I was intrigued to hear that a decent BBQ joint had opened up near my mom's house as I'm always a sucker for good BBQ. I wasn't expecting much since it is the 'burbs but the Yelp reviews would make you feel like it was the 2nd coming. I feel a bit snobby for saying this but I guess this is the difference between eating in the 'burbs and eating in an urban environment. Similar to my beloved Fette Sau and Hometown BBQ, you order meat by the pound or in sandwich form. But unlike my favorite BBQ places, they serve more basic cuts of meat (brisket, pulled pork, turkey, chicken and ribs) and it's got more of a fast food feel vs. a true BBQ joint. But I was still excited to try it.
I got the 2 meat sampler ($8.99) of brisket and pulled pork and a side of mac and cheese ($2.09). The prices were quite shocking - even for the 'burbs. They asked if I wanted the brisket moist or lean and I opted for moist. They call your name and you pick it up and bring it to your table - it was a pretty standard BBQ look and feel with sliced meat on brown paper on a tray. They also give you a side of corn bread with your order. What I liked best about this place is that each table has a 6-pack of different kinds of BBQ sauce that give you a feel of what it's like to eat BBQ in other important BBQ parts of the country like Memphis, Kansas City, Texas, the Carolinas, etc. I love that idea. I tried the brisket first and even though I had ordered it moist, it was more on the dry side. In fact, it wasn't very moist at all. It wasn't terrible but I had to slather Kansas City sauce on it to make it more wet. I would have liked a bit more fat to it as well (that would have made it moist). The pulled pork was better and it was a good heaping of it. It still required sauce to make it more moist but less so. The mac and cheese was the yummy ooey gooey Veleeta kind, which I truly love but I can't say it was a culinary wonder. The corn bread was eh - they didn't give you any butter or jam for it so it came off as kind of dry. I would have preferred a nice parker roll to sop up any grease and make my own meat sandwich with any leftovers. I didn't try Mike's ribs but they did look like they fell right off the bone.
I will say that the service, while generally self-serve, was great. The cashiers were all really friendly and manager walked around, asked how everyone was doing and if he could help clear tables. It was a nice gesture and I appreciated it. I don't mean to shit all over a place simply because it's in the 'burbs, but the difference in quality between a place like this and Hometown BBQ is pretty evident. But for the 'burbs, it's not bad and I would come back to try a sandwich or two, just maybe not the brisket version. I came home and felt super thirsty so I think they probably added a lot of salt to the meat. I'll give huge props for the price point. I can easily spend $40/pp at Fette Sau or Hometown BBQ but here the price was a very affordable $37 for 3 people!
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