Barbecue & Baseball

Bonnie B's Smokin' Barbeque Heaven

2011-06-05T14:37:00.000-07:00

Has it really been 13 months since I wrote about my maiden trip to Bonnie B's? I know time goes faster and faster as the years go by, but this is getting ridiculous. It seems like maybe it was two months ago that my mom and I had lunch here one afternoon. But it wasn't - it was May of last year.

On Saturday, Elizabeth and I both felt like barbecue. We had been feeling that way since the previous weekend, when we stood around at Zeke's for several minutes and weren't acknowledged (and we went elsewhere for lunch). We considered going down to Long Beach, but we had several errands to run in town and we wanted to stay close. That certainly narrows the options; Perdue's and Barner Burner are closed, Gus's isn't real barbecue, Zeke's apparently doesn't want our business. Robin's is pretty good most of the time but we wanted something quicker. I suggested Bonnie B's.

It was pretty busy when we walked in. Several women were waiting for to-go orders and only one table was vacant. We looked at the menu briefly then Elizabeth sat down while I placed our order at the counter.

There are three bottles of sauce on the table at Bonnie B's: mild, medium and hot. As usually happens at places like this that serve three tomato-based sauces, all three taste mostly the same. The mild is too sweet and the medium and hot taste almost identical. None of the sauces were bad, but none stood out. I much prefer a place that offers a mustard and/or vinegar sauce in addition to the ketchup-tasting sauce.

Elizabeth had the brisket sandwich with a side of potato salad. She was really enjoying it and offered me a bite. I stabbed at a piece and ate it - it was way too fatty.

"I don't think this is fatty at all," she said. So I took another piece and it was very good. So I took a third, also very good. I guess that first bite was an aberration.

I had the hot link on a bun. It was great: dense, meaty and smokey. I easily could have eaten two of these. I added some spicy sauce to my last few bites and it was an okay complement, but really the link needed nothing else.

The potato salad was awesome. It wasn't overloaded with dressing; the taste of potatoes was dominant. I sprinkled several shakes of pepper over my portion just to add some spice, and I ate every bite of mine and finished off Elizabeth's.

I wish they offered some pulled pork at Bonnie B's, as well as slaw and a different kind of barbecue sauce, but those are small complaints. Overall I like the place. They are very friendly and the 'cue is good.

Tootie's Texas Barbeque

2011-02-24T15:46:00.000-08:00

Tootie's Texas Barbeque
68703 Perez Rd
Cathedral City, CA 92234

Wow it's been a while since I've updated this blog. In the fall and winter, barbecue just doesn't come to mind very often when I'm thinking about what to eat. Every once in a while I want some, but overall I associate barbecue with the spring and summer. If I can't watch a baseball game while eating some 'cue, something is lost. I suppose that makes me a contextualist, one of those annoying people who claim you can't eat barbecue unless you're sitting in a roadside shack in the South. The same people who have always bothered me. So I'm a hypocrite. Whatever. It's a free blog.

My friend Tim was in Palm Springs for three days this week for a work event, one that involved attending banquets at night and playing golf during the day. But Tim decided he would rather explore the area's bars and restaurants during the day than play golf. This is one of many reasons why I like him. I emailed him a link to Tootie's website, explaining that I'd heard it was very good but that I'd never been.

Thursday, Tim sent me all of the above pictures from his phone, explaining that he was about to test the place out. I was particularly hungry and he kept sending pictures. What an asshole.

Three hours later he sent a text asking if I was at home. I responded yes. "I'll be there soon with BBQ" he replied. Like I said, what a great guy.

I am not going to offer my opinion on the following items, just state what they are. How could I accurately describe food that sat in a styrofoam container for three hours before it was eaten? I will say, however, that the barbecue sauce was spicy. I love spicy, but if I ever visit the restaurant I will not be using this sauce on my food, it is distracting.

Sausage, brisket and pork.

The "homemade cajun hot link sausage." This was the spiciest of all things I tried. Since all of them had sauce, I imagine this is normally hotter than the other items.

Pulled pork.

Brisket.

Maybe some day I'll make it out to Cathedral City and do a real review of the place. I mean, I'll have to find out where Cathedral City is first (I literally have no idea without looking at a map), but maybe one day I will.

Wood Ranch: The Pulled Pork Sandwich

2010-08-25T12:02:00.000-07:00

There are very few restaurants of any kind - let alone barbecue restaurants - with which my relationship has changed more over the years. When I first started eating at the Wood Ranch in Agoura Hills, in 1999, there was perhaps no restaurant on Earth at which I would rather be. Not the Crab Cooker, not Hutch's, not the Far Western Tavern. The "America's Best BBQ Beef Sandwich" was arguably that (or at least I thought so at the time): a crusty roll stuffed with tender tri tip and drenched in sauce.

Then it changed and I changed and the love affair ended. We were both at fault. In 2000, I took the first trip of my adult life through the South and ate lots of barbecue along the way. I learned I much prefer pork to beef, and, more importantly, I prefer spicy vinegar and mustard-based sauces to the ketchup-based, sweet sauces of the Midwest and West. Wood Ranch's sauce is about as sweet as you can get.

I began to understand Charles Kuralt's advice in his magnificent memoir "Charles Kuralt's America":

“I have spent a good part of my life looking for the perfect barbecue. There is no point in looking in places like Texas, where they put some kind of ketchup on beef and call it barbecue."

For its part, Wood Ranch didn't make the effort it used to, either. I lived near the Grove for a while and visited the Wood Ranch there a few times. The portions were not close to the size of what I received out in Agoura Hills. After a couple visits to the Wood Ranch in Arcadia I decided I was probably done with the place. The portions were still small, and the tri tip sandwich was more often than not full of fat. This always perplexed me; tri tip is one of the leanest cuts. Did they actually add fat to the sandwich so they could use less meat?

Prices kept going up, quantity and quality kept going down, my barbecue tastes had changed. It was time to move on. Don't think twice, it's all right.

Then my friend Phil repeated a rumor he had heard somewhere that Wood Ranch was going to be coming out with a pulled pork sandwich. That grabbed my attention. For as good as the tri tip used to be at Wood Ranch, they didn't offer much else in terms of actual barbecue, other than ribs that tasted suspicously oven-baked. There was no pork, no brisket, no pulled chicken or hot links. The idea that they would start pulling pork was intriguing.

Once every few weeks I would go on to their website and check out the various locations' menus. There was never any mention of pulled pork. Finally I started seeing mentions of it showing up on Yelp, eventually enough that I figured the pulled pork was available.

Yesterday my brother and I decided to go out to lunch together. I came up with some suggestions, like Zelo ("I don't want pizza"), Din Tai Fung ("Last time I went there it was terrible") and Wood Ranch. Barbecue sounded good to him so we headed down to the Arcadia mall.

It was 11:28 when we walked in. The sign says they open at 11:30. Several people were sitting on the bench waiting. "It will be another five minutes." the hostess said. So apparently they don't open until 11:33. This would not be a big deal to me if it wasn't for the fact that several servers were standing around the bar joking with each other, and two others were play-boxing in another part of the restaurant. Apparently that's what they do until three minutes after their posted opening time. Of course, having been to this location about a dozen times, I was not surprised.

My brother and I did one lap around the food court and returned to the restaurant. We were shown to a booth. The table was covered with debris - several pieces of dirt, bread crumbs, and even a dead bug. You can re-read the previous paragraph and insert your own joke. I took the napkin on the table - rolled up around the silverware - and swept the debris off the table. The napkin was covered with crud.

"This napkin is filthy," I said to the server.

"Sorry," she said sweetly, "that's embarrassing."

She seemed like a very nice girl and was genuinely embarrassed, so I did not tell her why the napkin was filthy. She asked if I wanted a Coors Light, which surprised me. I do not know if I have ever been to a sit-down restaurant where the server flat-out asked me "Would you like a Coors Light?" Maybe I just look like a Coors Light kind of guy.

It was 11:35 in the morning, though, and it was already over 100 degrees out, so alcohol was the last thing on my mind. Okay, that's not true, it was probably the fourth thing on my mind, as usual. But all I wanted was water - I didn't even want the iced tea that I usually drink with barbecue - so I ordered one and turned my attention to the menu.

Not only is it pulled pork, but it is prepared Carolina-style, my absolute favorite style of barbecue. The menu promised the pork is smoked over hickory and apple wood (the latter is my favorite wood for smoking pork) and served with slaw and a vinegar sauce. I was equal parts very excited and apprehensive. That's the ideal description of how I want barbecue cooked and served, and yet, there was a nagging feeling that they wouldn't do it right.

We snacked on some of their garlic rolls while waiting for the food. My sandwich arrived and I studied it for a couple minutes. It certainly looked great. I decided to try a couple bites first without adding any sauce.

Wow. It was outstanding. I mean, this could have been a Big Mista sandwich. The pork was devoid of any fat and was slightly juicy with a touch of smoke taste. The slaw was very good. The sauce was okay. It was certainly better than the cloying house barbecue sauce, but there were some strange flavors in it, including a fair amount of, I believe, cinnamon. I would have preferred that vinegar be the main flavor of the sauce instead of the spices, but that is a very minor complaint, especially when the sandwich was this good.

The pulled pork sandwich is cheaper than the tri tip sandwich and more filling. I can't say that I now am once again in love with Wood Ranch, since this was my first time trying the pulled pork, but I certainly can say that I loved this particular sandwich, and I would gladly return to try another one.

My brother had the tri tip plate for lunch. He wanted to take pictures of it.

"Aw, man, these are going to be the best pictures that have ever appeared on your blog." My brother is nothing if not modest.

Robin's: The Bodacious "Que" Stacker

2010-08-19T15:36:00.000-07:00

Once more I am back at Robin's, a combination of circumstances both bad (a blown tire on my car that ruined my plans for the day) and good (my mom offering to take me to lunch) and a desire to eat some barbecue. It's been a while since I've been to Robin's; I don't think I've eaten there in almost a year. I have no good reason why. In my most recent post on the place, in August of last year, I wrote that their consistency has improved dramatically in the last few years. I just haven't been in a while.

There is a new (to me) sandwich on the menu: the "Bodacious 'Que' Stacker" - tri tip, pulled pork, a hot link, pepperjack cheese and "hell-fire" pickle chips, all doused with Robin's Mad Dog barbecue sauce.

I immediately sensed several things that could go wrong with this sandwich. Robin's tri tip has always been my least favorite of their meats. I am always suspicious of barbecue sandwiches served with cheese. The Mad Dog sauce is my least favorite of the four sauces that Robin's offers. And, as is always the danger in a sandwich with multiple meats, if one of them isn't good it can ruin the whole thing.

But then I figured: Why not?

It was well after the lunch rush and there were only a couple other tables occupied in the joint, so our food came out remarkably fast. It might have been less than five minutes. My sandwich certainly looked and smelled good when it arrived, a dense tower of barbecue and cheese. I took a bite.

It was really, really good. The tri tip was unquestionably the best I have ever had from Robin's. It was thin and juicy and lined with smoke ring. The pork was very good, as it has been on every occasion in the last couple years. The hot link was dense, smoky and flavorful. These resemble the hot links that the Robin's BBQ stand sells at the South Pasadena farmers market in the same way that this year's Angels team resembles last year's. Not much.

There was no need for cheese on the sandwich; it added nothing and I took some of it off, but it wasn't bad. I had assumed the hell-fire pickles would be spicy but they were not, not even the slightest bit. I was thankful that the sauce had been used sparingly, and I requested a side of their Carolina mustard sauce to eat on some of the more porcine bites of the sandwich.

I ate the whole thing and, although I was full, I would be lying if I said I didn't wish there were a couple more bites.

I will try not to let another year go by before I return to Robin's.

If anyone wants to see something a little healthier, my mom got a tri tip salad with the dressing on the side. She said it was her favorite thing she has ever had from Robin's.

Dodgers vs. Yankees: Elizabeth's First Dodgers Game

2010-06-28T08:29:00.000-07:00

Despite the way I feel about the Dodgers these days - basically nothing - there is nothing better than a summer game in Dodger Stadium. And 5PM is the perfect start time. Elizabeth has lived here for more than two years and, although we have been to several Angels and Quakes games, we have never been to Dodger Stadium together.

She loves the Yankees. Yes, this is perhaps her biggest flaw, but I can't say I blame her. (I mean, I love the Lakers; I can understand people calling that my biggest flaw.) She grew up in New York, going to Yankees games with her dad. She was born during a Yankees game and it took a while to find her dad because he was off watching the Yankees. She went to school in New York City (Fordham University - just like Vin Scully) and the Yankees won the World Series 3 of the 4 years she was in college. She can't help it.

So, with the Yankees coming to Dodger Stadium for the first time in years, I knew we had to go. In a typical Dodgers move, they did not sell tickets to this series unless you bought a season ticket plan of some kind, so tickets weren't the easiest to get. But my friend Tim came through and was able to get us two tickets on the field level.

I have a Dodgers hat and I like to wear it when I really want to cheer for the Dodgers - basically, when they play the Giants, Red Sox or Yankees. But I wasn't sure where the hat was. I looked for it for quite a while, then decided maybe it was at my parents' house, so we went over there. Sure enough, it was there - buried in a duffel bag back on a shelf in a closet. I put it on.

"I thought you didn't like the Dodgers," my mom commented.

This is a common misconception amongst my friends. It's not that I don't like them - although I did hate them when I was a kid - it's just that I used to have a lot of fun going to Dodgers games when I was a teenager, and I actually did like them. But too much has changed with the team in the last decade and I hardly ever go to games anymore. I liked cheering for Piazza and Karros and Chan Ho and Nomo. There hasn't been anybody on the Dodgers whom I have wanted to cheer for in the last few years.

My dad told us that he had stopped by Philippe's to get sandwiches on Friday night and the place was packed with people going to the game. One guy was trying to sell an extra ticket that he didn't need.

"He was only asking face value for a ticket in the Loge level," my dad exclaimed. "And it was fifty dollars! I had no idea you had to pay that much for a ticket these days."

Instead of dealing with the parking, we took the Gold Line down to Union Station and the free (as long as you have a ticket) shuttle bus to Dodger Stadium. This was spectacular; I don't know why anyone would do it differently. Ten minutes after boarding the bus at Union Station we were dropped off in center field about 300 feet from our gate.

We sat in our seats for a few minutes and I ate some garlic fries. They were full of garlic but not very warm. This could have been a great stadium food, but it was not. We had 45 minutes until the game started, so we walked around a bit.

I wish I could have seen Koufax pitch: 4 no-hitters and 3 Cy Young Awards, when he won the pitching triple crown each year.

At least we knew where we weren't going to eat...

Andy Pettitte: Elizabeth's favorite Yankee of the last 15 years. She was lucky enough to see him pitch and, since it was at the Dodgers, see him bat. He actually put down a pretty good bunt.

Elizabeth wearing the shirt of her favorite Yankee of all time: Don Mattingly. More than any other team I can think of, when you see Yankees fans they are often wearing jerseys and shirts of their former players. (Well, almost every girl between the ages of 12 and 35 is wearing a Jeter jersey, but the others often have older players.)

"It's funny," Elizabeth said, "how many people are wearing jerseys of past Yankee greats."

"Yeah," I said, "and Don Mattingly."

This is somewhat unfair, although I often like to make fun of her love for Donnie Baseball. He was a great player, but one fact remains: the Yankees played in the World Series in 1981. Mattingly came up with the Yankees in 1982. They did not play in the World Series for his entire 14 year career. They did not even make the playoffs for 13 years. Then he retired after the 1995 season. The next year, 1996, the Yankees won the World Series, the first of four championships in 5 years.

My Dodger Dog: mustard, relish, onions.

Elizabeth's first Dodger Dog: only a little mustard. Simplicity.

Elizabeth's $10 Budweiser. At Yankee Stadium I once paid $11 for a Miller Light, so I guess this was a "deal."

The reason I think 5PM is the perfect start time in the summer: it's an afternoon game, then everything in Chavez Ravine turns golden and it's an evening game, and then it becomes a night game. Well, it would have been for us, except....

We left after the 8th inning with the Dodgers up 6-2. Elizabeth was sick of the way the Yankees were playing. "They can't come back," she said. I was just plain sick - I had a headache from the out-of-control fans of both teams screaming insults back and forth at one another in our section. A girl a couple rows back was actually going hoarse from screaming "Yankees suck!" I guess that's fun for a lot of people. I hate to be the grumpy old man, but I would rather relax and watch a ballgame, cheering when my team does something good and reserving boos for only the most deserving of instances. Like whenever ARod bats.

So we took the Dodger Express bus back to Union Station and the Gold Line home, and got back just in time to see the last out of the 9th inning - it was now a tie game. The Yankees scored twice more in the 10th and won the game. Oh well. For the most part it was a great time at the ballpark, and Elizabeth loved her first trip to Dodger Stadium.

Lucille's Smokehouse Bar B Que

2010-06-05T10:28:00.000-07:00

Lucille's Smokehouse Bar B Que
7411 Carson Blvd
Long Beach, CA 90808

Almost exactly five years ago, I had just returned from a vacation to Memphis in May with my friends Hatcher and Min. Although Memphis in May encompasses several weekends of festivals, the one we went to probably will not come as much of a surprise to you: The World Championship Barbecue Cooking Contest. I ate barbecue for every meal save two: 1) a deep fried hamburger at Dyer's, the legendary Beale Street joint where all beef patties are fried in a vat of oil, an oil they have not changed in 98 years, and 2) a chicken gyro sandwich one afternoon when Min declared we needed to "eat something healthy." I have no idea what gave her that idea.

That chicken sandwich, from a chain called Zoë's Kitchen, was actually fantastic, although not entirely in keeping with the spirit of the trip. Nor in keeping with the spirit of Memphis, I suppose: the restaurant has gone out of business. This does not surprise me, as most things on the menu were pretty healthy. I am not one for souvenir t-shirts but I have one from that trip that I love. It has the Memphis in May logo on the front and on the back it reads: "Memphis, the 4th Fattest City in America. We Won't Rest Until We're #1"

When I got back from that trip I abstained from barbecue for a long time. Okay, it was only 48 hours. But it seemed like a long time for me. A couple weekends later my buddy Troy invited me down to see his new place in Long Beach and take me out for barbecue. We went to Lucille's in the Belmont Shore section of town.

