Review Mary Jane Bourbon + Smokehouse Cape Girardeau Missouri

REVIEW TIME on today’s review by This Dude Reviews 

Mary Jane bourbon + smokehouse Cape Girardeau! 

I’m excited about this one as I’ve been wanting to do this review for quite some time now! This location has always caught my eye  and peaked my interest ever since I drove by  the first time and saw the pig in glasses logo on the big yellow and black arrow sign out front!!! Ever since that first time driving by I’ve been wanting to visit there and try their food!!! Let’s dive right in!!! Aside from the big sign out front with the pig and glasses, let's go over the look and ambience of the place! As you pull up you see a rather large two-story industrial looking building with curved windows facing the street for a perfect view from the dining areas on the 1st and 2nd floor!!! As you walk through the door you are greeted with smiling faces and the warm welcome!!! The look inside is an industrial type factory/sports bar/brewery feeling with sports jerseys hanging over the main bar area. The mix of industrial, sports bar, college town, brewery complement each other perfectly and the wood stairs, floors, and iron railing throughout really make and drive the industrial feel home!!! One of my favorite unique pieces that stood out to me was a dark blue odd shaped felt corner bench seat that was directly to our side on the second floor dining area!!! You can see this in one of the photos below, but it absolutely stood out to me as well as many other things that were so very cool!!! Let’s dive into the appetizers and then break down what everyone ordered!!! For our appetizer we chose the Phil’s 3 which includes Frickels (Fried Pickles), Smokehouse Pretzel Bites with Beer Cheese, and Sprouts (grilled/sautéed brussels sprouts) . We also had another side of dip that tastes like thousand island dressing. Let me start out by saying all three of the appetizers were absolutely amazing! So our favorites in order from our most favorite to our least favorite although they all were great are…. Coming in at number one the Frickles!!! These fried pickles were delicious and perfectly breaded and fried all around. They were pickle spears just like from our last review from 54th Street. Crunchy on the outside and tender warm pickles on the inside. These Frickles went well with the “thousand Island” dip, but you know I’m going to explore and try them with the beer cheese…. All I can say is DUDE!!!! I’m a genius and you need to try that!!!! Although these Frickles are absolutely amazing they did not top the ones from 54th St., but they definitely come 2nd as the best fried pickles I have ever had!!! Coming in at #2 are the Smokehouse Pretzel Bites. They were absolutely delicious as well as the Beer Cheese complimented them perfectly making them hit the spot!!! Coming in at #3 last, but certainly not least the sprouts I thought these were absolutely awesome and tasted amazing. They went well with both dipping sauces and hands down some of the best sprouts I have ever had!!! The only reason they came last is because they were a vegetable and you know #Health isn’t as cool as #Friedfood or #pretzelsandbeercheese!!! lol lol!!! You know I have jokes!!! 😂 Now let’s dive into what everyone ordered. I will go over my order as well as everyone else’s as I did try one bite of what everybody had on top of eating what I had as well! What can I say? Your boy can put away some food!!!

