St. Clouds' oven baked ribs. Oh, and note the best root beer in the world, Crater Lake.
Earlier this week, St. Clouds was cooking for charity. Proceeds for dinner went to College Access Now. The more you ate, the bigger the donation. So it was “Hellooooo slow cooked ribs” because hey, it wasn’t about me! It was for the kids!
St Clouds is my favorite neighborhood restaurant. It’s the sort of place you want to go every night of the week. Friendly, warm, great food, and they serve pretty mean cocktail if you manage to leave the kids at home.
After going to St. Clouds probably 100 times over the past few years, I’ve never ordered the ribs because St. Clouds, while awesome, is definitely not a barbecue place. In fact, their ribs are not barbecued at all, but slow cooked in the oven, which breaks my ever-clogging heart.
But this was for the kids! For the KIDS!
I finally ordered the ribs knowing I was doing it for a good cause.
So, here’s the verdict: St. Clouds serves remarkably good oven cooked ribs. Big, meaty, tender, and not overly sauced, I’d recommend them to anyone. They’re served with yummy greens and an out-of-the-ordinary, slightly spicy corn bread. I was impressed with the flavor (and the portion size), and I’ll have to think about it, but I’m not sure I’ve had better ribs that were cooked in an oven.
Alas, like most oven-cooked ribs, they lacked the smokiness of ribs off the barbecue. And like most oven-cooked ribs, there was that a hint of chewiness that you just never get when cooking on the grill. I don’t know what it is about ovens that gives ribs that rubbery texture. Maybe there’s some science to this someone can explain to me. And finally, the sauce was tangy but pointless. The ribs didn’t need any.
Still, I’ll definitely order St. Clouds’ ribs again. They’re really good.
Thanks (again) St. Clouds.