"This may not compare to what you just ate in Memphis," he said, "but I really like this place. I'm anxious to know your thoughts."

This was a gorgeous afternoon and the restaurant was packed, as indeed all of Long Beach seemed to be. We took a table in the bar - the only table in the house for which there was not a wait - and drank a couple cold beers while watching the Angels beat up the Red Sox 13-6. (I actually just looked up the box score from that game to double check my memory; not only am I correct, but it turns out that was five years ago to the day. Funny.)

I ordered a pulled pork sandwich that day, realizing even at the time that was probably going to be a disappointment. I mean, in the last three weeks I had eaten pulled pork at some of the most hallowed names in barbecue: Charlie Vergos' Rendezvous, Corky's, Central BBQ. (I even had a pulled pork sandwich on President Clinton Ave in Little Rock on the way to Memphis, just after visiting the Clinton Library, that was almost the equal of those Memphis sandwiches.)

What surprised me was that the pulled pork sandwich I had that day at Lucille's was awesome. Speckled with smoke ring and served on a soft bun, it was unquestionably the best barbecue sandwich I had ever had from a chain in California.

I never went back to that Lucille's, but I have been to the one in Rancho Cucamonga (in Victoria Gardens) several times since then, and have never had a sandwich that came close to the Belmont Shore sandwich. So a couple years ago I kind of gave up on Lucille's. It was always good, but not worth fighting the always-present crowds, higher than average prices, and inconsistent quality.

Yesterday I had the day off and volunteered to go with my mom down to Newport Beach - she was picking up something she needed for work and this way we could go in the carpool lane. A few miles north of Long Beach we both were hungry. I suggested going to Lucille's, and she agreed. This is not the same one I went to 5 years ago in the Belmont Shore section of Long Beach, this is right off the 605 Freeway.

We got a booth right away and both ordered iced teas. Served in a Mason jar, this was one of the better restaurant iced teas I have had in a while. The menu at Lucille's is big, not to mention several lunch specials, but I decided to get my usual pulled pork sandwich. My mom ordered a half a ham sandwich and cup of chowder, and we ordered some Dixie egg rolls to start.

Dixie egg rolls have always been my favorite appetizer here: diced chicken, andouille sausage, grilled corn, greens and cheese, all stuffed into an egg roll wrapper and fried. They are very good, although the fruit sauce they are served with is a little too sweet so I only use it sparingly, instead opting for the Memphis barbecue sauce.

There are three bottles of barbecue sauce on the table: Original, Hot and Spicy, and Memphis. The Original is disgustingly sweet: it tastes of molasses and honey and not much else. The Hot and Spicy is decent but not really hot or spicy. It's more of a regular barbecue sauce with a tiny amount of spice thrown in. The Memphis sauce is my favorite of the bunch. It's not anything fancy - ketchup, mustard, brown sugar and vinegar - and to be honest I don't recall ever having a sauce in Memphis that tasted like this, but it's tasty.

My pulled pork sandwich looked very good when it arrived, served on a fresh potato bun. Plenty of the pieces of pork were tipped with smoke ring and, once I removed a pretty large piece of fat, it was a good sandwich, except for one thing: it had mayonnaise on it. I don't like when restaurants put mayo on barbecue - it's just an attempt to hide the flavor - but at least they usually alert you to the fact. Lucille's menu claimed the pork came with a "Creole mustard sauce" which sounded good to me. But this was just mayo. It added nothing and made it impossible for me to call the sandwich anything other than slightly-better-than-average.

I tried some of the corn chowder. It was a Southern-style, with pieces of ham in it and overall much thinner than any version I have ever had. For a warm late-spring day it was quite nice, although I think I prefer the thicker style that you usually find. I did not try any of the ham sandwich but my mom liked it a lot, the ham being marinated in Coca Cola and molasses before being smoked.

I am glad I returned to Lucille's after a few years, and I like the place, but it is nothing too special. All of the locations are beautifully decorated, but the large menu makes it impossible to specialize in any one thing. It's much better than most chain restaurants, but it pales in comparison to my favorite small barbecue joints like Bludso's or Perdue's.

Zeke's Smokehouse

2010-05-21T09:30:00.000-07:00

I've written about Zeke's a couple times before - I have been going there for many years and, on their best days, it is outstanding barbecue - so I will keep this relatively short. The other day I was running an errand with my brother and we were trying to decide where to go for lunch. We drove through Montrose, thinking about trying 3 Drunken Goats, but at the last moment we decided just to get some barbecue. (This is never a tough decision for us.)

I had not been to Zeke's in more than half a year. There are some new additions - or perhaps I hadn't noticed them before and they're only new to me. Either way, the feeling's the same. There is a small menu on each table called the "Dog Gone Hard Times Menu," featuring items like sliders and catfish bites. I love catfish but my brother is not much of a seafood fan, so we didn't get an order. (I will, however, be returning at some point with someone who is willing to split them with me.)

There is also a specialty beverage menu with drinks like Mexican Coke, Abita Root Beer (from my beloved Abita Brewing Co. in Louisiana, makers of Turbodog), and Original Dublin Dr Pepper. For those not familiar with that last item, it comes from Dublin, Texas and is the oldest Dr Pepper bottling plant in the world. It uses the original Dr Pepper formula - pure cane sugar - and is only supposed to be available in the Dublin area, although it is well known that people purchase it in the area and "bootleg" it out of state.

An item I had never seen before on the menu was called the "mixed rib sandwich." I inquired about it and was told it is meat taken off of pork and beef ribs, mixed with sauce and served on a bun. I immediately ordered it, with some kettle chips and cole slaw. My brother ordered a two item combo of dark meat chicken and a ham steak, with double fries.

The food was ready in only a few minutes. I have never liked the buns they use at Zeke's; I cannot understand why they serve barbecue that is often great on dense, stale buns. I have written before that if they used soft buns, or even plain white bread, their barbecue could be legendary. But the bun on my sandwich was, thankfully, very fresh. It made a big difference, and the meat was delicious. I was concerned the sauce would overpower the meat, but Zeke's sauce isn't too sweet. It would be better without the sauce, I'm sure, but it was still very good.

I did not try any of my brother's 'cue, but he cleaned his plate, so I'm sure he liked it.

As I wrote, I had not been to Zeke's in more than half a year. When I have been in the mood for barbecue recently, I have experimented with new places rather than going with the tried and true option of Zeke's. But I am going to go back at least once or twice soon to try some of these new items.

Joey's Smokin' BBQ

2010-05-19T06:06:00.000-07:00

Joey's Smokin' BBQ
3564 N. Sepulveda Blvd.
Manhattan Beach, CA 90266

I have never been a fan of Luke Walton. I'm talking about Luke Walton the basketball player, of course, not Luke Walton the man. Personally, Luke could be a great guy. I have never met him and I imagine I never will.

But Luke the basketball player has always been a frustrating act to follow. I watched him for years when he played college ball for the University of Arizona. With the possible exception of Adam Morrison, I have never seen a player who was allowed to commit offensive fouls with as much frequency as Luke. His entire offensive game was basically catching the ball, extending his left arm out in front of him and driving to the basket, pushing off against whatever player was guarding him.

I was relatively sure that would not translate to the pros, and it has not. My friend Troy refers to Luke as "1 and 2," because for every one good thing Luke does, he makes two equally boneheaded plays immediately after. Watch him some time, you will be amazed; it's like clockwork. This short clip explains my frustration with Walton's apathetic, weak play - it would have taken only a minimal amount of effort to dunk the ball and avoid it being blocked, but that was asking too much:

Consequently, when I heard years ago that Luke Walton was part owner of a barbecue restaurant in Manhattan Beach called Joey's Smokin' BBQ, I did not think I would ever make it there. That's not a part of town I venture to with much frequency, but more importantly, I read several reviews of the place on the web, and pretty much every blog whose opinions I respect absolutely trashed Joey's.

But recently I was called upon at the last minute to pick someone up from LAX. I had some free time, so I decided to head down to Joey's - it's just a couple miles south of the airport - and have lunch. It was packed when I walked in.

I decided to order the "Southern Sliders": three mini sandwiches, one each of pulled pork, brisket, and hot links. My first indication that things were not going to be great was the menu description that each of the sliders is served with "sweet barbecue sauce." If you have ever read this blog before you can probably guess what I'm going to say: any barbecue chef who serves you barbecue with the sauce already on it - and especially a sweet sauce - does not want you to pay much attention to the 'cue. (And why someone would think the same sauce will be equally good on three different kinds of meat is beyond me.) I opted to get some cole slaw and fries along with the sliders.

It only took about ten minutes to get the food. While I was waiting I poured myself two small containers of barbecue sauce - their sweet sauce, the kind of sugary junk you would find at Tony Roma's (back when there were actually Tony Roma's in the San Gabriel Valley), and their spicier sauce, which was actually quite good. It was peppery and reminded me of Rudy's, probably my favorite tomato-based sauce in the country.

Let's start with the best part: the brisket was slightly smoky, with a deep beef flavor. The sweet sauce added nothing to it, and all I could think was how much better it would have been if they had used the spicier sauce. But I liked the beef.

The "Memphis pulled pork" was horrible. I could not see smoke ring anywhere in the sandwich and the meat was a damp mess, full of fat and no flavor. I scooped some slaw onto it and added mustard, hoping it would make it a little bit better. It did not. I'm not a lawyer but I don't see how Joey's can co-opt the word "Memphis" without suffering some kind of retribution. In five trips to that city I have never seen a sandwich resembling this.

The hot link was the worst of the bunch. There was no flavor to it and the casing on the link tasted like a rubber band. I eventually had to peel off what I could and try to eat the remaining link. Unfortunately, pretty much all that was left was fat.

The cole slaw was acceptable, the same sweet stuff you get at KFC. Not terrible but nothing you hope you will ever eat again. The fries were terrible. They were limp and room temperature. Obviously they had been sitting out for a while.

I want to say Joey's was disappointing, but that would imply I had some kind of high expectations for it. I did not. It was exactly the kind of place I thought it would be: food drenched in a sweet sauce and called barbecue, served by people who don't really care about what they're doing.

Bonnie B's

2010-05-17T08:57:00.000-07:00

Bonnie B's Smokin

1280 North Lake Ave.

Pasadena, CA 91104

Bonnie B's opened a few months back, but until a few days ago I had not been, for many reasons. First, and perhaps most importantly, almost all desires for barbecue in Pasadena have been filled in the last year by Perdue's, which is only a few blocks away from Bonnie's. Second, the menu on their website features stock photos. This is somewhat of a red flag for me: if a place has pride in the barbecue, why are they using someone else's photos of someone else's food?

So I never made it in. Just the other day, however, I was having lunch with my mom and I suggested we give Bonnie B's a try. The inside of the restaurant, while a much different look than the down-home style of Perdue's, nonetheless reminded me of the legendary Arthur Bryant's in Kansas City: photos of world leaders on on the walls and an assortment of out-of-place signs ("Friend of Bill W"). Of course, at Arthur Bryant's the photos are of famous people who have actually visited the restaurant; I'm guessing the people pictured on the wall at Bonnie's have not been there. Perhaps someday.

My mom ordered a brisket sandwich. I ordered a half pound of chopped pork. The woman told me they did not have any. I asked if that meant they did not have any that day, or if they no longer offer it. She said have stopped offering it, they just have not changed the menu yet. Disappointed, I changed my order to a hot link on a bun. Hot links aren't the best measure of a 'cue joint's ability, but I do love them. And, at any rate, I was relatively sure my mom would let me try the brisket.

We sat down. Also reminiscent of Arthur Bryant's, there were three squeeze bottles of barbecue sauce on the table: mild, medium, and hot. I figured they would probably just be the same sauce with varying levels of heat added to them. I was incorrect. More on that in a second.

The food was ready in a little over five minutes - something else that distinguishes it from Perdue's, in a good way. I first took a bite of my mom's brisket. I was not very impressed. It was good, but tasted as if it had been cooked in an oven instead of smoked. A few minutes later I took another small bite of a piece, however, that had a bit of smoke ring to it and tasted much more of barbecue. My guess? That the brisket was smoked, but perhaps at least a day earlier, and then reheated. I would be glad to try this again as long as it was fresh out of the smoker, but not if it was a leftover.

My hot link, on the other hand, was fantastic. It is the best one I have ever had in Pasadena. This town isn't exactly a barbecue paradise, I understand, however I have had at least a half dozen hot links from other places in town, and this beat them all. It was slightly smokey, a little bit spicy, and very dense. I will absolutely be having one of these again.

Now, about the sauce. I first tried a splash of the "hot" sauce on my hot link. I had to double check to make sure I had grabbed the right one, because it was not spicy at all. Just a basic, too-sweet sauce. I tried the mild next. It was almost the same, although not quite as spicy. Reluctantly, I tried the medium last, thinking it would certainly be the same as the other two.

It was not. It was a much-thinner sauce, and it was delicious. I have written many times that I prefer vinegar or mustard-based sauces, but if it's going to be a tomato-based sauce, this is very much how I want it to taste: thin, a little spicy, with the taste of black pepper.

I liked Bonnie B's more than I thought I would. The potato salad we both got was not anything special, but was passable. I wish they had more pork options, and there was no slaw on the menu, but the hot link was so good that it guarantees I will return.

Clear Channel Stadium: Quakes @ Jethawks

2010-04-19T08:32:00.000-07:00

For three summers I have wanted to catch Quakes away games at the various California League stadiums throughout the state, but I never have. Something has always gotten in the way. By "something" I guess I mean laziness. Three years ago I was on my way up to Adelanto to see the Quakes at the High Desert Mavericks when a major windstorm in the Devore Pass slowed traffic to 15 mph. I didn't feel like dealing with it so I went home. Two years ago I was going to see the Quakes at Lake Elsinore. I decided to go wine tasting instead.

Last year I purchased tickets weeks in advance to see the Quakes at Inland Empire. Then Manny Ramirez was suspended for 50 games, came back to to do some "rehab" with the 66ers the weekend my tickets were for, and I sold my two $12 tickets for $45 each. The biggest part of the beauty of minor league baseball is that the fans are true fans of the game of baseball; they aren't front-runners or starf**kers who go to games to see particular players. I knew there were going to be many of those types at the game, so if I could skip that - and make $75 in the process - I was just fine with that.

But this year I have awaited the arrival of baseball season more than any I can remember. There hasn't been much else to keep me entertained in the last few months. UCLA football had another of its par-for-the-course-these-days .500 seasons. UCLA basketball was atrocious, as they have finally stopped practicing offense all together. The Lakers had the best record in the West, but they are still my least favorite Lakers team ever.

Baseball is the transfusion I needed to get those other teams out of my blood. I decided this should be the season I follow the Quakes to other venues. Saturday night Elizabeth and I went up to Lancaster to see the Quakes at the Jethawks.

I drove through Lancaster pretty much every year when I was a kid - on the way to Mammoth with my family. There was never much to see. Over the years the population tripled. The last time we went to Mammoth as a family, the summer after I graduated high school, there was a new minor league baseball park. A minor league team, the Pilots, had moved from Riverside and were now the Lancaster Jethawks.

We headed up to Lancaster in the afternoon to have lunch, play miniature golf, and visit the California Poppy Reserve. In the afternoon, about an hour and half before game time, I suggested we go to the stadium and hang out for a while. I figured there wouldn't be too many people at that hour and we could play catch in the parking lot or something. But when we got to the scene of the crime, there were hundreds of people in line already. I was not expecting this: Lancaster was 1-8, the worst team in the California League. (And, until Rancho Cuc swept the first three games of the series, the Quakes had the second-worst record.) Apparently they were giving away a fleece blanket to the first 1500 fans and, according to the Jethawks' website, it was "one of the most anticipated giveaway nights of the season." Well, then.

We took our place at the back of one of the lines, a couple hundred people deep, under the NASA F/A-18. We waited in line for about 20 minutes but it was a nice warm desert day so we didn't mind. Once inside we walked around for a while, taking pictures of the stadium. We bought a churro. A few weeks ago there was some discussion on the other blog about churros after a post on Olvera Street. That was one of the best churros I have ever had in my life. This one was perhaps the worst. It was hard enough for one of the players to use as a bat.

Since this stadium is north of the San Gabriel Mountains, there isn't much of a view; you're just looking out onto the high desert. That's fine with me, I don't mind concentrating on the game. But it's a far cry from sitting right beneath the mountains in Rancho Cucamonga.

My main complaint with the game, once it started, was the annoying trend of the sound system playing songs and making noises after every pitch. Now, I love the silliness of minor league ball as much as anyone. Whether it's the baby races at the Staten Island Yankees or the "free car wash for the dirtiest car in the parking lot" at the Great Falls Dodgers (my friend Tom and I had driven 500 miles through Montana that day and my car was crusted with dead bugs; I still fail to see how we lost, other than perhaps because I had California plates on my car) I love the informal atmosphere of minor league games. And I am in favor of anything silly between the innings. But once the game is being played, I find the huge ruckus distracting. But then again most people at the ballpark seemed to be enjoying it, so maybe I'm wrong.

The Jethawks got out to a several run lead but the Quakes pitcher settled down and finished the last 4 and 1/3 innings perfectly, and the Quakes were able to come back and win. When we got home we unwrapped the fleece blanket. I gotta admit, it's pretty nice, much more comfortable than I was expecting. With all the giveaways I have picked up at baseball games over the years, there is only one that I truly used for a long time: the beach towel I got at a Padres game I went to with my dad when I was 15, a double-header that turned out to include Tony Gwynn's 2000th hit. But I have a feeling this blanket is going to last a long time as well.

As I have written before, minor league games are the way to go if you love baseball. They are much cheaper (these tickets, which as you can see were very good) were $8 each, the game only lasted a little more than a couple hours, and the fans were really into the game. I don't like Clear Channel as much as the Epicenter, but it is still a great place to catch a game.