I ordered The Mighty Train which included smoked turkey, ribs, Texas toast…I added brisket for and extra $8.00 and it came with two sides. My sides were the mac & cheese which cost an extra $1.50 and the house street corn!!! Let’s break down the meats… the turkey was juicy and tender, perfectly smoked and tasted absolutely amazing!!! I can’t forget that they gave us two barbecue dipping sauces, one which was a sweet sauce and another, which was spicy. I didn’t care for the spicy because I don’t do spicy things well, but I loved the sweet! It went well with the turkey, but the smoked turkey was so good that you really did not need any sauce with it at all!!! I know smoked and barbecued meats and I can tell you that is a big compliment!!! It’s always a good thing when you don’t need any type of dipping sauce with your meat!!! The pulled pork and brisket were both juicy and tender smoked to perfection and did not need any sauce as well! Turkey, brisket, and pulled pork all were packed with flavor that absolutely exploded as soon as it hit your taste buds on the first bite!!! Now to the ribs at first, I was skeptical because when I started to eat my ribs, they were hard/tough on the outside which I believe was the caramelization/glaze from being smoked, but my first initial thought was oh crap these are going to be tough and dry as heck so I was definitely worried!!! Everything had been so amazing up until this point but as soon as I cut them open and took the first bite, the inside of the ribs were juicy Tender packed with flavor and just melted in your mouth!!! That goes to show you guys never judge a book by its cover. The ribs were kind of like eating a Reese’s out of the freezer hard on the outside, but tasty and amazing on the inside!!! You just have to get through the hard exterior but it’s worth it once you get to the awesomeness in the middle!!! The only thing I could say about the ribs is maybe somehow have them where they’re not as tough on the outside… I didn’t have any trouble eating them, but they may be hard to eat for someone who has dentures or problems with their teeth so keep that in mind when ordering, but they were absolutely delicious and I would get them again for sure… Ohhh and before I forget on top of the ribs, were what we believe were their homemade zucchini pickles… Hands-down some of the best homemade pickles I have ever had!!!  The Texas toast was and you already know you can’t go wrong with Texas toast!!! I ordered the Smokehouse Street Corn and it was very delicious! The only thing was it had a lot of what I believe to be chili powder on top, but if my memory serves me correctly, street corn does! I would like to say, though I have never had corn and this was my first time! With that being said I love chili powder but chili powder doesn’t always love me and I can only do so much of it with that being said the only thing I would change about the chili powder other than that It was absolutely delicious!!! I will say the chili powder complemented the street corn perfectly like I said chili powder just doesn’t always like me! So if you can’t do chili powder, use caution or ask for them to make it without the chili powder! Now I have saved the best of my meal for last the Mac N Cheese….. Dude oh my gosh, talk about flavor and food explosion in your mouth!!! I’m pretty sure I experienced a foodgasm 😂!!! The macaroni and cheese comes out in a boat. That’s what I’m gonna call it a boat because it was huge and there was a lot of macaroni and cheese and I loved every bit of it!!! Macaroni and cheese to their barbecue rub which gave it a perfect accent of extra flavor!!!! The cheese pull was amazing with this macaroni and cheese. That's right this macaroni and cheese had cheese pull!!! You all will have to wait to experience and see that in the video review!!! I know, macaroni and cheese. I am a self proclaimed macaroni and cheese, guru and professional!!! I will say this is the best macaroni and cheese I have ever had in my life and it holds my number one spot for the best macaroni and cheese I’ve ever had to date!!! That wraps up my order so let’s move onto Dad’s!!!

