West Newsmagazine Restaurant Spotlight

Where there is smoke, there is smoked barbecue. At least that is the case in Chesterfield Valley, where the smoke from Masterpiece Bar-B-Que yields mountains of ribs, pulled pork and chicken.

“We smoke 24/7,” Masterpiece Bar-B-Que owner Sherri Poff said.

Poff runs the operation with her husband, Ricky, who learned the art of slow smoking meats from Rich Davis, creator of the world-renowned KC Masterpiece barbecue sauce.

“Ricky was Dr. Davis’ right hand man and served as his executive chef,” Poff said.

When Davis closed his St. Louis restaurants, he gave the Poffs his blessing to establish their own barbeque business and to use the “Masterpiece” name. That said, the old KC Masterpiece is not to be confused with Masterpiece Bar-B-Que.

“While we use the KC Masterpiece sauce, our menu at our restaurants offers more variety,” Poff said. “We have a rib salad that’s gone over real big, as well as our Thursday special, a barbequed, smoked chicken quesadilla.”

So what is the difference between “barbeque” and “smoked barbecue”?

”Barbeque is placed on a grill to cook, then sauced,” Poff said. “Smoked barbeque is slow smoked and cooked over a low fire with aromatic woods. We use hickory. Every meat we serve is slow smoked.”

Masterpiece Bar-B-Que ribs are smoked for six to seven hours; pork butts used for pulled pork are smoked for 16 hours. The result delivers a rich smoke flavor and a pink smoke line to most meats.

“People not used to seeing that pink smoke line in meat sometimes think the meat isn’t cooked, but it is,” Poff said. “In fact, it’s that smoke line that’s a sign that the meat has been truly smoked the old-fashioned way that gives lots of smoky flavor. And that’s what our customers love – smoke flavor.”

One customer who has craved that original smoked barbeque flavor is President George W. Bush. By a presidential request, Masterpiece had an exclusive invitation to travel to Washington, D.C., to create a bi-partisan barbeque throw down.

“Catering at the White House is an unbelievable experience,” Poff said. “We trucked up all the meat along with our smokers and set up out by the tennis courts. The only difference from what we did there to what we do here is we were asked to make it Texas-style, using a hot red sauce.”

Catering is offered at Masterpiece 365 days a year. Poff personally delivered Christmas dinner to employees who worked Christmas Day at the MasterCard’s customer card center.

“People just don’t work during the day, they work around the clock, working second and third shifts. We feel these people have the right to get fresh catered meals as well,” Poff said. “We focus on service, and we feel it’s our service that makes us different,” Poff said.

But above all, the secret to Masterpiece Bar-B-Que’s success is in the barbeque.

“Barbeque is what we do best,” Poff said. “It’s what we love.”

Masterpiece Bar-B-Que & Catering

17402 Chesterfield Airport Road

(636) 536-3833

(636) 949-3993 (catering)

Hours: 10:30 a.m. to 8:30 p.m., Sunday – Thursday; 10:30 a.m. - 9:30 p.m., Friday and Saturday

masterpiece-bbq.com