Perdue's Pulled Pork (With My Own Sauce)

2010-04-04T21:12:00.000-07:00

The other day I was asked a question by someone on one of my favorite blogs: if I knew any place around these parts for Carolina-style barbecue. There are many different things that are covered by the title "Carolina" barbecue, but the one thing they all have in common is that pork is the star of the show. The short answer to that question is no, I don't know of any place that I would call classic Carolina-style barbecue. The longer answer is that some places come pretty close to hitting certain aspects of Carolina barbecue... some of the time.

Every once in a while at Robin's you will get a sandwich of chopped pork that is close to perfect, and indeed they call it the "Carolina Chopped Pork Sandwich." Unfortunately, those sandwiches are few and far between. (Their consistency has improved a lot in the last three years, however it's still not enough to guarantee great barbecue.) Zeke's Smokehouse serves chopped pork where greatness is the rule rather than the exception, but then, in a move that frustrates and confounds me every time, they serve the pork on a dense, distracting bun that always tastes a day or two past being fresh.

The best pork I have consistently had in L.A. County in the last year is from Perdue's. (Bludso's and Big Mista's were every bit Perdue's equal - the latter even surpassing it - but I have only had them each one time.) However, their sauce, while not bad, is nothing special, and they use too much of it. Carolina-style barbecue sauce usually means one of three things:

1) South Carolina mustard sauce, which is usually some variation of mustard and vinegar. Zeke's has a very good version of this, although I prefer the Big Bob Gibson's mustard sauce for sale at Barbeques Galore.

2) Eastern North Carolina sauce, which is basically just vinegar and a few spices. Sometimes, like at Baby Blues, it is only cider vinegar and chili flakes. This is my favorite kind of sauce for good pork.

3) Western North Carolina sauce, which, while still not being particularly thick, usually has ketchup and a few more ingredients in it, like brown sugar or Worcestershire sauce.

So I got an idea: order a pulled pork sandwich at Perdue's and request it with no sauce, so I could add my own. Saturday I mixed up a small container of three things: cider vinegar, chili flakes, and a couple slugs of hot sauce.

"What are you doing?" Elizabeth asked me.

"I'm making my own barbecue sauce to take to Perdue's with me," I replied, naively thinking this would make perfect sense to anyone.

"Oh my God, you are a dork."

It was noon on Saturday and I was worried there might be a lot of people at Perdue's and the always-constant wait would be even longer than usual. There was no one there. We would be there about 45 minutes and not a single other person would enter the restaurant. Of course, it still took twenty minutes to get our two sandwiches. But they sat mine down in front of me, with slaw on the sandwich and no sauce, and I had no complaints.

I took a photo of it without sauce, then lifted the bun, doused it with a healthy amount of sauce, and took a bite. It was spectacular. A tender and juicy piece of smoked pork is already sweet enough; it doesn't need a sugary sauce to complement it. A slightly tart, slightly spicy vinegar sauce is perfect, especially when there is a cooling slaw on the sandwich.

I'm not saying I'm going to do this every time I go to Perdue's, but I'm glad I tried it once. I think my next project should be a trip to Zeke's with a couple slices of white bread (and perhaps this sauce) to alter one of their sandwiches. That could be an even better sandwich than this.

Bigmista's Barbecue

2010-03-15T06:47:00.000-07:00

Bigmista's Barbecue is a place I have heard about for a while now, a catering company whose barbecue stand, set up a few times a week at different farmers markets throughout the Southland, has been described to me with adjectives ranging from "awesome" to "the truth." But I never made it over to the Atwater Village farmers market on Sundays to try it out. A few times I intended to, but something always came up. "Am I the last person to visit Bigmista's Barbecue at the Atwater farmers market?" Jonathan Gold wrote in his review of the stand a couple months ago. No, Mr. Gold, you're not.

Yesterday I woke up and looked out the window, unsurprised to find it was a beautiful day. Is it just me or is the day of the spring time change always close to perfect? It's like nature's way of saying: "Sorry you lost an hour of sleep, but check out this day." So, while we had plenty of housecleaning to do, I suggested going for a drive for a while, which was met with enthusiasm.

After driving around for half an hour with no particular destination in mind, I suggested checking out the Atwater farmers market. It was, not surprisingly, crowded, but we were able to park relatively close by. After walking through the market and admiring the strawberries (that was Elizabeth), selection of pies (also Elizabeth), and the two girls wearing the smallest shorts I have ever seen (that was mostly me), we came to Bigmista's stand. There were only three people in line so I figured they had to be out of everything. (They were not; it was just one of those fluke things. After we had been in line for a couple minutes at least a dozen people were lined up behind me.)

I wasn't famished - I had just eaten breakfast an hour earlier - so I only ordered a pulled pork sandwich. It was ready in about thirty seconds, I paid and walked a few feet away to eat it. The thing was gorgeous when I unwrapped it: served on a soft bun with several pieces of pork having fallen out. I took a bite of the sandwich at the same time Elizabeth ate one of the stray pieces. We both looked at each other. It was awesome.

I had requested the "hot" sauce, and it was exactly what hot barbecue sauce should be: spicy enough to complement the pork but not so ridiculously hot that it takes away from the enjoyment of the sandwich.

"Have more," I said to Elizabeth.

"I'm good," she said, but then took a few more pieces. I did not blame her one bit.

Was this as good as Bludso's? No, probably not. But it was damn close, and it was, without question, the best barbecue sandwich I have ever eaten from a stand, which includes somewhere between forty and fifty sandwiches. I will absolutely be going back and sampling some of everything they make.

Bludso's B-B-Q

2010-02-11T12:58:00.000-08:00

Bludso's BBQ

811 South Long Beach Blvd.

Compton, CA 90221

For months I have read reviews about Bludso's, always with a mix of skepticism and excitement. Reviews were, quite simply, the best of any new barbecue place I have seen in Southern California. Part of me was reluctant to head down there, afraid that the restaurant could not possibly live up to the hype. (Another part of me felt no need to go down there, perfectly content with eating every barbecue meal from now on at Perdue's - the most authentically Southern BBQ joint I have found in the San Gabriel Valley.)

And, as evidenced by the fact I have not posted in three months, I don't usually eat barbecue in the winter. It's not that I enjoy it any less, it's just not what comes to mind when I'm considering what to eat. But there was a bit of a break in the rain, pitchers and catchers report in less than a week, and my thoughts started turning to spring, to baseball and barbecue and Bludso's.

Last week was the final straw: Jonathan Gold reviewed Bludso's, calling it (in an article entitled Monet's Briskets): "what all of us imagine a Los Angeles barbecue joint should be." I emailed the review to my friend Zach, who I knew was going to be up this way for a few days, and he immediately suggested we go there.

We headed out on the early side, getting down to Compton about a quarter after 11. (We were the only ones there while we waited for our food; by the time we left a half hour later there was a line spilling out of the building and down the street.) The look of the place was simple and familiar, an unintentional copy of many of my favorite unpretentious barbecue joints around the country: a narrow hallway, a window for ordering and another for picking up, and a simple menu board above the windows.

We considered getting the Texas Sampler - all of their meats with a couple of sides, but Zach remarked that he'd read it was way too much food. So I ordered a pulled pork sandwich with a side of cole slaw, and Zach went for the chopped beef sandwich. We both requested hot sauce rather than mild. The food was ready in fifteen minutes. There is a tiny counter inside but it was a nice day so we opted to take the food and sit in the bed of Zach's truck.

"I'm sticking in some forks and lots of napkins," the friendly woman behind the window said. "You guys will need them."

I pulled my foil-wrapped sandwich out and sat it on the bedliner. It was roughly the size of the plush football I keep next to the couch to toss around while watching sports (or hurl at the wall while watching Lamar Odom brick layups.) I unwrapped it carefully and studied it, trying to decide how to approach it. The sandwich was massive and sauce and stray pieces of pork poked out of the sides. I picked it up delicately although it made no difference: I dripped the innards of the sandwich everywhere, a perfect porcine piñata.

The pork was beautiful - tender and juicy with almost no fat. I'd read several reviews complimenting the beef and brisket and disparaging the pork, calling it dry. But this was certainly not the case with this sandwich. The sauce was great. Although it is thicker than I usually like (I am a big fan of vinegar and chili flakes with nothing else added) it was the perfect amount of heat: plenty spicy, but not so much that it stings your lips for the next half hour (my one complaint about Perdue's.)

The cole slaw was unremarkable. There was almost no dressing on it, which I suppose is preferable to being drenched in dressing, but it mostly tasted like cabbage and nothing else. I added some to my last few bites of the sandwich.

I tried some of Zach's chopped beef. It was even better than the pork. Smoky and tender and almost melting on the tongue. While I am from the Carolina school of barbecue - only pork, very little sauce - Zach prefers the Texas style: beef. He was very pleased with this.

If the line hadn't been so long I absolutely would have ventured back and tried a couple hot links. Oh well, there is always next time. There most definitely will be a next time.

Back to Perdue's

2009-10-21T15:22:00.001-07:00

After my last trip to Perdue's, in July, I wanted to make it back soon and try their chopped beef sandwich. I'd loved both the pork sandwich I'd eaten and the brisket that my mom ordered, so I was anxious to try the chopped beef. Of course, things happen, new restaurants open, and once summer ends I don't crave barbecue quite as much. So it took me three months to make it back.

I walked in at about 12:30 in the afternoon and I was the only person there. I stayed for about 35 minutes and the whole time I remained the only customer. I hope they are doing OK, because once again I had a fantastic meal and I would hate for this place to disappear while Barn Burner marches on, serving up mediocre food at high prices in a marketing consultant's vision of what a barbecue joint should look like.

The chopped beef sandwich was on the menu for $2.99. That is not a misprint. I ordered that with some fries, cole slaw and a Diet Coke. The total was nine dollars. I cannot remember the last time I got a barbecue sandwich for three bucks. Maybe at the River Market on President Clinton Ave. in Little Rock.

The sandwich was great. There was hardly any fat on the meat and it melted in my mouth. The bun was just a plain white hamburger bun. In other words, exactly what you want with good barbecue. I again ordered the "hot" barbecue sauce and it was again really hot. I put some of my cole slaw in the sandwich to cool it down.

The fries were great, too - freshly cut and battered potatoes. These blow the Popeye's "cajun battered fries" out of the water.

I'm going to go back soon and try their pastrami sandwich and write about it on the other blog. I am pretty sure it will not take me three months to make it back.

Lunch at Robin's BBQ

2009-08-24T16:58:00.000-07:00

I've written about Robin's before several times, but I went there for lunch over the weekend and had something that was surprisingly good - more on that later - so I thought I would do another post. Plus, I sat in a section with better lighting than I have before, so I was able to take some better pictures of the food.

Elizabeth and I had taken her car to the Toyota dealer on Saturday to get it serviced, so we figured instead of going all the way back to our place we would just head up the hill about a mile to my parents' house and watch baseball for a couple hours. First we stopped by the Victory Park farmers market, though, and that made us pretty hungry. So we decided to go to lunch with my parents, and I suggested Robin's, since Elizabeth had never been there.

She immediatly liked the place, and asked me to take a picture of the Schlitz Beers sign for some inside joke. She was disappointed that they didn't have any brisket or pulled chicken on the menu. I almost always order the chopped pork, so I had never considered that. My dad asked, as an aside, why they don't have brisket. The waiter surprised me by saying they are actually going to try doing brisket soon, when "Robin finds a recips that he likes."

Elizabeth and my dad both ordered the chopped pork sandwich with fries. My mom ordered the "Cheeseburger in Paradise" - your basic burger. I ordered something I have never ordered in all times I have eaten at Robin's over the last fifteen years: the beer brat sandwich. Over the last few years I have eaten at the Robin's barbecue stand at several events - the Sierra Madre Art Fair, Old Pasadena Summerfest, South Pasadena farmers market, and others. The bratwurst has never been good; it has always been a dried-out sausage in a burnt casing that appears to have been sitting on the grill for an hour. But I know there is a difference between a barbecue restaurant and the catering arm of their operation, so I figured I would give it a shot.

Elizabeth, my mom and I all had iced teas and my dad had a Dad's root beer. We got a sample of all four sauces: the "tangy original," "mad dog spicy," "Carolina sweet mustard," and "Memphis red vinegar." I love the idea of having different regional kinds of sauce to complement the different meats. Unfortunately, they go too heavy with the sugar in all of the sauces, even the spicy. The Carolina and Memphis are my two favorite, although I fully admit that they bear zero resemblance to any kind of sauce I have had in either Carolina or Memphis. (Add a healthy dose of red chili flakes to the Memphis sauce, however, and you're in the ballpark of what a classic vinegar sauce should be.)

I liked the look of my brat when it arrived; it looked much bigger and juicier than any Robin's sausage I have had from their stands. It was covered with onions and I added some sauerkraut from the dish that accompanied my food, a long with a slather of Grey Poupon. It was outstanding. I gave Elizabeth a bite - actually, I asked her "which end of my weiner do you want?" which made my mom almost spit her drink out - and she thought it was great, too.

I took a couple bites of Elizabeth's chopped pork. It wasn't the best I've had there but it was certainly good. If it had been my sandwich I would have added some vinegar sauce to it, but she liked it fine as is. My dad liked his, too. My mom said her burger was good but I didn't try any.

A few years ago, I stopped going to Robin's. I thought the quality had gone way downhill and when I wanted barbecue without having to drive too far I would just head up to Zeke's. But over the last two or three years, I have to say, Robin's has reached a level of consistency that was not there before. I do not remember the last time I had a bad - or even average - meal there, and that was something that used to happen all too frequently. If indeed they do start making brisket, I will certainly head back to try it.

Nick at Fenway

2009-08-07T09:26:00.001-07:00

My buddy Nick, who moved to Boston last year, sent me a picture from his phone last month that I had to post, from a Sunday afternoon game at Fenway Park. My thoughts on the Red Sox have been documented and do not need to be repeated here. I love this photo.

Take away the lights and it could be 1919. Take away all the players who aren't white on the Red Sox and it could have been 1959. (The Red Sox were the last team in baseball to integrate, almost 50 years to the day before this photo was taken.)

I love day games. If someone a century from now does a sequel to Ken Burns' Baseball, this photo would not be out of place.

Perdue's Barbeque

2009-07-23T04:53:00.000-07:00

Perdue's Barbeque

456 E Orange Grove Ave

Pasadena, CA 91104

Once more unto the breach, dear friends. I have spent years eating meal after meal at barbecue restaurants in Pasadena, hoping that I could call one of them great, to no avail. I have had many great meals at Robin's, but I have had some truly awful meals there. The one time I tried barbecue at Hutch's I was disappointed; they make my favorite burger in the universe but I will never try their 'cue again. Barn Burner, owned by the same folks who own El Cholo next door, is to barbecue what El Cholo is to Mexican food - acceptable if you've never had it prepared for you by someone with passion for what they are cooking; bland and disappointing if you have.

I first read about Perdue's Barbeque a few months ago but I did not rush to try it. It seemed like more of a catering company that set up a storefront to work out of, or, perhaps, sell leftover food. (Do not think me too cynical, I have seen this done in many places.) After the recent disappointments of Dickey's and Baby Blues, I have been returning to old favorites lately when I have been craving barbecue, so I haven't considered Perdue's.

Yesterday I made plans to have lunch with my mom, who is volunteering at a non-profit organization on Lake Ave. As it turns out, she is just a few blocks from Perdue's, and I was in a bit of a hurry, so I suggested we give it a try. She doesn't love barbecue as much as I do - most people don't - but she does love it, so she agreed.

From the moment I walked in I liked the place. This was not a restaurant trying to evoke an image of the South; this was a restaurant that could be in the South. There are mismatched tables and chairs in no particular pattern, wooden shelves on the wall, and pictures everywhere. Inside the front entrance are pictures of Satchel Paige, a photograph collage of the Negro League teams, and an old-fashioned baseball glove nailed to the wall. If you don't understand how cool this is, perhaps this isn't the blog for you.

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There is abundant Southern hospitality inside Perdue's. If you have been to the South you know what I mean. I was greeted by no fewer than three people - as near as I could tell, the only three people working there. They were all friendly but moved and talked in that particularly Southern way, that "You're going to get a great meal but we're in no hurry and you shouldn't be either" manner of service. (Once, at a Denny's in Memphis, it took my friend Ryanne and I about ten minutes to complete our order after the waitress actually arrived at our table, and about another 45 minutes to get our breakfast.)

You order at an awkwardly-placed stand in the middle of the restaurant. I asked for the pulled pork sandwich and my mom ordered the brisket sandwich. We were asked what kind of sauce we would like, hot or mild. I asked for hot, my mom mild. We grabbed our drinks out of a large cooler full of ice and sat at the coolest table we could find, which wasn't easy. (Another thing that seemed Southern about this place: it was very hot and humid.)

The food came out in about ten minutes. On my plate was one of the most impressive sandwiches I have seen in quite a while, a massive pile of pork on a soft bun. (There was zero doubt in my mind that this place would not be serving barbecue on any ridiculous ciabatta bun.) This probably weighed close to a pound. Holding it in my hands, it felt about the size of one of those mini basketballs you win in arcades. I almost wanted to admire it for a few minutes. But I was hungry.

I immediately noticed two things on my first bite. First, this was the best pulled pork I have had in months. There were no chunks of fat and the pork was not drowned in sauce in an attempt to cover up its dryness. And second, damn this sauce was hot. Of course, I had asked for the hot sauce, so I couldn't complain. But I have had enough "hot" barbecue sauces at barbecue restaurants in Southern California to know what to expect: an overly-sweet, slightly spicier version of their regular sauce. This was genuinely spicy. (One of the best pieces of advice my dad has ever given me: never make assumptions, they're always wrong.) Not too spicy to detract from the pork, though.