Dad ordered The Mighty Train as well and he agreed with me on all of the meats. He also added the brisket as well. The only thing different in his order than mine were his sides. For his sides he ordered the Loaded Potato Salad and the Bacon Green Beans! I tasted both of his sides and I really really enjoyed the loaded potato salad. If I could do anything different about my order, I would have replaced the street corn with the loaded potato salad!!! I’m not sure what all they had in the loaded potato salad, but I will tell you it is on my number one list of potato salads. It was the best potato salad I have had to date from an eating establishment!!! The bacon green beans were good as well. I will say there wasn’t anything overly special about them, but they were delicious and when I go out to eat, I try to dabble in new and tasty things so the bacon green beans did not peak my interest when picking my sides. Now let’s dive into Marissa‘s order!!! She had the Hogs N Kisses  which consisted of pulled pork, pimento cheese, and zucchini pickles on a House bun and her side was the house kettle chips!!! I tried a bite of Marissa’s sandwich and it was delicious as heck!!!! I don’t like pimento cheese and there was pimento cheese on the sandwich and I’m saying it was delicious as heck!!!! Kettle chips were some of the best homemade kettle chips we have had, and they were a big hit at the table as everybody tried them and liked them!!! Now onto Mom’s order she had The Brisket Sammie… this consists of slow smoked brisket, burnt end mayo, and crispy onions on Texas toast and on the side she has the fries! I took a bite of Mom's sandwich and as soon as I did, it was jam packed and full of juices and lots of flavor. When I bit the sandwich it instantly made me think of a perfect and heavenly patty melt, and your boy loves patty melts!!! I believe what made me think patty melt was the onions and Mayo… it was absolutely delicious and one of the best and most flavorful sandwiches I have had in a very long time, definitely near the top of my list!!! I tried her fries and they were great as well. They were crispy and fresh, not too salty and not full of grease. They were the perfect french fry!!! With that being said that wraps up the food portion of this review, as we absolutely did not have any room for dessert!!!! I know…. I know…… We were just as sad as you guys were, but we would have been ill if we had even tried to do dessert!!! So let’s move on to the service we received at Mary Jane’s!!! As I said, in the beginning from the time we came through the door, we were greeted with a smile and a warm welcome. Most of the workers that we saw were college students from the SEMO RedHawks campus across the street!!! I personally thought this was very awesome. Everyone was very polite. Had a smile on their face and was very helpful which is rare, especially in the younger generation (my generation) of college students or people in general in the world today!!! This was awesome and was one of the reasons this has been one of my favorite places and will remain one of my favorite places we have ever gone to eat that had a younger working crew!!! Each, and every person carried themselves professionally,  and in a well working and polite manner!!! Now on our waitress Kylee Z!!! She was AWESOME!!! If you know her personally please tag her in this! I’m going to try to find her on Facebook so I can tag her, but if you know her, tag her in the comments!!! She always had a smile on her face, made sure we were well taken care of, checked on us throughout our entire dining and sitting time!!! She was prompt, courteous, and honestly felt like a friend we had known for a long time even though this is our first time ever meeting her!!! She was excited to hear that I was going to be writing a review and was absolutely down to get her photo taken for the review!!! I will say right now that waitresses do not get enough credit for the jobs that they do and the crap they have to deal with!!!! Kylee Z you are awesome and I hope you get to see this review!!!! Keep doing what you’re doing and keep being awesome!!!! The service was absolutely amazing from the time we walked through the door until the time we left and when we departed from this great eating establishment, everyone told us to have a great evening and thanked us for coming in... That is rare!!! Usually your waitress, and the person at the door will tell you thank you for coming in and to have a great evening, but everyone we ran into that work there told us to have a great evening and thank us for stopping in! That stood out to us as well!!! Now for our service when it comes to time from order placement until food hits the table…. Myself, as well as the rest of the family can say this was some of the fastest service we have ever had, especially with everything being freshly cooked!!! All of our food was hot, freshly cooked and brought out in the most timely manner from our appetizers to our main meal was perfect!!!! That will put this establishment at the top of our list for some of the fastest service we have ever had!!!! That's saying a lot, especially when everything is freshly cooked!!! Here is a fun fact Mary Jane’s focuses on using the freshest ingredients as well as buying and using locally when possible!!!! That right there also gives them extra points in my book!!! Supporting local is always an amazing and great thing!!!! Now before I wrap this review up, I will give you guys the price it cost us to eat the value we got for the price we paid as well as our overall star and number rating!!!

For all four of us to eat, the price was $139.77 that includes everything from our appetizers, our main meals and the drinks!!! I believe the value of the food we got for the price we paid was well worth the portions were large and you absolutely will not leave hungry (if you do that is your fault) or disappointed!!! Now with that being said this is probably somewhere you wouldn’t go out to eat every night. This would be more of a family outing, once a week or month type of deal!!! I have broken down each meal and its cost here below, but if you would like to see a further breakdown, you can refer to the picture of the receipt to see everything broken down from the add-ons etc.

-Appetizers

Phil’s Three

$15.00

-Collin

$23.95

-Marissa

$16.95

-Dad

$23.75

-Mom

$18.00

Total: $13.77 tax included

So now I am going to break down our star and number rating!!!

PRICE: For the price rating, we will give it a four out of five stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ and a 4 out of 5 number rating. Some might think this is a little too high of a rating for the price you pay, but you get what you pay for!!! Especially when it comes to the portions of food, taste of food, and service!!!

