Pappy’s Smokehouse is rated number one out of 732 other restaurants in St. Louis on TripAdvisors.com and voted best barbecue in St. Louis by Riverfront Times.
Co-owned by John Matthews and Mike Emerson, Pappy’s has been serving up Memphis style barbecue since 2008.
“I get a lot of folks come in and say they’re from Boston or Atlanta or Sacramento or maybe even Ireland,” Matthews said. “They went to see a Cardinals game, visited Anheuser-Busch, saw the Arch, and they ate at Pappy’s. That’s the four things they wanted to do, and I’m like holy cow, how cool is that?”
Pappy’s was named after Mike Emerson’s brother Jim who passed away 10 years ago.
“We had a couple ideas for names but nothing was really clicking,” Mattews said. “We were out fishing one morning, and Mike said ‘Man, this is a beautiful day; Pappy [Jim] would of loved it.’ I looked at him and it was like I got hit by lighting, and I said ‘Dude, that’s it. Pappy’s Barbeque.’”
In 2008, Pappy’s was visited by Man Vs. Food host Adam Richman. After visiting, the smokehouse added The “Adam” Bomb combination plate, which is a Big Ben with a Hot Link Fritto Pie that Adam ate while visiting.
“I remember seeing Pappy’s on Man Vs. Food and decided I had to go check them out,” senior Lucas Elberfeld said. “I’m happy I did; I love their food, and they have the best barbeque in town.”
No plans are set for expanding Pappy’s as of right now, but Matthews hopes to expand soon. Matthew’s believes the success of Pappy’s blew away the expectations he and Emerson had and that the smokehouse’s growth has blown away everything that was anticipated.
“Being able to employee these people is great, Matthews said. “I’ve had four of my managers be able to buy their first home in the past fourteen months. To create something like this is beyond our wildest dreams.”
