Since my Friday afternoon was horrible, I stayed in with a bottle of vino and watched some television. I watched most of the debate and then headed over to the Food Network. I don't know if any of you have seen the Bon Appétit Best American Restaurants Special. It aired for the first time about a year or so ago.

Well, while I do love the Food Network, this post does actually have a purpose. In the show, Bon Appetit Magazine named 17th Street Bar & Grill the best Ribs in America. This restaurant is located in my hometown of Murphysboro, IL and is actually where my younger brother works. He is a cook there. While, I'm not a HUGE fan of ribs, I don't like eating meat off of a bone, I do love their BBQ sandwiches and love their fried pickles.... hmmm... fried pickles.

You can check out their website here... http://www.17thstreetbarbecue.com/

The owner is a friend of my Step-Dad's and has done extremely well for himself over the years, opening several restaurants, including one in Vegas.

Here's a pic of me and my lil bro at the rehearsal dinner.

FYI - BBQ in our neck of the woods is serious business. Last weekend 17th Street hosted the 21st Annual BBQ Competition. My friends have a team and they actually won 5th for Shoulder, I believe. Congrats!!! Hogs n' Dawgs!

Additionally, the caterer I chose for my wedding is also a World Champion BBQ team. They now are a well know caterer that regularly works for the St. Louis Rams and others.

We actually had rib teasers and mini BBQ sandwiches for appetizers at the wedding. Everyone loved them and cleared them out completely. I couldn't let people come down to So. IL and not taste some BBQ.




For dinner we had the breast chicken people said they ever had and great beef tenderloin. Food and booze were the most important thing to me. I kept asking people, so how did you like the food.... Everyone thought it was the best food they'd had at a wedding. I'll be honest I ate about 2 bites of food, the salad, and a piece of bread.... My taste buds where dead for some reason.