One of my favorite things about visiting all of these different restaurants is finding places in my own backyard that I somehow never knew were there. Ethyl’s Smokehouse in O’Fallon, Missouri is that place for me and I feel like the restaurant and I are soulmates of a sort. Seeing as someone literally replied “Who knew you put cameras up in my living room” gives a bit of insight to how people feel about the place. It’s a second home to some and that has to be because of the wonderful atmosphere, and the amazing food definitely has something to do with it as well! Their inside and outside seating are both awesome, but the outside bar has some sand volleyball courts and a kids play structure that just make it a perfect place to spend a warm summer afternoon or evening.

So let’s start off with something that I have only ever felt was the red-headed-step-child of bbq, the brisket. It’s incredible. The brisket seems to melt in your mouth and the smokey flavor is amazing. There isn’t a need for bbq sauce at all, but that doesn’t mean that we didn’t enjoy it. So, for being the least exciting item I ordered, it ended up being my favorite for flavor and for the sheer fact that it made me like brisket. The pulled pork and ribs were both great, but I really like pulled pork and ribs, so I don’t really feel like I branched out getting some of my favorites. That being said, great smokey flavor on both as well and while the pulled pork was juicy, it wasn’t pooling (always a great sign). Now a normal person would have shared the platter with someone since it came with two traditional sides as well, but I have a job to inform you of the best Ethyl’s has to offer and I take my gluttony seriously. So I ordered the pulled pork nachos.

So the story with these nachos, starts like any other good love story involving food. I completely underestimated the experience that was about to happen. Here I was expecting to get a basket of some chips with cheese scattered on the top chips, neglecting those bottom cheese-less chips, a few pieces of pulled pork lumped on the top and maybe a side of sour cream and salsa. FALSE! My “small” nachos came out as the most glorious tower of taste that I have ever seen. So let’s break them down real quick. First, each layer of chips has cheese melted in it, so there’s none of those sad reject chips at the bottom. There’s a lot of cheese involved here. Next is the delicious pulled pork that is scattered throughout the mountain of ‘chos. It’s hearty and adds a wonderful smokey flavor to the cheese, salsa, sour cream, olives, tomatoes, green onions, and some wonderful drizzle sauce that might be bbq sauce. Overall, since this small nachos was the size of my head, I now want to go back and see the large, just to see it… and maybe eat some of it again too. This time though, i’ll make sure to bring a few friends along to help me out. Cuz what are friends for if not to hang out at cool places and help you eat a whole mess of nachos?

-Bridget