My mom's brisket sandwich came on Texas toast. I took a bite of that and, not surprisingly at this point, it was the best brisket I have had in a long time, probably years. Her sandwich was large, too, although not the monstrosity mine was. I passed the point of being full while eating, but it was too damn good not to finish it, so I did. And then I helped my mom finish hers. My cole slaw, which, when asked, I requested on the side instead of on the sandwich, was also fantastic. It wasn't drowning in a creamy sauce, it had just the right touch of it.

I will be returning to Perdue's soon to try their chopped beef sandwich and hot links. It's possible that I just got very lucky on my first trip and my subsequent meals here will not be as good. But I would say it's much more likely that I have found not only my favorite barbecue joint in Pasadena, but in the San Gabriel Valley.

Johnny Rebs' Southern Roadhouse

2009-07-06T01:26:00.000-07:00

Johnny Rebs'
4663 Long Beach Blvd
Long Beach, CA 90805

Years ago, a friend and I drove down to Johnny Rebs' in Long Beach for lunch. It was a good meal, not great, and I figured I probably would never be back. I had forgotten to take my camera that day, so I never was able to post any pictures of that meal. A few months later I drove that same friend down to Orange County to pick up a new car he had purchased, and we decided to try the Johnny Rebs' in Orange. I loved that meal and wrote a blog post about it.

Sunday, as Elizabeth and I were relaxing and cleaning after our 4th of July barbecue, we were watching Food Network. On Guy's Big Bite, Guy and another chef made a fantastic looking pulled pork sandwich with a Carolina vinegar sauce. I am pretty much always in the mood for barbecue, but on this particular day it was more than a desire, it was an almost need to eat some barbecue with a Carolina-style sauce. I thought about giving Territory BBQ another try, but I will probably wait at least another month or so to try them again. Suddenly I remembered Johnny Rebs' amazing North Carolina barbecue sauce, perhaps the best I have had in California, and I wanted it very badly.

So Elizabeth and I drove down to Long Beach for lunch. The place was packed when we arrived, and after waiting about 20 minutes we were given a table. (The hostess still called my name twice more, however. She looked a little confused.) We waited about another 15 minutes without any server coming by our table. The manager noticed that we had been sitting for some time without anyone paying attention to us, and she came over, apologized, and took our drink orders. Elizabeth got a peach lemonade and I got an iced tea, both served in Mason jars, which always makes me happy. A few minutes later the manager told us she had put in an appetizer order for us, on the house, as an apology for making us wait so long without service.

That wasn't necessary - her apology alone was enough - but I wasn't about to complain, especially when the appetizer arrived: a giant plate of onion rings. The batter was too dense and over-fried for my taste, but the onions were awesome, and I ate several of them. I took one onion out of the batter and ate it, discarding the batter onto a plate. The fact that this is the exact opposite of the way I ate onion rings when I was a kid was not lost on me.

I ordered a pulled pork sandwich with fries and cole slaw, and Elizabeth ordered the chopped brisket sandwich with the same sides. My sandwich certainly looked good when it arrived: a generous helping of pork with plenty of smoke ring on a soft bun. I took a couple bites of the sandwich plain. The pork was good, but too dry. I added some cole slaw and a generous amount of their North Carolina barbecue sauce and it was much better.

"Do you like it?" Elizabeth asked me.
"Yes," I said.
"But you don't love it?"
"No."
"You almost never love the barbecue you get."
"That's certainly true in Southern California."

I took a bite of her brisket sandwich. The meat was very good, better than my pork, but it was already covered in sauce, which I thought was too sweet. If a brisket needs sauce (and this one certainly didn't), I prefer something with a little more kick to it, something along the lines of Gates or Rudy's. But it wasn't a bad sauce, and Elizabeth certainly loved her sandwich.

I was full by the time I had eaten my sandwich and about a quarter of my fries, but I still pushed on and finished my plate, because their North Carolina sauce is absolutely fantastic. The fries were a good vehicle for eating more of the sauce, although I'm sure I could just drink it. This is probably my favorite barbecue sauce in Southern California. It may be another few years before I make it back to Johnny Rebs', but I know that sauce will get me back eventually.

A Day Game in Chavez Ravine

2009-07-01T15:14:00.000-07:00

I have been to several weekday games at Dodger Stadium over the years. Some have been great, some have been lousy. My senior year of high school I went to opening day with my dad, his friend and my brother. It was one of the best times I have ever had at the stadium. I had just returned from Italy about 16 hours earlier, a bit jet-lagged perhaps but still 17 years old and able to ignore it. Hideo Nomo beat the Braves 1-0. I wore the free t shirt I got that day for several years until it disintegrated.

6 years later I returned on opening day with my friend Taylor. It was a nightmare. We left UCLA well over an hour before game time and still arrived in the 4th inning. I had to park in a lot up a dirt road in the hills, probably closer to Pasadena than home plate. The Giants crushed the Dodgers, Kevin Brown was horrible, and traffic getting home was even worse.

In the years between I went to a few weekday games, usually with my high school buddies, and it was usually a good time. Other than opening day, the crowds are never too bad, and there is something cool about seeing all the kids from day camp at the games in their matching colored t shirts. When my friend Murph called me this morning and said his boss had given him tickets to today's game, I first said I had too much to do. But I thought about it for a couple minutes and called him back and said "why not?"

I took the train downtown to meet him at his office. He had a parking pass and $2.50 in train fare sounded a lot better to me than paying $15 for parking to meet him there. As I waited downstairs on Figueroa I noticed the giant "Mannywood" sign across the street. Not so much lately, I said to myself. Despite leaving downtown 20 minutes before game time we were in our seats before the first batter was done.

Neither team did much hitting. The Dodgers didn't get their first hit until the 5th inning. Both teams left a few runners in scoring position. The Dodgers got a run in the 8th inning and won the game 1-0.

It was warm but nowhere near as hot as the last few days. There is definitely something special about a day game in Dodger Stadium. Years ago my friend Hatcher and I talked for a few hours one evening about how much we both love baseball and he made a comment about the pace of baseball matching the pace of summer. I thought about that comment this afternoon. Although I'm an Angels fan, I've always cheered for the Dodgers against other teams. But as the years go by and I hear more and more comments from Dodgers fans about how the "Angels suck" when I'm wearing my Angels hat in public, I wonder if I care at all about the Dodgers anymore. But when I sit in the sun at the stadium, hear the organ music, and see Vin Scully on the diamond vision, I still find myself cheering for the Dodgers. I don't know if that will ever change.

Wood Ranch BBQ

2009-06-24T08:59:00.000-07:00

I wrote my thoughts on Wood Ranch last August, but the pictures I had for that post were of poor quality. The other day I went to lunch with my mom at Wood Ranch and I was able to take better quality photos, so I thought I would post them. My main reason for wanting to visit Wood Ranch was that I had received a coupon in the mail for a free appetizer. Their appetizers - barbecue chicken potato skins, onion strings, grilled balsamic shrimp, etc. - are my favorite items on the menu so this was a great deal... except I lost the coupon.
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I ate one of their garlic rolls while I was waiting for my food. In the past I have never been a big fan; it always seems like you could squeeze a shot glass worth of butter from each roll if you are so inclined. But these were far less greasy than any I have ever had here.
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My mom and I both ordered the exact same thing: "America's Best BBQ Tri Tip Sandwich" with fries. Now, once upon a time, I would have at least entertained the argument that this is one of the best barbecue tri tip sandwiches in America. But, as I wrote last August, the quality of the sandwich has gone down considerably as the years have gone by and the restaurant chain has expanded.

The first time I ever had this sandwich, just over a decade ago, it was one of the best things I have ever eaten. And the meat was so abundant that I never ate more than half the sandwich, always taking the other half home with me for the next day. The last few times I have ordered the sandwich I have finished the whole thing with no problem. (And trust me, I ate way more when I was 20 than I do now.)
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The other thing that I have noticed about this sandwich over the last two or three years is that at least half the times I order it, the meat is riddled with fat. This sandwich was the best (or, perhaps I should say, worst) example of this trend. At least every other bite yielded a giant piece of fat, some as large as a quarter. This is unacceptable. A properly cut piece of tri tip should have very little fat on it. I have cooked well over 100 tri tips in my life, both grilled and barbecued, and never once have I had a tri tip with as much fat on it as this sandwich. It was also completely drenched in sauce. I suppose that was their attempt to hide the fact that the meat was so nasty.

This may well have been the last trip to Wood Ranch for me. It's not cheap and the quality is just no longer worth it.

Texas Lil's

2009-06-19T11:42:00.000-07:00

Texas Lil's
28495 Old Town Front St
Temecula, CA 92590

The other day, before going wine tasting in Temecula with my friends Zach and Elizabeth, I suggested we start out with an early lunch. Almost exactly one year earlier we had gone tasting together, along with Zach's brother Tyler, and we didn't eat first. It wasn't pretty. (We had stopped at one last winery on our way out of town only to discover that the tasting consisted of nine wines. We immediately headed to In-n-Out after that and destroyed some double-doubles.)

Since we had just eaten barbecue for dinner about 14 hours earlier, I suggested... well, more barbecue. I'm not sure I could ever get sick of eating barbecue. On a Memphis trip a few years back I ate it for every meal except two: a deep-fried burger at Dyer's, and some kind of chicken pita sandwich at a cafe by the river. (My friend Dave and I were going to go back for another deep fried burger, but our friend Min convinced us we should eat at least one healthy meal during the weekend.)

Last fall we had gone to Sweet Lumpy's in Temecula, but it appears to be closed now, so we went to Texas Lil's. It's basically a bar that serves food. (This is in no way a complaint.) We grabbed a booth inside by a window and contemplated our orders.

Elizabeth got the steak sandwich: skirt steak on garlic cheese toast, served with a giant onion ring on top. The steak was decent but nothing special. Skirt steak, like the nearby flank steak, contains very little fat and is best when marinated for quite a while. If not, it needs to be cut up into small pieces, like beef fajitas. This steak was good when cut up, but pretty tough as it was served. Elizabeth was nice enough to give me a bite of her onion ring. It was awesome, a giant sweet onion (perhaps from Texas), and I wished I'd gotten an order of onion rings.

Zach had the brisket sandwich. He liked it, and I took small piece and agreed with him. I had the pulled pork sandwich. It was good. Not as good as the brisket, but still a quality sandwich. It was covered in sauce, like the sandwich I had the night before at Famous Dave's, but at least it was a tasty sauce. I rarely make a big deal about the side dishes at a BBQ joint, but these fries were the best I have had in a few weeks: crispy, seasoned, fresh-cut potatoes.

Elizabeth had some of her steak left when she was done eating, as well as a piece of garlic bread, so we again made a butty, with steak, fries and cole slaw. It was damn good, much better than the one we'd made the night before.

Famous Dave's

2009-06-16T12:10:00.000-07:00

The first time I ever saw a Famous Dave's was in the Mall of America outside Minneapolis. My friend Min and I walked every level of the place - about a two mile walk - to work up an appetite for lunch. We ended up going to Bubba Gump, but we passed by Famous Dave's. I made a note to myself to look it up. When I did, and learned it was a chain with a massive menu, I doubted it would be any good.

My suspicions were somewhat confirmed when I went to a Famous Dave's for the first time a few years later in Palmdale. My food was pretty lousy, however the restaurant had just opened a few days earlier. Knowing that most restaurants, and especially barbecue restaurants, cannot be accurately judged when they first open, I went back several months later. It was fantastic the second time. I knew eventually I would try it a third time.

Over the weekend Elizabeth and I went down to hang out with our friend Zach in Oceanside. We decided to go to Famous Dave's for dinner on Friday night. It was packed but we grabbed seats at the bar and had a drink while we waited. The server gave us a small bowl of fries so we could try the five sauces they had on the table: Devil's Spit, Georgia Mustard, Texas Spit, Sweet & Zesty, and Rich & Sassy. They were all decent, although none of them were amazing. (Both Zach and I thought the Rich & Sassy was spicier than the Devil's Spit; maybe they switched the sauces?)

Elizabeth ordered the brisket sandwich. It was fantastic. I did not see any smoke ring, but the brisket was amazingly tender and the slaw was very good. I love a well-smoked piece of brisket, but I never imagined I would find it at a chain barbecue restaurant.

Zach ordered the two meat combo with pulled pork and brisket. He liked the brisket more than the pork. As his two sides, he ordered fries and mashed potatoes, which I thought was just awesome.

I ordered the BBQ Buddies - four mini sandwiches, one each of pulled pork, brisket, pulled chicken, and hot links. I was incredibly disappointed when they arrived: they were all drowned in the Sweet & Zesty barbecue sauce, which was by far my least favorite of the 5. This is unforgivable. It does not say on the menu anything about the sandwiches being served with sauce and, as I mentioned, there were FIVE bottles of sauce on the table. What the hell is the point of having a variety of sauces if they're going to serve your food with sauce already on it? It's one thing to be insecure about the quality of the meat you serve and feel the need to drown it in sauce before serving it. That's annoying, but many places do that. But it's quite another thing to think that the same sauce is going to complement pork, brisket and hot links equally well.

Three of my four sandwiches were good. The chicken was dry but the pork was very good and the brisket was the same excellent beef that Elizabeth had on her sandwich. The hot link was great, too: juicy and full of flavor. Of course, the quality of the sandwiches was a double-edged sword: I was happy that they were good, but I couldn't stop thinking how they good could have been if I had been allowed to sauce them myself. I would have loved to try the mustard sauce on the pork and the Texas Pit sauce on the brisket. The hot link was so flavorful it would have been better without any sauce.

Still, despite my frustration, I enjoyed the meal. It could have been better but it could have been much, much worse. We were near a sign the read "EAT LIKE A PIG." So we did. Zach had a couple slices of bread left and some mashed potatoes, and Elizabeth had some fries on her plate, so I piled it all onto the bread and made, as my friend Geordie taught me, a butty. I even added some barbecue sauce. We all took turns trying it and we all decided it was a bit much. But it needed to be done.

Baby Blues BBQ

2009-06-10T17:02:00.000-07:00

Baby Blues BBQ

7953 Santa Monica Boulevard

Los Angeles, CA 90046

I first heard about Baby Blues BBQ in Venice several years ago but I never made it out there. I have never been a big fan of Venice. I don't hate it and I certainly understand its appeal, but I have never liked dealing with the crowds, and I especially don't like circling around looking for parking. There is nothing in the world I hate more than looking for or waiting for a parking space. I would rather park a mile away and walk. My brother lived in Venice for more than a year and I think I visited his house once. Not that he blamed me; he paid a fortune for an athletic club membership - that he never used - so that he could park in their lot.

A couple years after I first became aware of it, I saw it featured on Food Network. Guy Fieri - he of the bleached hair and backwards sunglasses and the tattoo reading Kulinary Gangsta, despite the fact that he is 41 and grew up in Humboldt County - did a feature on it, and the food actually looked really good. The place looked simple, like it didn't make much fuss over its appearance, just the food. When I heard a few months ago that they were opening a West Hollywood location, I figured I should try that out.

The other day, one of the few sunny days we have had in the midst of this ridiculous June Gloom, Elizabeth and I headed over to Baby Blues for lunch. It didn't look like much from outside, but as soon as I walked in I immediately liked the place. There is an open kitchen, wooden chairs hanging from the ceilings, and tables that aren't crowded together, or even placed in any kind of order.

To the left of the entrance was a fantastic-looking bar, the kind I have spent countless hours in on my travels through the South. It would not have been out of place just off of Bourbon Street. A couple guys were drinking cans of PBR and a flat screen television was playing the Angels game. I had high hopes.

When I sat down at the table there were three squeeze bottles of sauce, the middle of which was labelled "porno sauce." I asked the server what that meant and she said it was their hottest sauce, a mix of habaneros and barbecue sauce. That sounded good, despite the silly name, although I doubted it would be good on barbecue. They also had a large container of cider vinegar with chilis on the table - a perfect complement to well smoked pork.

The menu had a nice selection of drinks, including sweet tea, which I did not hesitate to order. They also had Kool Aid on the menu. I do not remember the last time I saw that. Elizabeth ordered a glass. We started with an order of fries, a mix of shoestring and sweet potato. They were quite good, although expensive, at $7 for a basket. Still, I reminded myself, we were not at a roadside barbecue stand in North Carolina; we were on Santa Monica Blvd. in West Hollywood. Going to any kind of sit-down restaurant and expecting low prices would be unreasonable. I tried some of the porno sauce with the fries. It was indeed spicy. Perhaps I would like it with some chicken nuggets, but I wasn't in the mood for much of it with my lunch.

I got the pulled pork sandwich and Elizabeth got the brisket sandwich. As soon as they arrived my heart sank: they were both served on charred, rock-hard ciabatta buns. I have written this before and I'm sure I will again: if you have any kind of pride in your barbecue, you want people to eat it plain. You don't serve it already drenched in sauce and you certainly don't serve it on a distracting, hard roll. Serving your barbecue on ciabatta buns, or pretzel buns, or garlic bread is basically announcing "I don't want you to pay too much attention to the meat."

Not surprisingly, neither meat was good. The pork was very dry and lacking any flavor. There was a small trace of smoke ring to some of the pieces and a generous amount of pork on the sandwich, but I could not get past the dryness. I put a healthy amount of cider vinegar on it, but it barely helped. The cole slaw on the sandwich was good, not much more than cabbage and vinegar, but that was little consolation.

I took two bites of Elizabeth's brisket, several minutes apart. The first bite was very fatty. The second one was better but also had no flavor. She liked her sandwich, though. "You're a barbecue snob," she said. I wasn't really in a position to argue. I have had some of the best barbecue all over the country, and I don't hesitate to point out when something is mediocre. (I also do not hesitate to point out when something is spectacular.)

We also got a side of mac n' cheese. It was very good, full of several kinds of cheese. Some of their other sides looked good, too. I wished they'd put the effort into our meats like they did into everything else.

There is a lot about Baby Blues that I like, but, unfortunately, that doesn't include the food I had. The service was fantastic and you get a decent amount. The interior is beautifully designed, like a marketing consultant took the best parts of places like Lucille's Smokehouse and Famous Dave's and incorporated them here. But my food was no better than any of those chains, and that's a shame.

