Spotlight St. Louis: The National Blues Museum & Sugarfire Smoke House

I received the absolute best praise ever following my Labor Day Weekend post. Several of you told me you went and visited a place or two that I wrote about in that blog. It gave me so much joy knowing that my adventures inspired others to go out and have as much fun as I did at those same locations. It also gave me the inspiration to make these adventures of mine more of a regular routine in my life.

After commiting to adventuring on a more consistent basis, I knew that this wasn’t something I wanted to do alone. For most people, this would mean going out and exploring these locations and eateries with close friends or family, but I knew I didn’t want that either. I felt that doing any of this with someone I already know would limit the experience. I feared that knowing what each of us does or does not love would almost ensure that we would fall into the routine of visiting the same places we already have before. I didn’t want anything like that. I wanted everything about these adventures to be brand new and in order to achieve this, I knew I needed someone fresh, someone fun, and someone who holds as much passion for the great city of St. Louis, Missouri as I do.

Enter Braden.

Braden runs what is undoubtedly my favorite local Instagram account, @BradENstl. I encourage EVERYONE reading this to give him a follow because I have yet to find ANYONE who does a better job of showcasing some of THE BEST independently owned eateries in the St. Louis area. As I’m sure you’ll soon see for yourself, Braden also heavily ties in music to each of his posts. EVERYONE knows that I too LOVE music! This is why I thought his affinity for food would bring about the perfect balance to my own affinity for attractions. So, with our interactions being limited to nothing other than liking one another’s posts, I took the crazy chance and sent him an Instagram message asking if he’d be interested in collaborating. Fortunately for me, he was.

After some brief back and forth messaging, we decided to meet up at the National Blues Museum and while a museum celebrating music seemed like an obvious choice for our first collaboration, I’m quite certain neither of us truly realized just how fittingly perfect it was. For long before the Gateway Arch, Cardinals baseball, and toasted raviolis all came to define St. Louis, Blues music did just that.

I was quite surprised that on a Thursday afternoon around 3:30 we were able to find two metered parking spots right there on Washington Avenue directly in front of the museum. I mean, I’m certainly not complaining, but I definitely expected beforehand to have to park in either the open air lot behind the museum or in the parking garage the next block over.

After securing my prime parking spot, I hustled across the street to take a handful of photos of the exterior of the museum from various angles, you know, real tourist style. I can never take too many pictures and at the time of my streetside photoshoot I wasn’t sure what the interior of the museum would be like, but let me tell you what, everything about this museum was made to be photographed.

Immediately upon walking inside, I noticed a large plaque on the wall opposite the ticket booth stating that the National Blues Museum was an affiliate of the Grammy Museum. I was already excited to be here, but after seeing that plaque, my excitement skyrocketed! Right before I moved back to St. Louis from California, I went to the Grammy Museum downtown Los Angeles with my aunt, uncle, and cousin and the four of us had a phenomenal time! Seeing this ensured me that Braden and I were about to have our own incredible experience.

Before I highlight the highlights of the museum, I want to give the National Blues Museum a HUGE round of applause! Given that we are very much still in the midst of a global pandemic, they need to be recognized for their attention to safety. All visitors must wear masks and they had hand sanitizing stations set up in every single exhibit as well as arrows along the floor to ensure that people were moving in a singular direction. As you can guess from our premiere parking spots there weren’t many other patrons inside, but they were more than prepared should there have been. I was both highly impressed and incredibly thankful.

What I enjoyed most about the museum was what I stated earlier, each exhibit was so ready to be photographed. You could easily tell that a great deal of attention was put into every single display. There were also plenty of photo opportunities for patrons as well, which I felt allowed us to immerse ourselves even further into the experience.

One activity that was absolutely awesome, but we failed to utilize because we were talking so much, was a series of stations that were positioned throughout the museum that allowed you to create your very own Blues song from start to finish. Each part of the song from the writing of the lyrics, to the choice of instruments, to the mixing of the final arrangement was all intricately tied to the section of the museum you were in. You had complete control over the outcome of your own Blues song and at the end of the experience you can email yourself your recording! Even though we didn’t create our own track, I still think this is an awesome way to take home your very own permanent souvenir! The museum was so immersive and this was just another exceptional example of how they encouraged you to really put yourself into the music.

Like nearly all major museums, there was a gallery here for traveling exhibits and at the time of our visit, they had this truly interesting display of Cigar Box Guitars. According to the museum, the exhibit celebrates the art of contemporary cigar box guitars with creative designs and hands-on examples to actually play these artisan-crafted masterpieces. When we first entered the gallery and started looking over all these awesome pieces we were unsure of whether or not they were actually playable, but once we learned they were, we found ourselves all the more impressed. I’ll be perfectly honest here, sadly, I’d never even heard of a cigar box guitar before, but this exhibit certainly gave me the ideal introduction to them.