SERVICE: the service was outstanding during our whole experience from the time we walked into the door until the time we left which leads us to give the service a five out of five star review ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ and a 10 out of 10 number rating!!!!

OVERALL RATING: now with everything being said, we will give our overall rating and let you guys know if you should visit this establishment, if we would visit this establishment again!!! You can probably tell by reading the review above that we will definitely be visiting this establishment again and 10 out of 10 recommend  that you guys should visit this establishment!!!! To wrap this whole review up we give Mary Jane Bourbon + Smokehouse Cape Girardeau a 10 out of 10 number rating and a 5 star rating and review!!! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

That’s not all though guys with that being said, we have got a lot of recommendations and comments saying we should try the Perryville location. All of the comments and suggestions have said that location has a full menu with more options than the Cape Girardeau location and is in their words better?!? Could this be true? It’s going to be hard to top the service and food at this location, but we are going to find out very soon!!!! Stay tuned for part two of this two part two location review!!!!

Until next time, thank you guys so much for your support and for reading the reviews! I greatly appreciate all of the outpouring support and comments I have gotten over our past few reviews and I am just as excited for this new journey and project as you guys are!!!!

Collin Julian

This Dude Reviews

#foodreviewer #foodblogfeed #foodpictures #foodreview #foodblogging #blogger #foodvlogger #blog #foodporn #foodlover #foodblogger #foodreview #foodreviewer #foodblog #foodphotography #foodporn #food #foodies #foodstagram #foodlovers #dinner #foodvlog #bbq #smokedmeat #smokehouse #bourbon #eating 

The Protagonist Café

​The Protagonist Cafe

This awesome cafe is nestled in the heart of Soulard! It's not just a cafe either, but a cafe and then some! The and then some being books, shirts, cups, mugs, stickers, and more! They have a really great book selection too, but back to the cafe! We have visited the Protagonist Cafe two times now, once on each of our trips to St. Louis and each time we had a great time and enjoyed every aspect of our visit! Fun and cool little fact! They have their own permanent roaster named Martney who is a female roaster! They have three different roasts at the cafe: a Nicaraguan medium roast, an Ethiopian light roast, and a guatemala dark roast! I tried the coffee on my first visit! had it black with splenda! BEST coffee I have ever had hands down! I am a coffee nut and if you are too you will not be disappointed! Dad Had it on our second visit and he said it was AWESOME as well! If Dad and I say the coffee is good then you know it is as we are picky when it comes to our coffee!!!!  On our first visit all I decided to get was coffee and Marissa got a Caramel Delight (which I tried and it was better than anything you could imagine! Dunkin and Starbucks have nothing on this place!)! On our second trip I decided to get a pastry for breakfast! Another fun fact they have bakers that bake all of their pastries for them each day at their sister establishment! They have fresh baked pastries each day! For my pastry I chose the Samoa Cookie. It is a chilled cookie (I believe it has oats and coconut in it) . It is very dense and tasty! On the bottom it is slightly dipped in chocolate giving it a layer of chocolate as well as having chocolate drizzled over the top! It was great and one of the best cookies I have ever had! I liked that it was chilled and cool as well! Everyone tried it as it was the size of a small saucer plate which is a great deal for the price it was! Everyone else agreed it was one of the best cookies they have had as well! (picture below)! On our second visit Marissa had the same Carmel Delight as on our first visit and Mom had that as well! They knocked it out of the park on those again! Mom and Dad chose to get pastries on our visit as well Mom chose the Raspberry Thumbprint Pasty and Dad Chose the Lemon Bundt Cake with cream cheese in the middle! Marissa and I tried both of them and they are awesome as well! We were 100% pleased with both of our visits and will be going back next time we are in St. Louis! We never had a long wait time. Everything we ordered was ready and prepared properly in a quick and timely manner! This is great and says a lot as they are always busy and full of people! You know a place is good when it is always full of people! They also have indoor and outdoor seating inside there are tables, couches, chairs etc. and outside they have picnic tables out front on the large brick sidewalk! Yes you read that right brick sidewalk! Soulard is a historical part of St. Louis and most of it still has the original brick sidewalks which makes the experience even better! If you are ever in Soulard while visiting St. Louis the Protagonist Cafe is a must try! Great atmosphere, great service, great and friendly people (workers and patrons)! We highly recommend it! Tell them Collin and Marissa sent you! The Protagonist Cafe gets a 5 out 5 stars from all of us! Check out the photos below from both of our visits! 