Applebee's

2009-06-05T07:00:00.000-07:00

You might think Applebee's has absolutely no place in a blog about barbecue. That's because it doesn't. Nothing on their menu is remotely close to barbecue, and anything they call "bbq" is most likely covered in a much-too-sweet sauce. But I do have a story about Applebee's.

Years ago, my friend Tom and I drove around the country together for 5 weeks. Before the trip started we came up with several ground rules: when given the choice we would always visit a less well-known city (e.g. instead of going to Chicago, we took a car ferry across Lake Michigan to Green Bay and ate lunch at a sports bar across from Lambeau Field), we would drink local beers whenever we could, try to go to more minor league baseball games than major league, and would not eat at chain restaurants (except Subway for lunches on the road.)

We'd spent a long day in Memphis, visiting Mud Island, seeing the Civil Rights Museum in the former hotel where Martin Luther King Jr. was killed, and visiting Graceland. After showering back at the hotel we decided we wanted to go to Corky's BBQ for dinner. We thought we knew where it was. We did not. We drove around for a long time and eventually we were starving. Finally we saw an Applebees and said "screw it, let's just eat there."

It was horrible. I had some kind of Asian chicken salad that made me sick to my stomach. We would have been better off just going to AMPM and eating mystery meat hot dogs.

Recently, when I saw Applebee's came out with some pulled pork sliders, I remembered this night and our aborted attempt at barbecue. I realized I had not been to an Applebee's since then. I have never much cared for it. I'm not crazy about chains to begin with, and Applebee's has always seemed to me like Chili's with worse food. But I figured I would give the pulled pork sliders a try.

They were actually very good. They were not barbecue at all. The pork was most likely cooked in an oven. But it was still very tasty. There was no fat in the pork, the sauce wasn't sweet, and the buns were the nice, soft buns I love with sliders. I don't anticipate ever eating at Applebee's again, but I'm glad I got a little of the taste of that Memphis Applebee's out of my mind.

By the way, three years after that trip to Memphis, I was back again for the Memphis in May barbecue festival and my friend Hatcher and I went to Corky's. It was disappointing. It was 100 times better than Applebee's, but nowhere near as good as Rendezvous or Jim Neely's Interstate.

Dickey's Barbecue Pit

2009-05-31T08:03:00.000-07:00

Dickey's Barbecue Pit
27059 McBean Parkway
Valencia, CA 91355
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Chain restaurants almost always have standard menus. That's pretty much the main benefit; if you go into a Chili's in Rapid City, South Dakota because you're famished and there's a massive thunderstorm making driving impossible, you know what you're going to get. If you have a hangover in Rome and the idea of a streetcart panini isn't appealing, you know the Big Mac at the massive, two-story McDonald's is going to taste the same as the one you ate a few days earlier in Pasadena.
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But real barbecue is made over long periods, with different woods, with different methods. Many of my good friends make barbecue, and none make it the same way. A piece of barbecue is as disparate as a snowflake.

So the idea of a chain of barbecue restaurants seems ridiculous on its face. I think back on places I have loved and remember the people: the man working the smoker in the parking lot of Mr. Tibbs Ribs who tossed me a friendly wave as I got out of my car. Or the chef at Spring Street Smokehouse who took me in the back and showed me his system for placing meat in the smoker; the owner's manual for my digital camera contains less detail. How do you replicate that passion into every restaurant in a chain?

The answer, of course, is that you can't. I have had some good meals at place like Famous Dave's or Tony Roma's, but overall they are places where I find myself enjoying their sauces or their fried appetizers more than any barbecue item on their menus.

Last summer I read about Dickey's plans for expansion and was intrigued. Unlike some chains, their prices are lower, almost like a fast food version of barbecue. I hoped they must be good to be undertaking such a large expansion. Either that or they are lousy, catering to people who think drowning any piece of meat in sauce makes it barbecue. Yesterday I had to go up to Santa Clarita for something, so I figured I would stop by the Dickey's location in Valencia and give it a try.

It was not good. I ordered a pulled pork sandwich with fries and cole slaw. Elizabeth had a smoked turkey sandwich with the same sides. The cole slaw was quite good, a tangy, large portion. The fries were lousy, basically the same waffle fries as Carl's Jr., only undercooked, soggy, sorry excuses for fries. It never ceases to amaze me when restaurants can't properly cook fries.

But the meat is the most important thing. And my pulled pork was terrible. There was no smoke ring at all. It tasted like it came out of the oven. It was a semi-moist, flavorless mess. I put some of the slaw on the sandwich and a healthy amount of their sauce, which was actually a good, thin sauce. Elizabeth's turkey was better than the pork, but it was still not very good and she only ate half of it.

They have a free soft-serve ice cream machine and we helped ourselves to a large bowl. That is a nice touch, I guess, but not nice enough to erase the taste (or lack thereof) of our lousy food. This was the most disappointing barbecue meal I have had in a long time. From what I can tell, Dickey's is absolutely the kind of place that hopes the customers are so busy drowning their food in sauce and helping themselves to free ice cream that they don't notice the terrible quality of their food.

Territory BBQ + Records

2009-05-26T08:57:00.000-07:00

Territory BBQ + Records
534 N Hoover St
Los Angeles, CA 90004

I'm often suspicious when I hear a big deal about a new barbecue restaurant opening in the area. The best barbecue joints don't issue press releases two months before they open and don't stress how important authenticity is to them. They just go about their business. Pictures of cartoon pigs or menus waxing poetically about the Mississippi Delta and King Cotton are the domain of places like Lucille's Smokehouse and Famous Dave's. These are not terrible places, but they are selling more than barbecue, they are selling an image, as if eating beneath a sign advertising Dixie Beer is going to make me feel like I'm in the South. I do not care about the number of license plates or vintage road signs hanging on the walls. I care about one thing only: the quality of the barbecue. I know where the Southern cross the Dog, and it ain't in Southern California. So just serve me some good 'cue, OK?

Years ago I ate at Arthur Bryant's, one of the most revered names in American barbecue. The floors were bare, the lines long, and the tables and chairs were the cheap variety you probably haven't seen since your junior high cafeteria. And the meal was one of the 5 best of my life. (Although, to be honest, I prefer Gates BBQ a quarter-mile away.)
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Barbecue, more than any American food, is regional. And it's personal. My favorite style of barbecue, the Carolina style, can be divided into North Carolina and South Carolina styles. And those are further divided into regions of the states, to the point that you are left with more divisions than Major League Baseball.

So it was with a certain amount of trepidation that I read an L.A. Times article a couple weeks ago about Territory BBQ and how they were planning to offer "all" styles of barbecue. I didn't see how this could work. What if Kentucky Fried Chicken suddenly decided they wanted to start offering grilled chicken? OK, bad example. But it still seems incongruous with the way great barbecue is made. Were they going to have several smokers going, each with different woods? Doubtful.

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Still, there was a lot about the article that I liked. In the accompanying photo, the owners did not look like two guys who were opening a barbecue joint with the hopes of creating a chain within the next few years. They looked like two guys who simply like barbecue and music and want to sell both. And they used three words in one sentence that were guaranteed to grab my attention: "simple, Southern and cheap." While I would have no problem paying more than $100 for a sandwich in Los Angeles that could replicate the ones my buddy Hatcher and I once ate on the banks of the Mississippi during Memphis in May, wrapped in foil and accompanied by ice cold cans of Budweiser, I am wary of these barbecue chains charging $13 for sandwiches, and $20 for appetizer platters the size of hubcaps. From what I read of Territory, I was holding out hope that this could be the barbecue joint I have longed for around here.
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It is not. But it is close, and it certainly could become it some day, because they have nailed the most important part: the meat was great.

Territory BBQ is a bizarre looking teal building with iron bars over the windows and orange writing on the walls. The appearance means nothing; you will not find better ribs west of the Mississippi than you will at Phillips, and that place looks like a run-down check-cashing outlet. Inside the small front room is a menu board on the wall. I was pleased when I saw the menu: it seemed a very manageable number of smoked meats - pulled pork and brisket, with ribs available for dinner. This was not the huge menu I had feared.

Elizabeth and I ordered a pulled pork sandwich and a brisket sandwich, with sides of mac & cheese and potato salad. She ordered a Crush grape soda and I ordered a Cheerwine. I have not had Cheerwine in about 7 years, and I'd forgotten how much I like it. It is a cherry soda (made in North Carolina since 1917) with cane sugar instead of high fructose corn syrup, so it has that sweeter, cleaner taste, like the Mexican bottles of Coke.

After placing our order the guy gave me a receipt, said it would be about ten minutes (we were #61, my mind flashing back several years to a trip my friend Tom and I took down Highway 61 from Memphis to New Orleans, through the Mississippi Delta, looking for the perfect roadside BBQ stand) and told us "the sodas are all in the fridge on the patio; help yourself." I loved this. We opened the fridge, took out the sodas we'd ordered, and took a seat on the patio, as laid-back as any restaurant I have seen in California. There are a few tables scattered about with iron chairs, checkered tablecloths, and a bucket in which to put your dishes when you finish. Next to that is a container of solution to deposit your used silverware. Fantastic.

In the article I'd read in the Times, it said they were going to offer three varieties of barbecue sauce, including a vinegar sauce, which is my favorite to eat with pork. But the only bottles on the tables were mustard sauce. This wasn't a huge deal, since I like that, and as long as the pork is good it doesn't really need sauce. But I am always looking for a good North Carolina-style vinegar sauce.

Our food came out after just a few minutes, The sides were straight from Smart & Final, which is neither surprising nor bad. The scoop of cole slaw with my pork was nothing special, but the mac & cheese was good and the potato salad was really good. And, most importantly, both meats were great. The brisket had one little piece of fat in it, but that was all. The pork had hardly any fat and was pink at the tips, with a couple crunchy pieces of skin mixed in for good measure. The bread was standard white bread, the bread of choice for barbecue. The portions of the meat were quite small. I hope after they've been in business a while and get a handle on costs they will make their sandwiches larger. We were both hungry a short while later. But the sandwiches were only $8 each, so neither of us felt like it was a rip-off.

After I finished my sandwich someone came out from inside and put a bottle of sauce on the counter. I could tell immediately that it was the vinegar sauce I'd been craving. I walked over and picked it up. It was still warm and I poured some into my basket, dabbing a couple scraps of bread into it. It was awesome. I wished I'd had this at the start of the meal. Elizabeth hadn't finished her brisket yet so she got to eat the rest of it with this sauce, which she loved as well.

I really liked Territory and I will be going back. By making the portions larger, by making a better cole slaw, and by making sure that vinegar sauce is always out on the tables when I visit, I could see Territory becoming my favorite barbecue place around.

Spring Street Smokehouse

2009-04-19T11:13:00.000-07:00

As I wrote last August about the Smokehouse, I have been eating here for years, through varying degrees of quality. In those early days, the place was somewhat of a mess: boxes of napkins and plastic silverware piled in the dining area, a dilapidated stand at which you ordered your food, a counter full of meat that did not look appetizing. Of course, when the food was good (which it usually was) you didn't give a damn what the place looked like. Sometimes the food was lousy, however, and you felt like you were eating in a high school cafeteria.

Over the years, though, the place has definitely been spruced up (it helped a lot when they finally got a license to sell beer.) They have servers who wait on you now (all very nice) and the walls are no longer bare, they are decorated with Dodgers signs and other various barbecue-related paraphernalia. A couple years ago my friend Tracie and I stopped in for lunch and found that they had built a very attractive bar. These days they have one of the better beer lists in town: several Belgian beers in the bottle, and even Bear Republic's Racer 5 IPA, one of the best IPAs in America. (I went to the Great American Beer Festival one year and this won the Gold Medal in the IPA category.)

A few times over the years I have eaten at the Smokehouse and picked up some of their burnt ends for my mom, who loves them. Her birthday is in a few days (I won't say which birthday, however I will say there is a song on side 2 of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band that is appropriate for the occasion.) My brother and I told her we would go out to lunch with her, but we did not say where. Saturday we drove down to Spring Street with her, my dad, and Elizabeth. She thought perhaps we were going to Philippe's; it wasn't until we'd parked and I pointed at the Smokehouse that she figured it out.

We all ordered different things. Here is the rundown:

My brother ordered a half pound of the trip tip. It was smoked perfectly and melted in your mouth. It was drowned in sauce, which, in my opinion, was not necessary, but my brother ate it all up and loved it.

My mom ordered her beloved burnt ends. These were definitely not the best ones I have tried here. (I once had an order that were the best burnt ends I have ever tasted, better than any I have even had in Kansas City.) I had three of her pieces, and two of them had a disgusting layer of fat underneath the charred crust. When I picked off the fat, the meat was delicious. But it was still an effort.

Elizabeth ordered the smoked Cajun shrimp, served over a bed of rice with some roasted vegetables (peppers, onions, and zucchini. I have always loved shrimp and I have eaten it thousands of times in my life, so I do not write these words glibly: these were in the top 5 of any shrimp I have ever eaten. The were spiced and cooked perfectly. Perfect is a word that is thrown around a lot (including by me,) but the definition is appropriate here. I cannot think of a single way these could have been improved.

Elizabeth also got a side of cole slaw. This was better than I remembered it being - easy on the dressing, with just the right amount of bite.

I had the smoked chicken sandwich. I'd never had this before, I pretty much always order the pulled pork, but I was the last of us to order and I wanted to finish off the trend of all of us ordering different dishes. I was also the only one of us to request the spicy sauce instead of the mild. The chicken was very good. The sandwich was sitting in a pool of sauce and the bread disintegrated, so I after cutting the sandwich in half and trying to eat it that way, I eventually gave up and ate the chicken by itself. My fries were fantastic. Elizabeth and my mom liked them so much that they ordered some to split. My dad had the pulled pork sandwich, with slaw on top. He liked it very much.
It had been quite a while since I had been to the Smokehouse, but I am already planning my next trip.

Robins (Yet Again)

2009-04-14T18:05:00.001-07:00

Today my brother helped me exchange mattresses between my place and my parents' house. The advantages of having a younger brother with a truck! After we finished we were trying to decide what to do for lunch. He wanted to go by Whole Foods so he could get something quick and be on his way. (Apparently he has other things to do with his life than be my servant all day.) But our mom was at home - this is her spring break - and she really liked the idea of us getting some barbecue and bringing her something back. So we went to Robins.

I convinced my brother that we should start with an order of the tri-tip and cheddar potato skins. I have always enjoyed these in the past but today they were below average. The tri-tip wasn't bad, although they were much smaller pieces than I have had before. But there was a lot of the potato left in the skins, and it wasn't fully cooked. It destroyed the flavor of the skins. For my last couple bites I added some sour cream and some of their "spicy" barbecue sauce. (Which isn't spicy but is still tasty.)

I almost always get the "Carolina Chopped Pork Sandwich" at Robins, and it's usually quite good. But I've already posted pictures of that on the blog so I figured I would try something new. I opted for the "Smoked Ham Sandwich." I once tried a plate of ham at Robins and it was less than memorable (I'm being polite; I like Robin's so I won't go into detail about that particular meal,) so my expectations for this sandwich were low.

The sandwich was awesome. The ham had very little fat on it and was piled high on a roll, blackened around the edges with the perfect amount of saltiness. This was one of the best smoked ham sandwiches I have ever had in California. I had asked for a side of their Carolina mustard sauce, with the idea of slathering it generously on the sandwich if the meat wasn't good. I did not need to use more than a couple drops. I will definitely try this sandwich again.

My brother got something called the "Big Pig Jig" - smoked ham, chopped pork, and rib tips. It reminded me of this interaction from The Simpsons:

Homer: Are you saying you're never going to eat any animal again? What about bacon?

Lisa: No.

Homer: Ham?

Lisa: No.

Homer: Pork chops?

Lisa: Dad! All those come from the same animal!

Homer: Hee, Hee. Yeah, right, Lisa. A wonderful, magical animal.

His ham was just as good as mine, although it was covered in their original sauce, which is tasty but much too sweet for any kind of pork. His chopped pork had a nice smoke ring to it and was tasty, although the piece he shared with me had a lot of fat on it that had to be pulled away. I did not try the rib tips.

We got my mom a chopped salad with tri-tip. It looked very good, although I was preoccupied and forgot to take a picture (or, I guess, ask how she liked it.) This was definitely one of the better trips to Robins I have had. Other than the potato skins (and the meat on the skins was still good, it was just the potatoes that were poorly cooked) everything we had was good.

Zeke's Leftovers

2009-01-13T16:41:00.000-08:00

There was still half a pulled chicken sandwich left from the previous day's trip to Zeke's. I warmed it up in the microwave and discarded the lousy bun. I grabbed a couple slices of white bread. Yes, white bread is boring. That's why it's all you need when you have a good piece of barbecue. Fancy buns, dense buns, pretzel buns and ciabatta buns are what you use when you're trying to disguise what your 'cue tastes like.

I piled the chicken on a slice and put some Philthy Phil's barbecue sauce on it. I added a couple pickles, some slaw, and a couple drops of Tapatio. (That probably seems incongruous with my previous statement about not disguising what barbecue tastes like. I realize this. But I had already tasted the chicken by itself the day before so I wanted to jazz it up a little and see if it tasted better that way. It did not.)

Next time I go to Zeke's I may just bring some white bread with me. Their meat is always good and deserves a better platform.

Zeke's Smokehouse

2009-01-12T11:28:00.000-08:00

As I wrote in my first post on Zeke's, I have been there at least a couple dozen times over the last few years. It's not my favorite barbecue around, but it's consistently good, service is always great, and their sides are as good as any barbecue restaurant in the area. And, on a day like yesterday, it is magnificent to eat outside.

My friend Elizabeth just returned a few days ago from a trip back to New York City for Christmas and New Year's. Obviously, it was pretty damn cold there, so yesterday, when it was over 80 degrees, she suggested we go to lunch outside somewhere. The Sunday farmers market was going on in Montrose so I suggested we head up there and either eat at Three Drunken Goats or Zeke's. I have not been to the former and have wanted to try it for months - and we stopped and looked at their menu and it looked great - but they did not have any outside seating, so we opted for Zeke's.

