5 Best Bacon Dishes

Sure, it’s darn near impossible to turn down crispy bacon when it’s the highlight of a meal (like at breakfast). But what about the rest of the day? That salty ingredient doesn’t have to be the main event to stick out in delicious bacon-friendly dishes. These are five of our favorites, each one an example of how bacon (arguably the world’s most perfect cured meat) can bring an everyday dish to a new level of tastiness.

By Katie Pollock Estes with additional reporting by Dylan Whitaker
417 Magazine, September 2011

Chocolate-Covered Bacon Where: Elle’s Patisserie,
1454 E. Cherry St., Springfield,
417-832-2171
Why We Love It: Who doesn’t adore the oh-so-wrong, but oh-so-right combination of sweet and salty flavors? It’s like everything your taste buds need, all at once. And that’s what you get with chocolate-covered bacon. Best part: The blanket of chocolate doesn’t diminish the crispiness of the bacon; there’s a big, fat crunch with every funky little bite.

Fiesta Jalapeños Where: Las Margaritas,
2113 W. Republic Rd., Springfield,
417-887-1213
Why We Love It: These little babies are delicious. They take fresh jalapeños and stuff them with chicken, cheese and bacon, and then deep-fry them until they are nice and crispy. It’s like a jalapeño popper on steroids. Using a fresh jalapeño makes a huge difference in the flavor profile, and when you combine it with crunchy bacon, you have a winner.

Ozark Mountain of Fries
Where: Springfield Brewing Company,
301 S. Market Ave., Springfield,
417-832-8277
Why We Love It: Like the other items on this menu, bacon isn’t the only ingredient lending super-flavor to this dish. But without the bacon? It just wouldn’t shine as brightly. Those salty-crunchy bits of fried pig are what take each bite of these fries off the charts. It’s like a loaded baked potato you can eat with your fingers. (Other yummies that top the crisp waffle fries: white American cheese, cheddar cheese, red onion and sour cream.)

Asiago Bacon Cream Sauce
Where: Metropolitan Grill,
2931 E. Battlefield, Springfield,
417-889-4951
Why We Love It: We first tried this sauce on penne pasta as part of the Mr. Darr lunch dish. Mr. Darr comes with a wrap, asiago-bacon penne and a salad: Lots of tastes to enjoy. But once lunch was over, we found ourselves drooling over the memory of that bacony sauce. The perfect complement to the perfect cured meat is an indulgently creamy sauce. Add the sharp cheesiness of asiago, and this is the best-dressed we’ve seen bacon in a long time.

Candied Bacon
Where: Savor Restaurant,
234 E. Commercial St., Springfield,
417-831-5111
Why We Love It: It’s like everything you love about bacon, but wrapped in the sweet and tender embrace of just the teensiest bit of barely-there sweetness. At Savor, you can find candied bacon in a number of dishes: stacked onto burgers, wrapped around tender filets or even surrounding grilled asparagus. Basically, if it’s a dish that’s better with bacon, it even better than that with candied bacon.