#food #cafe #protagonist #breakfast #morning #coffee #pastry #review #foodie #foodporn #foodphotography #foodblogger #stlouis #stlouismo #foodstagram #fooelover #travelblogger #travelfoodie #soulard #instagood #foodforfoodies #missouri #unique #hiddengems #dudereviewsfood 

Peek Retreat Airbnb St. Louis Missouri

​Peek Retreat Soulard St. Louis 

Let’s dive into our AWESOME Airbnb! 

Peek Retreat is a 2 story flounder style home located in historic Soulard. The home is nestled in a peaceful gated courtyard. There is a peaceful sitting spot located out front of the home in the courtyard on the brick patio area. Inside is cozy, historical, and industrial with plenty of room for 2! Downstairs is the living area, kitchen and dining area. Upstairs is the bedroom, bathroom, and office along with a porch that overlooks the courtyard. There is also a basement area used for storage. Peek Retreat was very clean and well taken care of! The hosts were very nice, responsive, and helpful to any questions or requests! We felt at home during our whole stay! With it’s great location you are literally within walking distance to local bars, restaurants, cafes, the famous Soulard Farmers Market and more! You are just a few blocks from Anheuser Busch Brewery as well! It’s also located not far from Busch Stadium and downtown! We thoroughly enjoyed our stay at Peek Retreat and would highly recommend you consider staying here next time you visit St. Louis! 

We give Peek Retreats 5 out of 5 stars! 

Here are a few photos we too of during our stay! 

#stlouis #stl #stlouismo #trip #vacation #vacationmode #goodvibes #Missouri #soulardstl #downtown #travel #travelblogger #review #travelreviews #travellife #cottage #airbnb #Peekretreat #peekretreat 

Spine Indie Bookstore & Café St. Louis Missouri

​Spine Indie Bookstore & Café

We were researching bookstores in St. Louis that we could visit as this was our second night of vacation. We had already had dinner and decided we wanted to find a bookstore/cafe to look at a few books and have a coffee or something to drink. We just had to find one that was open as it was later in the evening. There were a few, but Spine Indie caught our eye! We looked up the hours and it said they were open until 10:00pm so we headed that way! We didn’t initially know they were having an event, but we were lucky enough to stumble upon an awesome time that night! You could hear music on the outside speakers of the cafe from the park parallel to the bookstore/cafe! After visiting the park, pond, Ducks, and Geese next to Spine Indie (that will be for another post) we walked over and through the doors! We were lucky enough to stop in when Ethan Bradley (known as @wilson.ridge.sti on Instagram) was playing! After he finished his time on stage we got the chance to talk to Ethan! Very awesome and creative guy who writes and plays some great music! Absolutely awesome music, awesome time, great atmosphere, and some of the nicest, coolest, and most down to earth people you could meet! The owner Mark Pennebaker recommended I try a drink. I can’t remember the name but it’s essentially club soda with flavoring syrup. He recommended the strawberry flavor and it was a banger! Definitely recommend Spine Indie to all of our friends especially our book nerd friends like us! We will definitely be stopping back in next time we are in St Louis! Huge thank you to Spine Indie Bookstore & Café for the great evening! 

Give them a follow on Instagram! 