Both Zeke's and the farmers market were very busy (predictable for an 80 degree weekend day in January, I suppose) but we were seated immediately and given iced teas. I don't usually order specials at restaurants - it's not that I think they're inferior, it's just that I usually know what I want before I sit down to eat - but Zeke's always has interesting specials, and this time they had a "chipotle pork quesadilla" on the board. I love chipotle and I've always enjoyed Zeke's pork, so I ordered that. Elizabeth ordered a pulled chicken sandwich with sweet & sour slaw (that version of their slaw is one of my favorites around,) and we got an order of kettle chips.

My quesadilla was very good. There was not as much pork as I was expecting, but what was there was delicious, and it was mixed with the perfect amount of a chipotle sauce. The salsa on the side was very good, although I used their Carolina mustard sauce for the most part. Elizabeth's chicken sandwich was very good - the bun was better than it usually is at Zeke's, although I still don't understand why they use such dense buns - and the kettle chips were the best I have ever had there. They were much larger than usual and fresh out of the fryer. I requested a side of their spicy chili mayo, which my friends and I learned several years ago goes perfectly with anything fried at Zeke's.

Kansas City BBQ Company

2009-01-08T14:14:00.000-08:00

Kansas City BBQ Company
10863 Magnolia Blvd
North Hollywood, CA 91601

I'm always leery of barbecue restaurants with the words "Memphis" or "Kansas City" in the name. It always seems like an overcompensation, or perhaps a distraction, as if somehow I'm going to like a lousy plate of barbecue more if they invoke the name of some famous barbecue city. (I once asked the waiter at a terrible barbecue restaurant with the word "Memphis" in the title what made it Memphis-style barbecue and he replied "I don't know. Is Memphis a place or a person?")

I had read some decent reviews about Kansas City BBQ Company, so I figured I would try it out. I much prefer Carolina-style barbecue, but Kansas City is one of my favorite cities in America and some of the restaurants are spectacular. I once had a plate of brisket and hot links at Gates BBQ that may well be the most perfectly cooked barbecue I have ever tasted.

KC BBQ Co. is in a small strip mall just east of Vineland. I walked in and there was no one there, just a couple people working. The floor was bare cement; the walls weren't much different. There was an unplugged jukebox against the wall and the tables were covered with faded, checkered tablecloths with a napkin dispenser and worn squeeze bottle of sauce on top. I loved the place. They had four beers on tap - including Alaskan Amber, one of my favorite amber beers in America - but I went with my usual iced tea.

I ordered a burnt ends sandwich with slaw. Ordering burnt ends outside of Kansas City is always a risky move. Spring Street Smokehouse - downtown on, well, Spring Street - once served me the best order I have ever had, but most places don't do a good job. This place was no different. There were two pieces of burnt end in the sandwich, but that's all. The rest of it was just shredded beef. Now, to be fair, it was very good beef. But I had expected burnt ends.

The sauce was very good, although they put too much of it on the sandwich. I prefer vinegar sauce with pork, but when it comes to beef I want something a little bit thicker. Gates' sauce is my favorite for beef (although my buddy Les keeps telling me I have to try Everett & Jones,) and this sauce is somewhat similar - neither too thick nor too thin, and full of spice but not hot.

I liked KC BBQ. It's not as good as the now-closed Swinging Door, but it's cheap and it was tasty. But it's not a place I ever seen myself going out of the way to visit again.

Canyon City Barbeque

2009-01-05T11:10:00.000-08:00

Canyon City Barbeque
347 N San Gabriel Ave
Azusa, CA 91702

Canyon City has some of the most divergent opinions of any barbecue joint I have ever come across. The people who love it talk about it in terms that I have rarely heard about barbecue in California. The people who hate it can't understand why anyone would possibly call it good barbecue. The other day I was going to lunch with my parents, we were planning to go to Zeke's in Montrose, and I suggested trying Canyon City instead.

This was actually my third trip to Canyon City, although it's the first time I've ever eaten there. The first time I went, about a year ago, I walked inside and stood there for perhaps ten minutes without any recognition. Waitresses were passing by and looking at me and not saying anything. Not one "hi" or even "I'll be right with you." So I left.

About two months ago, on Election Day, my brother and I voted together then went out for lunch. Canyon City was closed, however. Apparently they are closed on Tuesdays. So we went to Matt Denny's instead.

This time when we walked in we were greeted immediately by not one but two women. The inside is decorated with posters from barbecue festivals around the country. I looked for Memphis in May but did not see it. I ordered a pulled pork sandwich, with slaw on it, and some sweet potato fries. My dad ordered a larger version of the pulled pork sandwich, and my mom ordered the brisket sandwich.

I cannot believe I did not make more of an effort to try this place sooner. It was the best pulled pork sandwich I have had in the San Gabriel Valley. There was visible smoke ring on the pork and no noticeable fat. The bun was the perfect accompaniment for a barbecue sandwich: soft enough not to get in the way but sturdy enough not to fall apart. I ate about a quarter of my mom's sandwich and it was fantastic, too. I'm not a huge brisket fan but I could eat this every day. My sweet potato fries were above average; not the best I've had but better than most places.

My one complaint - and it seems petty to complain but this is something that could turn this restaurant into a legend - are the sauces. There are two on the table, and, as usually happens around here, they both tasted the same. The "spicy" sauce was just a slightly spicier version of the ketchup-tasting "regular" sauce. A mustard sauce or a vinegar sauce like Beechwood BBQ would make this place indistinguishable from a Southern barbecue shack. Well, that and some sweet ice tea.

Return to Barn Burner

2008-12-29T07:56:00.000-08:00

It had been a couple years since I'd been to Barn Burner. I really didn't have any desire to ever return. Saturday I was at the airport to pick up a friend of mine coming in from New Zealand, and the flight was delayed by a couple hours. Except nobody had bothered to post that on the internet or even at the airport terminal, so I just waited around for a couple hours wondering when the hell he was going to show up. By the time he did I was starving, and my phone was dead from all the internet surfing I was doing to kill time.

So I stopped by my place to get my phone charger. Barn Burner is close by, and when I gave my friend some choices for lunch, barbecue sounded good to him. When we walked in there were only two tables occupied. This seemed strange at 1 PM on a Saturday. After eating our lunch, it did not seem so strange.

We started with an order of onion rings. They were good - beer battered and crispy. It would have been nice to have something other than ranch dressing with them, but they were good enough that they didn't even need sauce.

I got the pulled chicken sandwich. It was one of the driest sandwiches I have ever had. There was no moisture to it at all. I had trouble even swallowing the first bite. I got a side of slaw with the sandwich, which was good, so I added it to the sandwich, along with plenty of their barbecue sauce, which is much too sweet for me, but at least it made the sandwich somewhat edible. (I only ate half of it and left the other half in my friends' refrigerator; I will be interested to see what they say if they ate it.)

My buddy got a sandwich with pulled pork, brisket, and hot links. He sawed off a part of it for me to try. It was better than my sandwich, but it was by no means good. The pulled pork was decent, although there wasn't very much of it. The brisket was dry, just like my chicken, and the hot links were very salty.

This was my last trip to Barn Burner.

Jake's Roadhouse (Again)

2008-12-22T11:10:00.000-08:00

It had been a long time since I had been to Jake's in Monrovia. (That blog entry was from August, but the meal itself may have been at least two years earlier.) The other day I was helping my mom do some Christmas shopping and she wanted to go to lunch somewhere in Monrovia. I didn't feel like going to any of the nicer restaurants there, and I know my mom likes barbecue like I do, so I suggested Jake's.

I ordered the pulled chicken sandwich (the first picture) and she ordered the pulled pork sandwich. My sandwich was swimming in sauce. You can tell that there is a lot of it in the picture, but what you can't see is that the bottom of the basket is a covered with a pool of their much-too-sweet sauce. Of course, when I took a bite I understood why - the chicken was completely dry and flavorless. I am positive there would have been absolutely no flavor to it without the sauce.

I took a bite of my mom's sandwich and it was much better than mine, similar to how I remember the pulled pork from my last trip. Jake's fries are great, and their slaw is just about perfect: it's got dressing in it but it's not soaked in the dressing to the point that the cabbage is completely limp. I added plenty of slaw to my sandwich with a couple slugs of hot sauce and it made it better.

Despite my sandwich being lousy, I still really like Jake's. The people are nice, the inside is cool, the prices are cheap, and most of the food is decent. Just not the pulled chicken sandwich.

Tugg's River Saloon (Minneapolis)

2008-12-02T11:21:00.000-08:00

Tugg's River Saloon
219 N Main St SE
Minneapolis, MN 55414

A couple of my good friends moved to Minneapolis for businness, and I, always up for a road trip, volunteered to drive with one of them to get her car up there. It was a fanastic trip, through Las Vegas, Denver, Mt. Rushmore, and across the Great Plains into Minnesota. Unfortunately, it was the worst trip I have ever been on in terms of culinary adventures. We ate at a terrible restaurant in Las Vegas that was basically a crappier version of Islands. I ate at Burger King in Denver. I ate at Chili's in Rapid City, South Dakota. The one highlight of the drive there was ordering 10 piece chicken McNuggets at a McDonalds in southern Minnesota and getting 11 pieces. (Actually, I still think about that and smile sometimes.)

The first night in Minneapolis we went out for a sushi meal that was terrible. My friend Dave (or rather my friend Dave's company) paid for the dinner, and I was still upset about it. The next morning was a gorgeous morning so the three of us went for a walk. We crossed over the Mississippi and walked around a bit, then saw a nice outdoor patio and figured we would get some lunch there.

I ordered the "smoked bbq pork sandwich." It was quite possibly the worst sandwich I have ever had. I cannot accurately describe how much fat was on this sandwich. It's possible that at least a third of it was fat. It is the only barbecue sandwich that can compare with the atrocity that was JR's Texas BBQ. I think I had maybe two bites and gave up.

The rest of the weekend wasn't much better for finding good food. Months later, when my friends had gotten familiar with the area, they told me that their loft was only a couple blocks from the best food street in Minneapolis and they couldn't understand how we possibly kept missing it when we went out looking for food. (Apparently it would be analogous to staying at the Marriott in Old Pasadena and missing Colorado Blvd every time you went out for a walk.) I kind if wish they'd never told me that.

Whiskey Creek (Hays, Kansas)

2008-11-24T13:58:00.000-08:00

It's almost comical the number of nights I have spent in Hays, Kansas. It might be 5 or 6 nights now, and I cannot think of a single reason why. I was there when I was a kid with my mom and grandmother. Once my dad and I stayed at a Holiday Inn there and ate at the Chinese retaurant in the hotel; easily one of the top 5 worst meals of my life. Once I remember eating at an Applebees in Hays, and remarking to the waitress that it was really windy.

"It's always like this," she said. "Where are you from?"

"Southern California," I replied.

She turned her head to the side and stared at me for a few seconds, like a confused puppy. "Then what the hell are you doing in Hays?" she asked.

The last time I was in Hays I stopped at Whiskey Creek for dinner, mostly because it was the only restaurant with cars in front of it. I figured that was a good sign. I started with an order of "Southwest Tootsy Rolls," hoping they would be better than the name. Basically they were egg rolls of shrimp, cream cheese and chives. They were pretty good, although nothing special at all. (But they did not make me sick, which is more than I can say for the Chinese meal I had in Hays.)

The pulled pork sandwich was not very good. They claimed it was smoked for hours over hickory, but I doubt that. There was no smoke ring and it was not tender at all. Perhaps they only cook barbecue a couple times a year, keep it in the freezer, and heat it up and serve it to the Californians passing through town, figuring we won't know any better.

I would like to tell you that if you find yourself in Hays to keep driving to the next town for dinner, but that means a few hours. So if you are in Hays I guess you should probably eat here. Just don't order the barbecue.

Frisella's Roastery

2008-11-21T09:21:00.000-08:00

Frisella's Roastery

179 N Glendora Ave

Glendora, CA 91741

I had lunch with my brother in "downtown" Glendora, not far from where he lives. I have never been there so I asked him for suggestions. I don't always have to eat barbecue, believe it or not, but when it is an option I always want it. He suggested a roastery that he said he thought had barbecue.

I don't know what it is about downtown Glendora, but I felt like I was walking around a retirement community. Literally 9 out of every 10 people on the sidewalks and in the three restaurants we walked past had to be over the age of 75. I'm only saying this as an observation. I have nothing against old people. I loved my grandparents and when they were alive I would eat with them frequently. (This usually involved meeting another couple at Coco's at 5 for dinner. My grandmother would get there at 4 to get "settled in." It was never made clear to me exactly what that meant; apparently it had something to do with my Granny reciting every item on the menu and saying "oh, that sounds good," and my Grandad wondering what Howard Jones would do with USC Football that year, even though Jones stopped coaching the Trojans in 1940.)

I ordered the barbecue pork sandwich. The entrees come with homemade potato chips and a choice of one side, or you can get fries in lieu of the chips and side. I went with the chips and cole slaw. My brother got the quarter chicken with dark meat. He opted just to get the fries.

My sandwich was very good. I doubt the pork was smoked; it tasted much more like it had been roasted, but it was still good, although there was a little too much fat on it. The bread was fantastic. It was substantial enough not to fall apart with the sauce on it, but soft enough to melt in my mouth and not get in the way of the pork.

The chips were not good. They were not fresh and they were overly seasoned. The cole slaw was Smart & Final. I hate when that happens. I like Smart & Final cole slaw at a picnic or a ball game, but when I am paying for a restaurant meal, I wish they would tell me when their slaw isn't homemade. Especially considering that my brother's fries were awesome. I should have gotten those. He said his chicken was really good, and it had a smoke ring to it, but I didn't try it because I do not like dark meat chicken.

I liked Frisella's. It was far from a "barbecue" restaurant, but it was good, and the bill for the two of us, with my sandwich, his chicken, and a couple iced teas, was 22 bucks.

Mo's Smokehouse (Pismo Beach)

2008-11-17T11:39:00.000-08:00

Mo's Smokehouse
221 Pomeroy
Pismo Beach, CA

I first visited Mo's three years ago. It was the middle of the week and I stopped in relatively early. The barbecue was terrible, and obviously a day or two old. I said to the guy working the counter "This wasn't smoked this morning, was it?" He simply shrugged and mumbled "I dunno." A couple months after this trip I mentioned my experience to my buddy Les - one of the most knowledgeable people I know on the subject of barbecue - and he reported having a very similar experience when he went there.

So I pretty much put it out of my mind. But then a few years went by and I found myself in Pismo Beach again and I figured why not give it another try? It was much, much better this time around.

On my previous trip I had an order of garlic fries that were cold, including the garlic topping, and a pulled pork sandwich that was old, as I mentioned, and also completely drowned in cole slaw. I do not mind slaw on a sandwich, but that was the only time I can remember having more slaw than pork.

This time my friend and I got a large order of homemade potato chips. As soon as we saw them we knew we couldn't have gotten a smaller order. But they were so damn good we ate almost all of them. Homemade potato chips are one of my biggest weaknesses. I got the shredded pork sandwich and she got the shredded chicken. Since the sandwiches come with slaw on them, we got potato salad on the side instead of slaw.

The shredded pork was very good. It was fresh, and even though there was a lot of sauce on it, the sauce was good. The shredded chicken was phenomenal. I took one bite and it melted in my mouth like the barbecue equivalent of cotton candy.

They have four barbecue sauces: original, hot, Sweet Carolina's, and Philthy Phil's. The first two were good although there was nothing to set them apart from hundreds of sauces I have tried around the country. The sweet sauce was lousy. I am not a fan of sweet sauces, but this was just ridiculous. You could put this on ice cream and it would not be out of place. The Philthy Phil's sauce was fantastic: a vinegar sauce with brown sugar, mustard and spices. I bought a bottle of this to take with me.

So I have been to Mo's twice now. Once was terrible, reheated food, and once was fantastic and very reminiscent of a Southern barbecue shack. One of these days I will make it back for a third time and see what I find.

Robin's Redux

2008-11-14T12:53:00.000-08:00

Unlike the last time I went to Robin's with my camera, I did not lose the pictures from my most recent trip. I ordered my usual chopped pork sandwich. When it came, I noticed that there was less meat on it than usual. However, it was fantastic. There was plenty of smoke ring, and the pork was tender and pulled apart easily, with very little fat. It was probably the best sandwich I have ever had there, and I have had dozens.

I got sides of both the "Carolina Sweet Mustard Sauce" and the "Memphis Red Vinegar Sauce." They were not as good as usual. The mustard sauce tasted just like French's yellow mustard, and the vinegar sauce had too much sugar in it and was far too sweet. It didn't matter, really, because the pork was so good it didn't need sauce.

I also got a hamburger to go for someone. It did not look very good and I did not even bother trying it.

Matt Denny's Ale House

2008-11-04T12:44:00.000-08:00

Matt Denny's Ale House

145 E Huntington Dr

Arcadia, CA 91066

I have been eating at Matt Denny's for over a decade now. There was a time when I visited it as frequently as once a week, although now it's more like once every few months. My standard order is almost always the "smoked turkey sandwich," which is one of the best turkey sandwiches anywhere. (I have had many other items on their menu, including fish & chips, Guinness pot pie, fried shrimp, pastrami sandwich, and grilled halibut... everything on the menu is good, except the Caesar salad, which is curiously one of the worst I have ever had.)

The turkey is always juicy and never has any fat on it. The sauce comes on the side, although it is really good so I add it to the sandwich. The third picture is a pulled pork sandwich. One of the employees, whom I sometimes see outside of the restaurant, told me it was even better than the smoked turkey, so a little while ago I gave it a try. It was indeed good, but definitely not as good as the turkey.

Matt Denny's also has a great beer selection, and there is always sports on the TVs. Their menu is pretty expansive; I would love to see them cut out several of their items and concentrate more on barbecue, because they are very good at it.