The National Blues Museum is open noon till 5:00 and with Braden and I not getting there till 3:30, we found ourselves really rushing through the end exhibits, but this was entirely our own fault. We were talking so much that we didn’t even realize we had spent so much time in those early exhibits. It goes without saying we talked a LOT about the artifacts before us and the things we had read throughout the museum, but we also spent a great deal of time talking about other genres of music and our favorite artists – mine obviously being Britney Spears and his being Drake. We also spent a wealth of time discussing an intense mutual love we both share: Disney Parks. I love Disney, so having someone brand new to discuss this love with was wondrous. Braden and I probably should’ve got there when they opened for us to really have maximized the museum, but that’s okay, it just gives us an excuse to go back and bring even more people to this truly magnificent museum that anyone and everyone who lives in or visits St. Louis needs to experience.

Don’t just take my word for how amazing the National Blues Museum was, here’s what Braden had to say: “Phenomenal… much better than I could imagine. The only thing that would have made this trip better is if there was a live band performing. It was really cool to learn the unfiltered history of Blues music that dated back to slavery. As I get older, I developed more of an appreciation for those who paved the way for the music we listen to today. I love listening to Soul/Motown because you hear their samples in today’s music. This is definitely an underrated attraction in our city. I look forward to start following the local Blues scene.”

As we had planned, we left the museum and went right next door to Sugarfire Smoke House for dinner. DO NOT do what we did though! You NEED to make sure you visit Sugarfire Smoke House FIRST! If you bring your Sugarfire Smoke House receipt to the National Blues Museum, you’ll save $5 on your admission! For an adult ticket, that’s a whopping 33% savings! I will DEFINITELY be remembering this super saving for my next visit!

So, I completely realize that I started this post off with that elaborate paragraph saying how I didn’t want to fall into the routine of going to the same places I always do, but I’ll keep it real with you all, this is exactly what happened with Sugarfire. Braden had someplace to be by 6:00 and if we were going to stick to the one attraction, one eatery theme that I setup, then this was the only place that truly made sense. I’m not upset though, Sugarfire is a St. Louis staple and definitely one of my favorite places to get barbecue in town! I’ve never had anything subpar there and the Chef Salad I got this particular evening was no exception.

As described by Sugarfire’s website, this meat-full meal in a salad is brought to you by field greens and topped with brisket, turkey, a hard boiled farm egg, tomato, cucumber, cheddar cheese, red onion, lettuce, and either ranch or cider vinaigrette dressings. I opted for the cider vinaigrette, since I’m trying to reach my Healthy Wage weight goal of 160 by April 21. I have $270 in winnings waiting for me if I succeed – which is why I took off the cheese (and lowkey the cucumbers too, but that wasn’t for health, I just think they’re gross.) This salad has been a continuous favorite of mine for as long as I’ve been visiting Sugarfire.

Braden opted for the Baby Back Ribs (half rack) with Jambalaya and Fries for his side pairings. Sugarfire says this about their ribs, Grab a 1/2-rack (6-bone) or full-rack (12-bone) helping of our famous house-smoked ribs and pair it with your two favorite sides and a crisp fountain soda. Top this with something from our range of sauces for a flavor-balanced meal. Braden said this about his meal: “It was an alright meal. The secret to BBQ is getting it earlier in the day. The ribs were definitely good, but you can tell they’d been sitting there for a little while. The sides were good too. It was the perfect coda after a visit to the National Blues Museum. The song that comes to mind is BB King and Eric Clapton’s “Come Rain or Come Shine.” Due to the emptiness, exploring downtown on a perfect day in 2020 almost feels like a rainy day in years past. Our restaurants and businesses will be shining once again with the continuous support from the community.”

St. Louis, Missouri is a world-class city and I consider myself blessed to be living in a region so abundantly rich in culture, class, and cuisine, that’s entirely unique to this bi-state area. While culture and cuisine might dominate the spotlight throughout this read, class is by no means hidden. St. Louisans are known worldwide for being kind-hearted and nice and I think the very fact that Braden and I were able to come together for an afternoon to showcase a true jewel in the crown of our great city all because of a couple Instagram messages is incredibly demonstrative of our region’s class.

“While social media seems like it’s only being used to split our country, it’s awesome to see it bring people with similar interests together. I’ve been able to connect with so many people through this account that I wouldn’t have been able to under my personal one. I truly believe food can bring us all together.” – @BradENstl, seriously you need to go follow his Instagram!

As always, THANK YOU SO MUCH for reading! While this was my 80th post, it felt as though it were my first! I’d never collaborated on a blog before, so writing this one was a little different for me, but I truly hope it turned out well and left you all inspired to visit the National Blues Museum and grab a bite to eat (beforehand) at Sugarfire Smoke House!

Have you been to the National Blues Museum? Sugarfire? Find yourself wanting to go or have other suggestions for where we should head next? PLEASE leave it all in a comment below! I LOVE receiving, reading, and responding to them, so please share with me whatever’s on your mind! I hope to be back next week with another brand new blog, so until then, hope you have THE BEST week ever!