For whatever reason, Steven Raichlen likes driving around St. Louis with me. Raichlen (always “Steven”; never “Steve”) is one of the most likeable food superstars I’ve encountered, always remembering little things about me even though we only see each other every couple of years.

(Read Raichlen’s thoughts on cedar planking and wrapping in this article for the Let’s Eat section.)

Last time through, I took him to Annie Gunn’s; this time, I wanted to show him Pappy’s, since in his book BBQ USA, he professed a fondness for Super Smokers, and Mike Emerson barbecues in a style very similar to Super Smokers (and in fact used to work there).

While we noshed on a Pappy’s sampler, Raichlen gave me some glimpses into his newest writing project, his first novel. (He’s also working on a new food book called Planet Barbecue. He’s a prolific sucker: He already has 28 books under his belt.)

“I ended up rewriting it seven times,” Raichlen said. “I think it got substantially better each time.”

He also said that his creative process changed from non-fiction to fiction.

“The food books I tend to write on planes,” Raichlen said. “But for this, I found myself home in Miami more than I’d been in five or six years. I’d go to sleep looking forward to waking up and working on it.”

Raichlen describes the book as a love story set off the coast of New England. (Raichlen has a home on Martha’s Vineyard where he spends about half of his non-traveling time.) His eclectic group of characters include a New York book editor, a dwarf oncologist, a self-help guru, a disaffected punk teenager and a ferry-boat operator. He’s keeping the main character a surprise, but he also somehow works in psychoanalyst Wilhelm Reich and his “Orgone Energy Box.”

Raichlen said that several agents were vying for the project.