Pier 4 Cafe and Smokehouse

If you're looking for authentic barbecue, this little place certainly has the right ambience: It's one step above a simple little river shack, with a screened-in porch, sitting alongside the railroad tracks and overlooking the Mississippi's Lock and Dam #4. Its menu is what you're looking for in a barbecue joint, too, featuring pulled pork, rib and brisket platters. (About $8, including two sides.) Meats are hand-rubbed and slow smoked, served with a choice of four homemade sauces. For nonbarbecue lovers, the beer-battered perch and catfish platters hold promise. Pier 4 also does a booming breakfast business. Its German potato pancakes get good reviews; so does the smokehouse omelet ($7.75), which comes spiced with Pier 4's signature barbecue sauce.