BBQ & Windmills

To make up for my lack of pork consumption Thursday night, my parents and I went to eat at a nearby barbeque restaurant. Tony's BBQ Bistro is located in a small town about 20 minutes away. The drive to dinner was very scenic and full of windmills. These windmills started sprouting up in southwest Iowa farm fields a couple years ago.

They almost look as though they don't belong on earth and are the creation of some space-age society. At night, every windmill simultanously blinks a red-light. It's a rather mesmerizing sight.

Tony's BBQ Bistro is located in Walnut, IA, a small town widely known for its antique shops.

Brick roads!

Here you see a blurry picture of pork ribs. The pictures may be horrible, but the ribs were phenomenal. They were coated with a dry rub and served with barbque sauce. The meat cleanly pulled off the bones and was very succulent.

Although the ribs are fantastic, my favorite item on the menu are the baked beans. These are hands-down the best baked beans I've ever tasted. They are slightly sweet, riddled with bacon and hunks of pork and flavored with spices I couldn't quite recognize. I would buy these beans by the 5-gallon bucket. I almost wish I'd never been introduced to these legumes because now I constantly daydream about them.

Remains.

Complimentary napkin wipes. They were needed.

After we gorged ourselves on pork slabs, our waitress pursuaded us into ordering Bananas Foster for dessert. We were told it would be an "experience". The owner of the restaurant came out with a single-burner stovetop and whipped the concoction up right in front of our table. He melted butter, added a cinnamon/brown sugar mixture, then stirred in the bananas. After the bananas were coated, he "flambed" the mixture by tossing a little rum into the pan causing it to burst into flames. Once the flame died out, he poured the blend over a bowl of vanilla ice cream. The glaze became crunchy, the ice cream began to melt, and the bananas were warm. A rather delightful combination of flavors and textures.

Stay tuned...tomorrow we try to recreate Bananas Foster at home...