First photo by Jerry Naunheim Jr. (for the Post-Dispatch); add’l photos sponsored by restaurant
The Wood Shack
I mention elsewhere in this year's STL 100 that I have noticed a leveling off in quality among St. Louis' many barbecue restaurants. This isn't a problem — good barbecue is good barbecue — but fewer places stand out. Among those that do is sandwich shop the Wood Shack. Its menu features smoked meats you won't find anywhere else (hickory- and mulberry-smoked prime rib, served with bone-marrow aioli, charred onions, arugula and blue-cheese cream on the Soulard Primer) and those that can hold their own against more traditional barbecue restaurants (mesquite- and pecan-smoked pork butt, pecan-smoked chicken). The peppered pastrami, a rare miss for me when I reviewed the Wood Shack in 2017, is now dialed in, zippy and meaty. Stop by on a Friday, when you can order it as a Reuben.
Hours: 11 a.m.-3 p.m. Monday, 10 a.m.-7 p.m. Tuesday-Wednesday, 10 a.m.-10 p.m. Thursday-Saturday, 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Sunday
Last year's ranking: Rest of the Best
Opened: 2017