out intriguingly different and yet quite recognizable. Another example of a flavor one never thinks about until its surroundings are changed some, but a dish worth seeking out. Fries are fresh, long strips of baking potatoes tossed with a light hit of coarse salt, looking almost like long strips of pretzel where the dark skin and the salt meet.
Hard to pass up the caipirinha on the blackboard menu of drinks, but I don't navigate Gravois other than fully alert.
Spare No Rib
2200 Gravois Ave.
314-202-8244
Lunch and Dinner Mon.-Sat.
Credit cards: Yes
Wheelchair access: Poor
Smoking: No
Tacos, etc.: $3-$13