Edwardsville BBQ Legend Red’z Returns

by Jesse Gernigin

There comes a time in every small town’s life for it to grow up. Edwardsville’s time came when the court house won the suit against Phillip Morris.

Since then Edwardsville has grown into a small but prosperous town filled with people from many different walks of life. Not to far from us lies SIUE, one of the fastest growing schools in the midwest.

Red'z at its new location in Edwardsville.

The town is also full of fascinating history, but for foodies, all of these things are eclipsed by the return of a local legend, something that started not in Edwardsville but Maryville, right outside of Glen Carbon.

This legend started in a shack, in which a man and a woman became famous (infamous perhaps…) for their barbeque. People from all over the area (St. Louis included) traveled to this red shack for a taste of their barbeque.

This, dear readers, was the birth of Red’z Rib Shack. Red’z prospered for some years and then Randall Quick called it quits and moved to the caribbean. Now Randall has returned amidst the clamor of growth in Edwardsville, bringing back with him his secret sauce.

When asked about the sauce Randall said, “The barbeque sauce recipe is a family secret that has been passed down for over 100 years. This was inherited and remains the same for every batch. We pride ourselves on the consistency of a quality product, and one of the most important parts is the signature sauce. The only change we will make, upon request, is for a hot sauce – beyond that every meal receives our standard hand crafted BBQ sauce.”

I didn’t want to press Randall for the sauce’s secrets, such things are uncouth, but I did insist on one bit of advice. I wanted to know if his sauce (and therefore, by extension, his food) was gluten friendly. Most BBQ is unsafe for celiacs because the large amount of wheat product that makes it into sauces. I was happily informed that the sauce is gluten safe, so celiacs can rejoice! I was also interested in how Randall would respond to the ever growing trend towards locavore consumption (i.e.-eating as much locally grown food as possible).

Randall told me, “Our goal remains to provide the freshest and best food possible and ingredients make all the difference in attaining that objective. While we are not an organic restaurant, we do try to buy local when available and support local vendors when possible. We serve real food.”

I won’t lie, I am excited for Red’z to reopen. And yes this may be my own cheap nostalgia at work, and yes the product may not match up to how I remember it (I don’t believe this, but I understand it is a possibiliy). But I want to believe. I want to believe that legends can return, that good food can always be good and that Randall Quick can deliver on what he promises. Well, we will see soon enough. Redz reopens on April 10th at eleven in the morning. I hope to see you there.

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