Located in St. Elmo is a slightly busy little place that I didn’t even know was there called Blacksmith’s Bistro. I didn’t expect it to offer as much as it did, but I was pleasantly surprised.

It was such a lovely Autumn day that I chose to sit outside in the patio area. I noticed many people my age and young folks too. I was curious to see what kind of food they had. When there are many items to choose from, that can be a good thing and also a bad thing. Everything they had sounded so good I couldn’t make up my mind.

I have to tell you about a few things on their menu just because these were dishes that were not something you see at your average restaurant. Items with certain flavors put together making it border on ‘gourmet’ – even if it were just a sandwich! I wanted to get the “Black and Blue Burger” for 10.95. It intrigued me with its description; “VooDoo spiced patty, bacon, blue cheese, onion ring, garlic aioli and Booyah chipotle sauce”. But I ended up choosing something just for the name of it, the “Funky Watusi” burger for a dollar less.

I’m all for these made up ‘hip words’ because they are fun; I just hoped they tasted good too. I had no idea what a watusi was or why it would be funky, but I was willing to find out because I saw goat cheese in the description along with tomato-jalapeño jam on a croissant bun.

After placing my order with the waitress, I kept the menu to look at other items they offered; I had a feeling I would be back! There was a sandwich called the “B.L.A.S.T” which is a B.L.T with shrimp and avocado added! I would never have thought of adding those combinations of food together – but it sounded so-o-o-o delicious! They had a “VooDoo Salmon Sandwich” that was blackened salmon with a fried green tomato, lettuce, onion and garlic aioli on grilled sourdough. See what I mean? How do you choose?

Putting together the combination of tastes for these unique sandwiches is genius and yet it almost makes you think, “Now why didn’t I ever think of that?” It seems so simple to come up with, but it took the clever folks at Blacksmith’s Bistro to creatively bring such delightful flavors together in such a fun way and come up with all those intriguing names. I’m not sure but I think because I ate outside they brought my lunch in a metal wash pan (unless they expected me to wash my own dishes).

I thoroughly enjoyed my burger and I liked the skinny-jean fries that accompanied it. I made that up myself – they can’t have all the fun. I guess you would call them shoestring potatoes, I had to eat them with a fork, ol’ Arthur wouldn’t let me pick up those skimpy things (for you young folks that don’t know Arthur – you will probably meet him when you pass that 60 mark).

I ended my amusing but enjoyable meal with carrot cake. It tasted homemade! When I got home, I couldn’t stand it; I had to look up what a watusi was. I found two definitions; one was a dance like the twist and the other was an African bull. With the beat of that burger, I’d say they named it just right. Willie Mae will definitely be back and I plan to have a B.L.A.S.T!