•Ethan Bradley 

@wilson.ridge.stl

•Spine Indie Bookstore & Café

@spinebookstorecafe 

#stlouis #spineindie #spineindiebookstorecafe #bookstore #cafe #coffee #music #artist #localmusic #localartist #localmusician #stl #missouri #explorestlouis #openmic #musician #review #reviews #coffee #unique #hiddengems #nightlife #vibe #vibing #creative #missouri

Sauce On The Side Restaurant St. Louis Missouri

​Sauce On The Side Downtown St. Louis

Vacation day one was in the books! We had arrived in St. Louis late in the afternoon last Friday. We were hungry so we knew what to do! Food time! Starting out with our first food stop! We stopped into eat at Sauce On The Side and had the Fatty B! It’s essentially a calzone packed with Pepperoni, Meatballs, White Onion, Provolone, Roasted Garlic, Mozzarella, Ricotta, Garlic Oil! Of course we had meat sauce on the side! Great restaurant, great service, and great atmosphere! The place wasn’t overly crowded, everyone was extremely nice (staff and patrons), we didn’t have to wait long on our food! Everything was warm, cooked well, and tasted amazing! Definitely would recommend stopping in at Sauce On The Side at their Downtown Location if you are ever in the area! 

Sauce On The Side gets a 5 out of 5 stars from us! 

We have a lot more photos to edit and post so stay tuned! We will be posting throughout the trip! We will also be editing and posting a YouTube video of our trip after we get back so stay tuned for that as well!!!!

 

Twisted Ranch Restaurant St. Louis Missouri

REVIEW TIME! 

Twisted Ranch 

Let’s start out by saying absolutely awesome food!!! Some of the best we had during our trip to St. Louis!!! Food was well prepared, warm, tasted amazing, and was at our table in a timely manner!!! They had actually just ran out of some food and their Twisted Ranch sauce. That is totally understandable as we had just came in after the lunch rush and they are a very popular place to eat. That is okay thought I already knew what I wanted and they still had that! Our server/waitress Lex was great and wiling to help us and accommodate in any way! We both chose to get the BBQ Brisket which was a slow house smoked brisket sandwich topped with cheddar cheese, an onion ring, and BBQ Ranch. For the side we had the Side Salad with BBQ Ranch as well!!! Twisted Ranch STL knocked it out of the park with this one!!!! Our server/waitress Lex was awesome and did an outstanding job taking our order, makeup sure our food was correct and good, as well as checking on us throughout our time there to make sure we had everything we needed! The cool part is this was Lex’s first day on her own as a server!!! She did outstanding and will do great as a server/waitress at Twisted Ranch STL!!! I wrap up this review by saying we highly recommend you stop into Twisted Ranch next time you are in St. Louis!!! You won’t be disappointed!!!! 

They get a 4.5 out of 5 stars from us!!!! 

Stay tuned for more reviews from the trip! 

Ruts Can Be Deep! Perseverance Will Always Overflow and Win!

What I mean by the title is exactly as it sounds. When dieting, running, working out, life, and everything else gets rough and you get in a rut. Hard work, determination, and the right mindset will always fill up and overflow that rut like it never even existed in the first place.

Persistence is key! Stay steadfast and stay on track and you will always come out with the win! 

I’ve been dieting and running for quite some time now. Around a year give or take. I have rough days, rough weeks, and even rough months just like everybody else. The ruts can be deep they can take a while to disappear but they will! When you finally get out of that rut you will feel like you’re on top of the world, like you have achieved something amazing! Because you have! You have just conquered yourself, a mental brick wall, you’re own mind! That mental brick wall in your mind is known to be even harder to get past than a physical brick wall! 

When you’re running or dieting and something tells you I can’t do this, I need more food, I need that sugar, I can’t run any farther, I can’t run any harder! Most of the time that is your mind telling you that! NOT YOUR BODY! When you think you can’t go anymore you are only at 40% of your bodies capability! The hardest part is just pushing through and breaking that mental wall! Each and every time you do that. When you break through that mental wall you have reached a new level of success! That alone makes it all worth it! 

I promise you this right now! It does get easier! All you have to do is put in the work! Get up every day! Work hard! Push yourself! And enjoy the process! If you do that you will succeed in everything you put your mind and hard work into! 

I hope this helps you get out of that rut you’re in and I hope it helps you get out of any ruts that you may ever get into! Stay Steady! Stay Strong! 

-Collin Julian