Stop #23: Lafayette Fire Company

Tony's Review: Well, well, well look what we have here. A restaurant/bar run by local firefighters and paramedics? YOU BETCHA! This place was full of historic and current EMS stuff all over the place including custom photo tables which weren't distracting at all. But who cares about the decor right this isn't a St. Louis Interior Design blog is it! NO!

I had been to this place once before maybe two years ago and had some egg scramble thing that may have been one of the worst breakfasts I had suffered through at that point so going into this I had extremely low expectations. This slinger gave you the option of 1/2 lb. beef patty or two sausage patties...I'm a man so of course I chose the beef patty...and you had the choice of traditional hash browns or "home fries" I remembered the "home fries" from last time and they sucked so I when the classic route. As soon as that dumb waiter put the plate on the table I was impressed. The chili was great, super meaty and you could tell that a firefighter made it in the kitchen. Another slinger with jalapenos on it! I don't know if these restaurants are reading this blog and know that we love jalapenos on slingers but a lot of mother fucking places are doing this! It's 2012 put a jalapeno on it! The hash browns were spot on with their bold traditional flavors and once you mixed them up in the chili mess you knew you were doing things right. Now lets talk about the burger, a lot of places think that if you put a 1/2 lb. burger on a slinger its instantly good, well they're wrong. Again we had another slinger that was on the right track and dropped the ball with the burger. But to be fair the Lafayette Fire Company barely dropped the ball with their burger it was the least offensive "big" burger that we've had but it totally ruins the magic that happens on the plate. 

All in all I was really impressed with this slinger and these EMS people can make a good one. Not sure how the rest of the menu is but I'll give it another shot before I call 911 on that place. Boom.

Tim's Review: I was definitely not as excited about this place as my friend Tony. I guess that's why it took me so long to write about it. Tony is getting this huge boner over firman decorations and a mediocre slinger. Calm down dude. It was just ok. I'm not mad about eating there or anything, but I wouldn't say I was really impressed either. Let's just say there are plenty of other places that are my list to get back to before this one.

It had some pretty decent chili. Hash browns were the standard diner style. I think the only reason they were even good was because we haven't had hash browns like this in a while. Nothing special. I do think the jalapeno's are always a great addition. I guess I would say this is slightly above average as far as slingers go. It is worth emphasizing that the burger was the weak link once again. I think these places figure that with all the other crap you're dumping on top of this plate, the burger doesn't need to be anything special. If this dish had a good burger, it may have nudged its way into the top ten. Oh well. I'm done thinking about this slinger.

I did get to try some wings at this place though and they weren't bad. I brought my nephew along, and thought he might like to get down on his first slinger, but he's really into hot wings. He's only 12, but this kid is the hot wing king. You can get the 3 alarm wings if you're a sissy. My little buddy goes for the 5 alarm and he took them down like a champ. In between these “hot” wings, he was even taking in a few of my jalapeno's. I hope he remembers uncle Tim when he grows up and becomes a champion eater.