Lark's Car Wash & Ribs...

Lark's Car Wash & Ribs...

Last night the Owls (formerly screech, now barn) played a gig up at the Box Factory in St. Joe. We got up there in plenty of time to run over to Willie Lark's Bar-B-Q and Car Wash. Lark's was recommended by a friend of my brother's.

It really is a car wash: the chief griller was working on a big Kenworth with a sleeper cab while we ate, stopping every few minutes to give things a flip on the smoker. You walk into this little storefront - really the office of one of those old style gas stations that have mostly been torn down and replaced with 7/11s - and the smell of grilling gets your mouth watering. I thought I might swoon.

It was early, so there were lots of ribs coming in off the grill. In a few minutes I had my half slab and was out the door. We were going to grab them and run back to the hall to eat, but a couple of our crew ordered fish sandwiches and they had to be prepared specially for them. As we waited, the smell got to me and I opened my box and started eating.

These were grilled dry, and then smothered in a fantastic spicy sauce, complete with a couple big potato wedges and three slabs of white wonder bread! The sauce was just hot enough to get your nose running a little, which was kind of interesting since it was hard not to have sauce up to your elbows in the first few minutes. I managed because Willie thoughtfully stuffed my bag full of paper towels, and I could more or less keep the mess from spreading too far.

It was fantastic! Makes me hungry all over again for them. Might be worth a road trip just for the ribs.

The gig went well. Very small crowd, but appreciative. Playing out with my new mandolin is so cool, and my fiddle isn't such a bad instrument either. I love having these beautiful instruments to play on. They're a huge part of the fun.

In other news... I'm traveling a bunch in the next couple weeks. Tuesday I fly to Dallas, returning to Chicago Thursday AM, then driving straight to Cinci for a meeting there Friday. I expect to get home sometime late Friday. Then the following week I'm flying to Denver, again on Tuesday, then on to LA Wednesday night. I'll catch the red eye back from LA Friday night and get back home sometime Saturday morning. (I swore years ago that I'd never take another red eye, but I've forgotten how painful they are and I'll have most of Saturday, instead of giving up the whole day. )

When I get back from LA, I'll just have two weeks left with the girly angels before I get into my new digs.

Oh - and Happy Birthday to Joe. Doesn't seem possible that it is 39 years. And congrats on the Chapin award. Well deserved!