Ewald's Bar-B-Q is a delicious time machine — never change

This week, I took a step back in time a few decades at Ewald's Bar-B-Q in Perryville, Missouri. Located in the lovely historic downtown, Ewald's is in an unassuming building that always seems to have vehicles lined up outside. The name of the restaurant is printed on a fading Pepsi sign up on a pole outside, and the Pepsi logo is not a modern one. Before stepping foot inside, I already loved it.

Inside, there were so many photos of the generations who had come before, because Ewald's was founded in 1946, and it still remains in the family. There is something magical about that kind of familial loyalty and pride, something rare and precious. The seating area gives off "old school diner" vibes for a very good reason — that is exactly what Ewald's is.

Imagine: this restaurant has seen poodle skirts and cigarette packs rolled into T-shirt sleeves in the '50s, flower power in the '60s, huge long cars from the '70s, cars shrinking and hair growing in the '80s, grunge kids with black hair hanging in their eyes in the '90s, the meteoric rise of the internet in the '00s, and the smartphones that eat our lives if we're not careful in the '10s. I mean, my goodness! Ewald's has been cooking and feeding people as society ebbs and changes, as trends come and go, but people still walk in that door and eat the same recipes that were developed in 1946. That is staying power, and beyond impressive to me.

Inside the front door to the left was the only evidence of bowing to technology that I could see, in the form of an electronic TV screen menu board up on the wall. Far from killing the old diner vibe, that menu board helped cement for me that Ewald's knows it is catering to the modern customer while remaining true to its family recipes. So let's talk about the recipes I happened to try this visit.

When I asked the woman taking orders at the register what Ewald's was known for, she said either the barbecue on bun or barbecue on toast. Toast it was, and I ordered one. I also noticed a sandwich that I don't often see in the wild anymore, so I ordered a toasted tuna salad to try, too. I'd read that Ewald's shakes were the bomb, so I added a blueberry cheesecake to the list, my husband ordered his barbecue with potato salad, and we sat down to wait.

Ewald's Toasted Tuna, melty and warm and like a hug from mom.Submitted by Rebecca LaClair

The shake hit the table first, and that first sip was pure nostalgia. I've been thinking for a bit on how to explain this shake to you, and I'm not sure I'm going to do it justice. When my lips hit the straw and I started to suck, boom! There was the milkshake in my mouth. Nowadays, shakes have to be thick and nearly impossible to suck through a straw. That's what people want, supposedly. But this shake took me straight back to the early '80's, and I realized how much I just miss a shake that will come right up through the straw when you suck. Rich and full of vanilla flavor, there was a hint of cheesecake sweetness and the barest overtone of a fruity blueberry zing. I loved every sip of it, and I will be getting one as a treat every single time I visit Perryville.

Then we received the sandwiches. Two pieces of toast, layered up with thin sliced smoked pork shoulder and doused with Ewald's Original Barbecue Sauce, simple little sandwiches, but once again, just pure nostalgia. The meat was tender and smoky, and that homemade sauce was not as brown or thick as, say, Sweet Baby Ray's. However, it was tangy and fresh, just a bit smokey, and it fit the meat (and atmosphere) to a T.

My toasted tuna salad sandwich also came on toast, warm and wonderful. I like tuna salad, so I enjoyed the bite of the tiny relish pieces, and the spring of the egg pieces. Everything was chopped very fine so I got a little bit of everything with each mouthful.

Ewald's is located at 18 E. North St., as it has been for so long. Come with an open heart and a vivid imagination, and maybe you too will be able to visualize the chromed out Chevys that used to line the parking spaces. Thank you for the meal, and don't ever change.