Jambalaya

(Comprising a random collection of ingredients from St. Louis food and wine)

'CUE, PART 2: Our recent item on the new barbecue season smoked out several full slabs of additional news, not the least of which was the fact that the superheroes of SuperSmokers -- Terry Black, Ron Skinner and Skip Steele -- came back from this year's Memphis in May with a second-place finish in the International Barbecue Competition down that way, whole-hog division. Black makes special note of the fact that SuperSmokers finished ahead of 17 former world champions. And for those of you who can't schlepp all the way out to Eureka or O'Fallon, Ill., SuperSmokers opened a third location this past weekend in the Dierbergs on Clarkson, adjacent to Chesterfield Mall.

The local 'cue ball has also pocketed a couple of new places this season: Grizzly's now occupies the space formerly known as Fatman's, at the corner of Olive and Warson in Olivette. Ask for the Papa Grizzly, and go with the "extra hot" sauce, if you're really brave. And a more elaborate operation called Clancy's (locally owned, by the way, and not affiliated with the chain of the same name) has moved into the old Bombay Bicycle Club building (and, if you've got a fabulous memory, the old Nelson's Landing building) on Page at Schuetz.

TIDBITS: Terra Nova Wines, 3929 Mid Rivers Mall Dr. in St. Peters, holds the next one-evening sessions of its "Intro to Wines 101" course Tuesday, June 15, and Tuesday, July 27, at 7 p.m. Call ahead (636-477-1610) to register -- for 15 bucks you'll get to taste some good wines and figure out the basics of how they're supposed to taste and how they're made.... Manee Thai provides a West County alternative for those in search of Thai food. It's located at 481 Lafayette Center, on Manchester at Baxter. Call 256-8898.... Old 66 Brewery (9846 Watson, 965-8866) is already a year old, and offering beer specials all month to celebrate the birthday, as well as free kids' meals (with purchase of adult entrees) on Mondays throughout June.... St. Louis gets its first Dave & Buster's electronic-amusement-park restaurant this weekend, on Riverport Drive North.... Eddie Neill's empire has expanded beyond Cafe Provençal to include Eddie's Steak & Chop, at 40 N. Central in Clayton, adjacent to the original Cafe Provençal.... The old Plush Steer on Chippewa near Watson is still Bosnian, only now it's called the Bosnian Inn instead of Sarajevo.... And, speaking of our energetic and growing Bosnian-American community, be sure to stop by Miris Dunja on Hampton just south of 40 and wish Kelly Kadric all the best on the recent birth of his son. Get the cheese spread if you order the cevapcici, and by all means have some roast lamb if it's Saturday night.

-- Joe Bonwich