Gilroy Garlic Festival

2008-11-03T10:30:00.000-08:00

On the list of things I love, somewhere between barbecue and Thanksgiving, is garlic. I love it roasted, fresh, infused in oil, or any other way I can eat it. I even considered calling this blog "Baseball and Garlic." (Actually, that's a lie. That would have been a terrible name for a blog.)

For years I had wanted to make it to Gilroy - the "garlic capital of the world" - for their annual Gilroy Garlic Festival. A couple years ago, after watching Huell Howser do a special on the festival, I decided I had to do it. It was a lot of fun, although it was well over 100 degrees, and after eating garlic egg rolls, garlic pizza, and a dish of garlic shrimp that seriously challenged my line that "there can never be too much garlic," my friend and I were sweating garlic out of every pore.

There was also a barbecue stand there, so I had to try a pork sandwich. I was not expecting much, and that is exactly what I got. It was drenched in a sweet sauce and did not have any smoke ring. I can't really complain about being disappointed for ordering a cheap barbecue sandwich at a festival centered on garlic, but if I ever go back, I will stay away from this sandwich and just go for another round of garlic ice cream.

Little Rock River Market

2008-10-21T15:39:00.000-07:00

Very rarely do I visit a city for the first time and find it exactly as I expected. New York City, Las Vegas, Memphis and Chicago are the only ones that come to mind. Often a city is a big disappointment, like Seattle, St. Louis, or Cleveland. But every once in a while I expect little out of a city and I am pleasantly surprised. No place was more of a shock than Little Rock, Arkansas.

I had driven through Arkansas twice before visiting Little Rock: once in mid-July when the humidity rivaled any sauna I have ever sat in, and once in October when the foliage was as beautiful as anywhere in New England or the Shenandoah Valley. On my third trip to Arkansas I stopped in Little Rock to visit the Clinton Presidential Center. Since I got in in the early evening and stayed right by the center, I decided to go out for a while in the "River Market District" and see what trouble I could get into.

It was one of the most fun places for nightlife I have been, like a grown-up version of Bourbon Street or a non-Yuppie version of Old Pasadena. My friend and I had several beers at a bar and watched the sun set over the Arkansas River before hitting several other places on President Clinton Ave. We had so much fun that we forgot to eat dinner. The next morning, with my head slightly aching and my stomach growling, I stopped by the River Market Building and got a chopped pork sandwich from a stand there. It was perfectly smoked with no fat chunks in the sandwich, and the slaw complemented the sandwich nicely.

I then spent a few hours walking around the Clinton library and museum. Afterwards my friend asked me what I wanted to do for lunch. I said I wanted another barbecue sandwich. There are lots of food stands inside the building so she agreed to go there because she could get non-barbecue food. (She actually ate sushi... and said it was excellent.) My sandwich was the same as the previous one, which was a good thing. I contemplated getting a third sandwich, but we were on our way to Memphis and I knew I would be having barbecue that night, so I didn't. There is a limit to the amount of barbecue I can eat in one day. Actually, that's a lie.

Smitty's Grill

2008-10-16T12:29:00.000-07:00

Smitty's Grill

110 South Lake Avenue

Pasadena, CA 91101

I have had dinner at Smitty's once or twice over the years. I like the place, although I certainly don't love it. I order a steak at a restaurant about once a year; 99% of the time I want a steak, I want to cook it myself. I don't want it overcooked or over-salted, which too many places do.

A good friend of mine works on Lake Ave. and we try to have lunch together every couple months. Usually we go to Crocodile Cafe or Celestino, but we decided once to give Smitty's a try. I do not think I have ever been in a louder restaurant. (Once I ate at Green Street Tavern and it came close, but that was due to a table of ten drunk, not-too-bright people in their late 30s who were trying desperately to act like they were still 21.) We had to repeat almost everything we said at a yell. We have not gone back for lunch since then.

They have a "Carolina Style Pulled Pork Sandwich" on their menu, which is always going to get my attention. The pork was actually very high quality, but it was absolutely drenched in barbecue sauce. It was literally the messiest sandwich I have ever eaten. My friend, who is a vegetarian (no, I did not feel the least bit bad about eating it in front of her) was laughing at me. "You're a mess," she kept saying (imagine it with a Scottish accent and it's even funnier.)

Still, the sauce was pretty good for what it was. Not sweet at all, and complementary to the pork. It just could have used a lot less of it. I don't know if I would ever go back to Smitty's for lunch; my head rang for hours with all the noise. But if I do I will probably get the sandwich again, easy on the sauce.

Sweet Lumpy's BBQ

2008-10-13T12:34:00.000-07:00

Sweet Lumpy's BBQ

28464 Old Town Front St., Ste. A

Temecula CA 92590

Some friends and I planned to meet up and have some barbecue for lunch before going wine tasting in Temecula. When we showed up, however, the entire Old Town was blocked off to traffic and thousands of people were walking around. We did not know it beforehand, but the "Temecula Rod Run" was going on. Hundreds of cars lined every street in Old Town. We parked and started walking down to the restaurant. There were some absolutely beautiful cars there. Vintage Porsches, hot rods, entire parking lots full of Corvettes. I will add a couple pictures of my favorite cars at the end of the post.

When we got to the restaurant we saw that their regular menu was not being served and instead they were serving a "special events menu." This disappointed me, as I figured the quality would have to suffer with such a large amount of food they were bound to be serving. Three of us (including me) ordered the pulled pork sandwich, two ordered the brisket sandwiches, and one ordered the tri-tip sandwich.

The first two food pictures are the brisket sandwich. I tried a bite of my friend's, and the brisket was very tender and moist. Unfortunately, it had the strongest smoke flavor of any piece of barbecue that I have ever tasted. I imagine that in their desire to cook brisket for hundreds - if not thousands - of orders, someone put too much wood in the smoker. I would love to try this sandwich on a normal day of business, though, because it was still quite good.

My pulled pork sandwich (the next two pictures) was great. The pork was tender, there was hardly any fat, and it did not have the overpowering smoke flavor of the brisket. They have two sauces at Sweet Lumpy's, a sweet and a spicy. The sweet was much too sweet, but the spicy was good: full of slow-building pepper heat. I mixed some of it with French's mustard and put it on the sandwich.

The last picture is a friend's tri tip sandwich. I did not try this one (I didn't know her well enough to ask for a bite, although I certainly did not hesitate to take a picture of her lunch) but it looked good, and she enjoyed it. I was very impressed that Sweet Lumpy's could make such high quality barbecue on such a busy day. Their fries were crisp, the slaw was fresh, and, other than the overly-smoky brisket, all the meat was delicious. I can't wait to go there again and try their regular menu.

After lunch we spent a while wandering around looking at the cars. We agreed that if we didn't have wine tasting plans, we would have loved to spend a few hours looking at the cars, listening to the bands, and, probably, stopping by a couple of the barbecue stands to eat some more 'que.

Memphis

2008-10-10T11:34:00.001-07:00

I took these pictures on my trip to Memphis for the Memphis in May World Championship Barbecue Cooking Contest, and I never planned to put them on my blog, as they are not good pictures. But then I had a conversation the other night and I figured I would go ahead and post them. The reason they are so poor is that the battery on my digital camera died one day in Memphis and I bought a disposable camera to take pictures. The first picture is a pulled pork sandwich at Rum Boogie Cafe on Beale Street, and the second picture is the pulled pork plate at Charlie Vergos' Rendezvous, across from the Peabody Hotel.

The reason I am posting them is that the other night my friend Shawn asked me: "Do you ever visit any barbecue places you like?" He admitted that he had not read my whole blog, but I do see his point. I do indeed like many of the places I visit, but barbecue in Southern California, with only one or two exceptions, is just not very good. Even the places where I have had certain meals that I think are great, such as Robin's or Spring Street Smokehouse, have also provided me with meals that have been horrible. The consistency is just not there.

However, in my four trips to Memphis, I have eaten five meals at Rum Boogie and two at Rendezvous, and every one of them have been spectacular. The first time I had the pulled pork at Rum Boogie, in 2002, my friend Tom and I were sitting in the bar listening to blues, and I proclaimed it the best pulled pork I had ever eaten. It was a revelation. The next time in Memphis I ate at Rendezvous and had their pulled pork and mustard slaw, and I proclaimed it the best pork I had ever had. I have never uttered anything close to that in Southern California.

So I am posting these pictures of terrible quality to show that yes, there sure are barbecue places I love. But hardly any of them are around here.

Tony Roma's

2008-10-03T13:10:00.000-07:00

Tony Roma's

333 E. Huntington Drive

Arcadia, CA 91006

For several years when I was a kid, Tony Roma's was my favorite restaurant in the world. I had a horrible diet; I pretty much only liked chicken fingers, fries, pizza, and fried cheese. There were actually a couple years when I would only go to a restaurant if they had fried cheese on the menu. Tony Roma's had an appetizer sampler with fried cheese, chicken fingers, potato skins, and buffalo wings, and they would let you substitute extra fried cheese for the buffalo wings. As far as I was concerned, it was the greatest restaurant of all time. I ate at Commander's Palace when I was a kid and I thought it was terrible. But Tony Roma's was great. It's a wonder my parents never left me on the side of the road somewhere.

As I became an adult and started to realize that there is more to life than fried foods, and that not every meal needs to be drenched in barbecue sauce, I forgot about Tony Roma's. Before I went there recently, it had probably been over a decade since I had eaten there. I went for the pulled pork sandwich, not expecting much. There was no smoke ring on the meat, and it was covered in a sweet sauce, but it was still pretty good. There was very little fat on it and it came on a regular bun. It will probably be at least another decade before I eat there again, but it was fun to go back and try and figure out what had appealed to me so much about the place.

Longboard's Grill (Santa Barbara)

2008-10-02T17:07:00.000-07:00

Longboard's Grill
210 Stearns Wharf
Santa Barbara, CA 93101

I've been going to Longboard's, on Stearns Wharf, since I was a teenager. Usually I just sit at a table by the window, or, if it's a nice day, on the patio, and have a beer and some fried shrimp. Sometimes I order a ridiculous drink like the one in the second picture (I ordered that and my buddy ordered a pina colada; the waitress laughed and said "You guys are on vacation, right?")

But last time I was there I decided I would try their burnt ends sandwich. The menu claimed it was smoked, but it was the only thing resembling barbecue on their menu. I seriously doubted they had a smoker on the premises just to serve this. I was not expecting much at all - this is pretty much a place where everything is either fried or overpriced, average food for the tourists (meaning me.) And the sandwich was pretty much what I was expecting: it was tough, there was no smoke ring, and it was covered in a sweet sauce. At least it was edible, though.

Still, you don't pay for the food at this place, you pay to sit there and look out on the water, which is always nice.

Dodger Stadium

2008-09-25T10:08:00.000-07:00

When I was a kid I hated the Dodgers. Steve Sax, Pedro Guerrero, Mariano Duncan... I didn't like any of them. The Angels were always my team, not counting my bizarre fascination with the Blue Jays (back when they were terrible.)

But when I got to be a teenager and wanted to go to games, I didn't really have the time or the means to go down to Anaheim for games. So I started going to Dodger games with my friends, and I actually started to like the team. Mike Piazza, Eric Karros, Raul Mondesi, Chan Ho Park... I liked those guys. Of course, those players are all gone (Chan Ho is back on the team after many years away) and Dodger Stadium isn't quite the place it used to be.

The summer after I graduated high school my friends and I went to games three or four times a week when the team was in town. We got decent seats for $8, parking was $5, and with a hot dog or two (never anything to drink, although we would sometimes drink beer in the parking lot until the security chased us off) you could have a great night at the stadium for under 20 bucks. And it's not like I'm talking about 50 years ago; I'm talking about 12 years ago. Now those same seats are $31 and parking is $15. I know that's the way of professional sports and somebody has to come up with the money to pay Andruw Jones 18 millions dollars to hit .158 this year, but it's too bad that some 18 year olds just won't be able to have the same experiences this summer that I did when I was their age.

So with the way I feel about Dodger Stadium, combined with the fact that I can more easily make it down to Anaheim to see the Angels these days, I hardly ever make it to Chavez Ravine anymore. (In the last 6 years, actually, I've only been once: 3 years ago on my birthday with ten friends for a Sunday afternoon game against the Giants, perhaps the best birthday I have ever had.)

But a friend of mine got tickets to a game against the Padres so I figured I'd go. I have to admit, even with Dodger Stadium not being as great as I remember it (is anything?), it is still one of my favorite places in L.A. Our seats were fantastic, my Dodger dog was good, and I even enjoyed my Heineken. (Is it weird that I didn't even blink about paying $8 for a plastic cup of Heineken? I mean, it's better than the time I paid $11 for a can of Miller Lite at Yankee Stadium, right?)

And the one thing the Angels don't have is the incomparable Vin Scully. Like the smell of fresh cut grass or the first taste of water out of a garden hose that has been lying in the sun, Vin's voice reminds me of summer. The greatest thing about interleague play isn't the opportunity for me to see National League teams, or watch the Angels pitchers bat. It's when the Dodgers play the Angels and I get to hear Vin call a couple Angels games.

So even with the hundreds of advertisements all over the stadium, the lack of Cool-A-Coos (remember those?,) or the fact that the Dodgers aren't even my favorite team, I still can't think of a better place to spend a summer evening in Los Angeles.

The Epicenter

2008-09-23T13:43:00.000-07:00

There are definite tiers to the quality of barbecue you get at baseball games. I don't think anything can ever top the smoked turkey sandwich I got at the Gates BBQ stand at Kaufmann Stadium in Kansas City. Not only was it the best barbecue sandwich I have ever had at a stadium, it was one of the best sandwiches I have ever had anywhere. Boog's BBQ at Camden Yards was also very good. Unfortunately I did not have a digital camera back when I ate at those places (but even if I did, I wasn't obsessed with taking pictures of my food back then.) Even some minor league foods, like the pulled pork nachos at Autozone Park in Memphis, or the brisket sandwich at PGE Park in Portland, are good.

Then there is the other end of the spectrum: the crock-pot cooked, sugary-sauce drenched stuff they used to serve in my high school cafeteria. That's what I got when I ordered a pulled pork sandwich at a Quakes game. Should I have expected something different at a Class A park in Southern California? Probably not. But it was still really bad. From now on at the Epicenter I will stick to hot dogs.

The Rose Bowl

2008-09-22T12:01:00.001-07:00

I hadn't been to a UCLA football game at the Rose Bowl in several years. I had only seen a UCLA game once in 6 years, actually, when I went up to San Francisco for the Emerald Bowl two years ago. That UCLA team, which had somehow held USC to 9 points, gave up 44 points to the worst Florida State team in 30 years. And as a final insult, Memphis Minnie's was closed and I had to eat a lousy meal at Big Nate's. (Well, I guess I didn't have to eat at Big Nate's; San Francisco is one of the great restaurant cities of the world, but I needed barbecue, you know?)

I don't remember them having barbecue stands back when I used to go to the games, but they have several of them now. I stayed away from the familiar Robin's BBQ stand, as I have eaten their burnt, flavorless sausages at other events in Pasadena before. (I like the restaurant, but the food at their stands at events like the South Pasadena farmer's market, the Sierra Madre Art Fair, and the Old Pasadena Summerfest has always been lousy.)

My friend (who had never been to a game at the Rose Bowl) and I went for a walk around the stadium as soon as it became clear UCLA was not going to win. (During the coin toss. Only kidding... slightly.) The first stand we came to was the Brander's Barbeque stand. I got a pulled pork sandwich and she got a bbq chicken sandwich. They were served on cheap French rolls and doused with the kind of barbecue sauce you buy in 5 gallon containers at Smart & Final, but the meat was actually very good. I was quite impressed. The chicken was better than the pork.

The next stand we passed, Rose Canyon Barbeque, had a nice looking menu: pork sandwiches, chicken wings (they looked good,) and sweet potato fries. Their pork sandwich, however, was just the kind of "barbecue" you get in a plastic Lloyd's BBQ container at Ralph's. The bun was stale so I just ate a few bites of the pork with a fork. Nothing special at all. The cole slaw, however, was very good.

I'm glad I tried the sandwiches, and the Brander's pork was pretty good, but I don't see any need to ever get them again.

The Oinkster

2008-09-19T12:08:00.000-07:00

The Oinkster

2005 Colorado Blvd

Eagle Rock, CA 90041

I am a big fan of this place. I have never had one of their burgers, but I have had their pastrami sandwich and it is fantastic. My standard order, however, is the pulled pork sandwich. The menu claims it is "roasted and smoked." I am not sure if this is true; I have never seen any smoke ring on the pork, and it certainly tastes more like it has been roasted, but it is always good. They also have a vinegar barbecue sauce that is perfect for pork. In the second photo, I have containers of the vinegar sauce, their chipotle ketchup (which is great,) and a mustard/mayo sauce (which is not.)

The sandwich also comes with a great red cabbage slaw and some caramelized onions. The onions certainly do not contribute anything to the sandwich, but they are still tasty.

Their fries are cooked in the proper Belgian style, and are perfect as long as you eat them there. Most fries don't travel well, and these are no exception. (It's one thing to wait a few minutes to eat lousy to-go fries like Carl's Jr. or Burger King; that isn't going to make them any worse. But I wouldn't recommend messing around with these.)

The last picture is one I took of their pulled pork sandwich when they first opened a couple years ago. It was served on a regular bun then, as opposed to the hard roll they use now. I always say that I prefer pulled pork on a soft bun, but I have to admit a certain fondness for the roll they use now, if only because it holds up better against the flood of vinegar sauce I put on the pork (it's that good.)

Crocodile Cafe

2008-09-18T14:43:00.000-07:00

Crocodile Cafe
140 S Lake Ave
Pasadena, CA 91101

I have been eating at the "Croc" since I was in junior high. Their patio is a great place to eat, set a couple feet below street level on Lake Ave. A good friend of mine works just across the street and we try to meet for lunch at least once a month. We have gone to Smitty's and Celestino, which are both good places, however we almost always eat at Crocodile. (We always sit outside, though, because inside it is one of the loudest and least spacious restaurants in Pasadena.)

