blk mrkt StP – St. Paul

D.Rough sent me an excited message about this BBQ place that was near our house.  This place is a giant custom grill on flatbed trailer. They’re open one day a week (Friday from 5-7pm) and take advanced orders (so they know how much to make and don’t waste anything). They also occasionally do guest appearances and cater events from time to time. You order from their website before Thursday night and the next day at 5, it’s ready to be picked up. It’s pretty ingenius!

During the summer months, it’s like a big party around their trailer (which I believe is parked in front of their house). People sitting in lawn chairs drinking beverages and eating picnic style all the things they’ve picked up from the BBQ trailer. During the winter months – which they say is actually one of their busy times since people want to pop by and grab something quick for the family on a Friday night – there’s less socializing, but the people working are still just as friendly and happy to see you.

The menu is pretty simple and set up on a website to purchase with a card online or pay in cash when you pick up your food. It’s a small menu with family sized portions, but it’s got all the really awesome items you’d expect:

• Baby Back Pork Ribs
• Beef Brisket
• Beef Short Ribs
• Pork Shoulder (both shredded and whole)
• Beef Brisket (both sliced and a whole giant one)
• Smoked Beans

I decided to get the Baby Back Pork Ribs and the Beef Short Ribs. Some people say it’s expensive, but it literally is the exact same amount you’d pay at a sit down restaurant – it just isn’t portion controlled for one person. It’s family style. It is very appropriately priced, in all honesty. Don’t listen to those complainers! Hahaha

The Baby Back Pork Ribs were delicious. Not falling off the bone (which means they’ve been steamed too long), but just the perfect amount of fight to them. You can get the bones clean on these ribs, but it chews like actual delicious well-prepared meat. There’s not really a sauce on them, although they’re juicy enough to make it look like a sauce. Just the perfect amount in my opinion. And a full rack looks really large when you see it up close and personal. Great work on these ribs!

The Beef Short Ribs were huge. We literally got two rib bones with a large amount of meat on them. The meat on these is crazy flavorful and the little fat that was on there was the melt-in-your-mouth kind, not the gristle-and-grease kind. Excellent bark on these, as well. These folks know what they’re doing. Immediately after D.Rough and I ate these things (well, ate half of them and saved the rest for the next day), I sent out a bunch of emails and FB messages about these things. They were really that good. I know people aren’t going to drive across town to pick up these ribs, but anyone in the Downtown St. Paul area, West St. Paul, South St. Paul, and even Mendota Heights could pick a Friday dinner up for the family and be reallllly happy with the results.

You won’t be sorry!

www.blackmarketstp.com

Kuma’s Corner (Original Location) – Chicago, IL

After a hard night of tiki-drinking, there’s no better place to go with a pounding headache than to a heavy metal bar. That bar also happens to serve the best burger in Chicago and one of my top 5 burger places I’ve ever been to. Let’s just say that between the black metal they were playing loudly over the bar speakers and the sitting-next-to-the-sun daylight streaming through the windows, it was a sunglasses-on sort of burger feast. I’m also amazed that I’ve never written about this place before. My apologies on not spreading the love. Sometimes you have to wait an hour or two to get a seat (literally), and other times, when you walk in right when they open, you get seated right away.

I could go on and on about Kuma’s Corner. It really is an incredible place. Don’t let the heavy metal part of this fool you. It’s an upscale burger place – Think caramelized pears, chicken strips, fried giardinera, crab cakes, whiskey soaked dill pickles, braised venison, or pork chops as toppings on a wonderful beef patty. THAT’s the kind of fancy stuff you get here. Most of the burgers and sandwiches are named after metal bands, which is fun for a guy like me. They also cater to vegans and vegetarians by offering substitutes to beef patties, like chicken breasts, and a few different non-meat substitutes that are apparently some of the best in the business. These folks support local bands and craft beers, and also give back to the communities they’re in. Each month, they have a new over-the-top burger that a portion of the profits go to some local charity picked by the staff. Really smart and HUMAN.

The menu always takes a while to go through, since everything looks incredible. They have mac and cheese, tons of burger options, other amazing sandwiches, and a few salad options. Then they have a large craft beer list. I’d always encourage you to check out the Burger of the Month, though. It’s sort of a thing there. This particular trip, I knew I needed to have it. It was called the Dillinger Escape Plan – a band I do NOT support for a number of reasons involving d-baggery on stage – and the proceeds were going to a good cause. This burger will blow your mind.

It’s a 10 oz beef patty on a bed of spicy potatoes O’Brien, monterey jack cheese, country fried steak, chorizo & poblano sausage gravy, a fried egg, and chives. It’s a wonderfully delicious mess.

D.Rough got the Sourvein – 10 oz beef patty covered in deep fried blackened chicken tenders, Applewood smoked bacon, cheddar cheese, Belgian waffle strips, maple syrup, and raspberry aioli. Brilliant.

We didn’t realize that both of us basically ordered brunch-style burgers. Also, neither of us had beer.

On the DEP burger, the chorizo sausage gravy was simply killer. It went so well with the chicken fried steak that it was insane. The fried egg drizzled everything nicely and cheese was a nice surprise every once in a while. Well done on this very special burger plate.

The Sourvein burger was a challenge to eat, due to its height, but was basically chicken and waffles on top of a burger. The raspberry aioli was a really well thought out touch and everything was magical. Loved this burger!

If you’ve never been here, you need to go. It’s so good they had to open up three additional locations to keep the crowds manageable. I haven’t been to any of the new locations, but they look cleaner and less dive-bar-style than the original one. But I’m guessing the food is just as awesome. I’ve got friends that live in Chicago that post about Kuma’s all the time and I’m always jealous. I was long overdue for a visit here and I’m glad it happened…even though I was ready for a nap and still had 6.5 more hours to drive back to Minneapolis…

www.kumascorner.com