17th Street Grill And Bar O'Fallon, IL

My wife an I tried 17th street in O'Fallon for the first time last weekend. From everything I had heard about the place, and all the history behind Mike Mills and his family in the bbq world, I just had to try it out. I only live about 25 miles away, and had some shopping to do in the area anyway, so we gave it a shot.

Before I tell you about my experience there, I would like to point out that we were the first customers there on a saturday morning at 11:30am, which i'm sure is not an ideal time to get the best food!

Since I had never experienced beef ribs, or any of mikes award winning meats, I got the sampler platter, which had a little of everything. Pulled shoulder, baby backs, beef ribs, chicken...(white meat to my surprise!)...and brisket. As sides I tried the beans and fries.

The shoulder was the most moist, wonderful, melt in your mouth experience I have ever had with any pulled pork. The chicken was also wonderfully juicy and had the same melt in your mouth feel. I can't say that the brisket was the best i've ever had, but it was the most moist i've ever had. I didn't know exactly what to expect with the beef ribs, but I did enjoy it. It had a nice beefy flavor and was removed from the bone with just a slight tug...very good!

Now the one item I expected to blow me away, disappointed me the most. Surprisingly, the baby backs were very dried out, and almost like jerky in some areas. I will give the place the benifit of the doubt, because like i said we were the first people there, but I was sad that my first try of these award winning ribs I had heard so much about were among the worst I have ever had. I guess it happens everywhere at some time or another I just happened to get the bad rack on this occasion.

The sides were good, nothing amazing, but good.

My wife and I did love the magic dust, and bought 3 shakers of it to take home!

So my overall experience was a very good one, and i will go back and give the ribs another try...maybe at a busier time next time though!

I'm sure If i had spoke up and told the nice waitress that my ribs were dried out, they would have been replaced, but i was so full by that point anyway, I just let it go! I took them home pulled all the meat off the bones and made pulled rib meat sandwiches with lots of bbq sauce That turned out great!

Michael

FYI....here is Mike Mills' Magic Dust recipe in case you need it for when you run out of yours...

MAGIC DUST
Yield: About 1/4 cup

1 tablespoon paprika

1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt, finely ground (see note)

1 1/2 teaspoons granulated sugar

3/4 teaspoon dry mustard (see note)

1 1/2 teaspoons chili powder

1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin

3/4 teaspoon ground black pepper (see note)

1 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

3/4 teaspoon ground red (cayenne) pepper

Combine all ingredients and stir well. Store in an airtight container.

Surreal

Where is the note to see?? For the salt, mustard and pepper?

OOPS! Sorry about the notes.

Note: Coarse kosher salt can be ground with a mortar and pestle or in a small bowl with the back of a spoon. For a spicier mixture, double the amounts of dry mustard and black pepper.

Just to let everyone know, after my review of 17th street in O'Fallon, IL, Amy Mills Tunnicliffe Wrote me a personal email expressing how sorry she was that my experience at one of their restaurants was less than stellar. She thanked me for my honest opinion, and told me she would let her crew know of the problem so that it can be fixed. She also asked for my name and told me to ask for Mike Mills or the general manager and they would personally make sure I had a better experience.
That shows me that they really care about their customers, and that impressed me greatly.

I will go back and try them again!

quote:

Originally posted by smellthatsmoke

Amy Mills Tunnicliffe Wrote me an email asked for my name and told me to ask for Mike Mills or the general manager and they would personally make sure I had a better experience. That shows me that they really care about their customers, and that impressed me greatly.

Michael,
I'm surprised she didn't offer you both a free dinner. And she may well do that when you get to the place. And I have to agree that is the way a customer should be treated if they have had a bad experience. I look forward to your next trip, and your post about the 17th St Grill. I have always been very impressed with their food in the past. Good Luck
Jack@DrofBBQ.com