95% of the time my order has been the same - a plate of fries to start and a barbecue chicken pizza. (Their bbq chicken pizza is one of the best around.) But they do have a "slow-smoked bbq pork sandwich" on the menu, so I had to try it at least once.

It is served on a celery seed roll that adds nothing to the sandwich, but the pork is very good. There is very little fat on it, and even though they put too much sauce on it, the sauce is decent. It comes with a side of curry slaw (the first time I have ever tried that) which is good, although it had a very distinct flavor so I did not add any to the sandwich, which I normally do when slaw is served on the side.

I have been back a couple times since I got this sandwich, but I have not ordered it again, and I doubt I will. It was good, but their other items are much better.

Buffalo Wild Wings

2008-09-16T11:25:00.001-07:00

Buffalo Wild Wings
8188 Day Creek Blvd
Rancho Cucamonga, CA 91739

I'm not a huge fan of chains. I don't hate them and I understand their purpose, and I have certainly eaten scores if not hundreds of meals at chains. Once while driving around Rapid City, South Dakota, during the most amazing lightning storm I have ever seen, trying desperately to find a place to eat, I came across a Chili's and was as happy as I have ever been to find a restaurant. (A few minutes earlier my friend had said "That looks like a cute restaurant," only she was saying it about a gun store, and I knew it was time to find the first decent restaurant we came across.)

I just think it's more fun to eat at independently-owned restaurants. However, I still go to Buffalo Wild Wings for lunch at least once every few months, because it's a pretty nice place (when it isn't crowded) to watch an afternoon baseball game and relax. My standard order is boneless buffalo wings with spicy garlic sauce. But they have a pulled pork sandwich on the menu and on a recent trip I ordered it.

The sandwich is described on the menu as such: "Hickory-smoked, hand-pulled pork." I suppose technically that might be true, however the pork had not been smoked or pulled any time or place proximately. It was chewy, dry (even though it had plenty of sauce on it), and basically inedible. McDonald's McRib is closer to good barbecue than this sandwich.

I was not expecting a great sandwich, and perhaps it was silly of me to be deceived by the menu description, but I was expecting something that could at least be eaten. Consider me your canary in the coal mine on this one: don't ever order this sandwich.

Gordon Biersch Brewing Company

2008-09-12T12:28:00.000-07:00

Gordon Biersch Brewing Company
41 Hugus Alley
Pasadena, CA 91103

I have been going to Gordon Biersch since I was in high school, back when they only had a few items on their menu, all of which came with garlic fries. I have probably eaten over a hundred meals there over the years, although thankfully their menu has expanded quite a bit. I have never cared for their beer, though. With the exception of the Winter Bock, their beers taste to me like they are designed for people who don't really like beer.

But I've always like their food. On a recent visit I tried their pulled pork sandwich. I was not expecting it to be smoked on the premises, and of course it wasn't, but it was still very good. The sauce was tasty, the cabbage was fresh, and the bun was good. I'm not going to make it a regular choice - I usually just get a couple of their appetizers as my meal - but I am very glad I tried it.

Rance Mulliniks

2008-09-12T12:09:00.000-07:00

For reasons I will probably never to be able to completely explain, Rance Mulliniks was my favorite baseball player when I was a kid. Even though he started with the Angels, my favorite team, by the time I had started following baseball he was on the Blue Jays. But instead of choosing Tommy John, Rod Carew, Brian Downing, Reggie Jackson, or any other Angel, I chose Rance as my favorite player. On my 8th birthday my parents took me to an Angels-Blue Jays game in Anaheim and Rance hit a home run, the most thrilling baseball moment of my childhood (not counting the time my brother almost spilled coffee on Johnny Bench, obviously.)

When I was seven I mailed him his rookie card, told him he was my favorite player, and asked if he would autograph it for me. A couple days later when I told my mom I had done this, she explained to me what a self-addressed, stamped envelope is (I had no idea, I had just mailed the card and letter to the Blue Jays in an envelope), and told me that I would probably never see that card again.

But a week later, I got an envelope in the mail with this autographed card in it. Rance, or a member of his posse, had autographed the card, addressed the envelope to me, and put a stamp on it. (I'm joking of course about his posse, although it's a nice image to think that Rance had an actual posse, like maybe instead of going to strip clubs or recording rap albums they would go out in the off-seaon and round up criminals in the Tulare area.)

So if you ever read my blog, Rance (talk about delusions of grandeur), thanks again. You made a seven year old kid very happy, and I will be glad to reimburse you for the stamp 22 years later.

Barbary Coast Savannah BBQ (Sacramento)

2008-09-11T11:16:00.001-07:00

Barbary Coast Savannah BBQ

1226 20th St

Sacramento, CA 95811

It took me a while to make it here; their hours are strange. It says on the sign that they open at noon on weekdays (all the restaurants nearby open at 11) but the first two times I came here around 12:30, the place wasn't open. I tried to look through the gates to see a smoker going strong, but I couldn't (later I learned why: there isn't one.) Eventually I decided just to drive by around 3 in the afternoon and see if they were open. They were, and even though I had already eaten lunch and wasn't particularly hungry, I can always make room for barbecue.

I got a pulled pork sandwich with cole slaw and green beans. The sides were both very good. The pork was good but had certainly been cooked in an oven or a slow cooker. The bun was terrible: thick and dry. The main attraction for me was the "Authentic Georgia Barbecue Sauce." I had no idea what to expect from that. I've had sauces labeled as Georgian that were mustard-based, a sauce that tasted like K.C. Masterpiece, and even a Georgia barbecue sauce with peaches in it. This sauce was unlike any I can remember tasting - it was vinegar based but was also very sweet. Too sweet, actually, but with a few drops of hot sauce that was remedied.

I have heard that this place has closed down now. That is a shame (they were very friendly) but not unexpected. Random hours, meat that isn't smoked, and a completely perplexing name are not a good combination.

Famous Dave's

2008-09-10T12:28:00.000-07:00

Famous Dave's

1205 Rancho Vista Blvd.

Palmdale, CA 93551

The first time I visited Famous Dave's, it was atrocious. They had only been open for a day, it took me 40 minutes to get a seat (and even then it was at the bar,) it took another 45 minutes to get my food, and the food was awful. They were clearly in over their heads. I don't usually cut restaurants slack for being brand new; if they are charging full price I expect full service. However, everyone was so friendly and apologetic (and the bartender bought me a beer, so technically I didn't pay full price for my meal) that I figured I should give them another try. I am glad I did.

I started with an order of "Sweetwater Catfish Fingers." I wish I could find the picture because they were fantastic, served with a remoulade and jalapeno sauce. I got the "Georgia Chopped Pork Sandwich" as well. The pork was just about perfect. There was plenty of smoke ring, it was fresh, and the slaw I ordered on top of the sandwich was good, too. They serve it with their "rich and sassy" barbecue sauce, which was good, although in retrospect I wish I had ordered it without the sauce, because they have a mustard sauce on the table (along with several other kinds of sauces in squeeze bottles) that is really good and would have been better on the sandwich.

I don't know when I will go back to Famous Dave's, because the nearest location is in Rancho Cucamonga, but if they ever open one closer to Pasadena I will definitely try it out.

The Cheesecake Factory

2008-09-08T13:38:00.000-07:00

The Cheesecake Factory
2 W Colorado Blvd
Pasadena, CA 91105

I do not "get" The Cheesecake Factory. I admit I am not crazy about cheesecake (or any dessert, really, except homemade ice cream and sour gummy cola bottles) so maybe my opinion on the place shouldn't count, but I have never understood why people wait in long lines to eat food that, to me, tastes like the stuff you get at Denny's for much lower prices. It is not bad food; it just isn't particularly good food, and certainly not anything worth waiting for. (Years ago my friends and I would make a point of walking by the Old Pasadena location on a Friday night, observing the more than two-hour wait, then walking down to a half-empty Kualu Lumpur and eating a Malaysian meal as good as any you will find in America.)

I have a friend, however, who really likes Cheesecake Factory, and I would gladly eat there to hang out with her. The last time I went there I decided to try the pulled pork sandwich. I know ordering something like that at a restaurant like Cheesecake Factory and expecting great barbecue, or even real barbecue, is naive. But after eating a great pulled pork sandwich at T.G.I. Friday's, nothing would surprise me.

Still, nothing prepared me for the sandwich I got. I can't say it was bad barbecue, because it was not even close to barbecue. It was pork that had been shreedded by machine, overcooked with a sweet barbecue sauce, and served on a stale bun.

I am sure I will eat at Cheesecake Factory again one day, but I will go back to eating their average pizza or boneless buffalo wings.

Beachwood BBQ

2008-09-08T11:55:00.000-07:00

Beachwood BBQ
131 1/2 Main St
Seal Beach, CA 90740

Beachwood BBQ is another one of those places that gets all the little details right but seems to miss the big picture.

First, the good stuff. They have perhaps the best beer selection I have ever seen in a restaurant. Most bars don't even have this good a selection: New Belgium Eric's Ale, Russian River Pliny The Elder, Moonlight Brewing Death & Taxes, Sierra Nevada Harvest, and at least a dozen more. Having stated my preference for drinking Budweiser with barbecue, I have to admit that this beer selection is phenomenal.

Almost as exciting, they have four homemade sauces on each table for you. A sweet sauce, spicy sauce, mustard sauce, and vinegar sauce. I did not try the sweet sauce, but the spicy was great, although, curiously, not at all spicy. The mustard was unique - it was made with dijon and tasted like Grey Poupon mixed with vinegar. It tasted good but I doubted it would be good on a sandwich (I was wrong.) The vinegar sauce, made with red wine vinegar and chili flakes, was great; other than Johnny Rebs', it was probably the best North Carolina-style sauce I have had in Southern California.

Now, the not-so-good stuff. The pulled pork on my sandwich was dry and tasted like it had been smoked a couple days earlier. After three or four bites I put a lot of sauce on the pork just so it wouldn't taste so dry. And the pretzel bun it came on, while tasty, had no business being served with pulled pork. If you are proud of your barbecue, I don't understand why you would want to serve it on a hard roll or a fancy roll, and this was both. I also ordered a side of their "tangy" coleslaw. Not only was it not tangy, it did not seem to have any dressing on it at all. It literally tasted like cabbage and nothing else (I poured some of the vinegar barbecue sauce on it, though, and it tasted better.)

Still, overall I do like the place. My friend got the pulled chicken sandwich and I took a bite: it was much better than my pork. The fries were great, and even though the place was packed (noon on a hot Saturday) the service was great and everybody in there seemed to be having a good time. Do you know that atmosphere in September at a bar or a backyard barbecue where the summer is obviously slipping away but everyone pretends not to notice? That's what it felt like in Seal Beach and Beachwood BBQ on Saturday.

I am not a big fan of the beach (it took us 20 minutes to find a parking space several blocks away) so I don't know if I will be going back to Beachwood BBQ anytime soon. But if they were closer to me I would definitely try them again to see if maybe they were just having an off day with the barbecue. There are enough other things about the place that I like to deserve me giving them another try.

Memphis In May

2008-09-04T09:33:00.000-07:00

I love Memphis. From the blues clubs on Beale Street, to the hundreds of great barbecue restaurants, to baseball games at Autozone Park, to the Mississippi River Museum on Mud Island, it is an amazing city to visit. The National Civil Rights Museum, with its burned-out Freedom Rider bus and tour that concludes steps away from where Martin Luther King Jr. was murdered, is one of the most poignant museums you will ever see. Hell, I even loved visiting Graceland, and I'm not an Elvis fan. (The first time I was in Memphis I only visited Graceland because my friend insisted on it, although in protest I played Chuck Berry music the whole drive there. High up on the list of things I will never understand, somewhere between calculus and women, is why Chuck Berry is not as famous as Elvis.)

So there was no question that as soon as I had the time and money I would be going to the Memphis in May World Championship Barbecue Cooking Contest. It was an phenomenal trip. A friend and I drove out together from Los Angeles and met up with another friend who flew in. The first picture is obviously Beale Street, and the second picture is a Dyer's burger - a burger fried in grease that has not been changed since 1912. (When they changed locations to Beale Street a few years ago they hired an armored car and police escort to transport the grease. Have I mentioned how much I love Memphis?) It is a great burger. Definitely click on the above link when you have a few minutes to watch the video.

The third picture is a view of the festival from a distance. It's in a great location, right on the banks of the Mississippi. The fourth picture is a pulled pork sandwich from a Corky's BBQ stand at the festival. It was very good, although not as good as the sandwich I had at the restaurant a couple days later. It was a very hot day, unseasonably hot for the festival, and we had walked at least a couple miles to get to there. The ice cold can of Budweiser accompanying the sandwich has to rank as one of the most pleasurable beer drinking experiences I have ever had, as strange as that may sound.

The next three pictures are some of my favorite team names from among the 250+ teams competing. I stopped and looked at the smokers and setups of lots of teams. Several of the teams talked to me, and almost all said hi. Now, I admit the alcohol was flowing freely for every team, so perhaps they were all drunk, but it was still a very friendly atmosphere. The last picture is a sandwich I grabbed just as I was leaving the park. I don't remember what the name of the stand was, and I actually don't even remember how it tasted.

I can recommend the barbecue festival without hesitation. If you like barbecue, blues, beer, friendly people, and deep fried burgers, I can't think of a better way to spend a weekend than Memphis in May. Even check out Graceland, if you have never been. (The Peabody ducks, however, are one of the stupidest things you will ever see.)

The Beach Pit BBQ

2008-09-03T12:57:00.000-07:00

The Beach Pit BBQ
1676 Tustin Avenue
Costa Mesa, CA 92627

I understand why people love the Beach Pit. It is a charming location with checkered tablecloths on wooden tables, plenty of outside seating, a fire pit, and a childrens play area. And the food is pretty good. But I wouldn't call it great.

It was pretty empty when I stopped in. There was one woman eating outside and that was it. The guy behind the counter was a nice guy; we chatted for a couple minutes about the items on the menu. I was wearing a t shirt I had bought at Memphis in May (reading "Memphis: The 4th Fattest City in America. We Won't Rest Until We're #1") and we talked a little about the BBQ festival.

I had a pulled pork sandwich and fries. The pork was good and had definitely been wood smoked, but it was not great. It came on a dense French roll that was distracting, so I just ate the meat. The sauce, even though it was the "spicy" version, tasted sweet and did little for the pork. With all the effort they put into replicating a Southern joint, I was expecting them to have a vinegar or mustard sauce, but they did not.

I liked the Beach Pit. I just didn't love it, and I got the feeling that if they spent a little less time on marketing (and designing the place to feel "authentic") they might actually make some great barbecue. I felt their barbecue was only good. But that still puts them in the upper echelon of Southern California barbecue. If I lived closer to the area I'm sure I would visit them frequently.

Hungry Al's Bar-B-Que

2008-09-03T12:44:00.002-07:00

Hungry Al's Bar-B-Que
116 N Vincent Ave
West Covina, CA 91790

I had heard about Hungry Al's from someone who raved about their ribs, and I filed it in the back of my mind. One day in Covina I got off the 10 because the traffic was horrible, and the restaurant was right there. Never one to pass up a barbecue joint, I stopped in.

The girl working the counter was very friendly. I asked her opinion between the hot link sandwich or the beef. She recommended the sliced beef. Unfortunately, it was not very good. It was so dry it was pretty much inedible. The bread it was served on was not fresh, either. There was a table of guys next to me all eating baby back ribs. The ribs definitely looked better than my beef sandwich. I seriously doubt I will ever be back here again, but if I do I'm getting the ribs.

Barn Burner Texas BBQ

2008-08-29T11:56:00.000-07:00

Barn Burner Texas BBQ
1000 S Fair Oaks Ave

Pasadena, CA 91105

Almost all of my friends whose opinions on barbecue I respect dislike Barn Burner. They claim the food is below-average and overpriced and the service is lousy. The first time I went there, I wondered what restaurant they were talking about. The waiter was really nice and my pulled pork sandwich was incredibly good. The slaw was great and the sauce, while much too sweet, was pretty good when mixed with some mustard. And the whole thing cost about ten bucks. I really liked the place, with the exception of the over-the-top Texas decor. (But at least there weren't flies buzzing around, unlike another Texas BBQ joint.)

So I went back a couple months later. Now I see what my friends were talking about. I waited about twenty minutes to see a waiter, even though I was constantly told by three people it would be "just one minute." I got a full order of ribs, the order cost about 30 bucks, and not one of the ribs was edible. They were full of fat and yet very dry. Not a good combination for ribs.

Barn Burner is owned by the same people who own the Pasadena El Cholo, which explains a lot. I used to live a couple blocks from the El Cholo on Western and I really liked it. (Of course, that probably had something to do with the fact that my friends and I used to watch Lakers games there back when the Lakers were the best team in basketball and didn't blow 21 point leads at home in the NBA Finals.) I never liked the Pasadena location very much. It never seemed very friendly. After my last visit to Barn Burner I see a lot of similiarites.

Alex Bar-B-Q (Shell Beach)

2008-08-29T09:42:00.000-07:00

Alex Bar-B-Q
853 Shell Beach Road
Shell Beach California

I first ate at Alex about a dozen years ago, but I didn't have barbecue. Those were my teenage years when I mostly ate chicken fingers and fried cheese (and still only carried 150 pounds on my 6'2" frame, dammit) and barbecue was far too fancy a cuisine for me.

But not long ago I was on my way up to Monterey and I figured why not stop in and try their barbecue. The smell of oak smoke in the parking lot was amazing, although when I walked in there were only about three tables occupied, all with much older people. Of course, this was about 2 PM, so they might have been eating dinner.

I had the pulled pork sandwich with fries and slaw. I prefer shoestring fries to steak fries, because usually steak fries aren't cooked long enough. But these were done perfectly and were some of the best I've ever had. The slaw tasted like it came out of a Smart & Final container, but that's never a big deal. The pulled pork was very good. I had been suspicious when the menu claimed it came with a chipotle barbecue sauce. I love chipotle, but seriously? If you're so proud of your "oak smoked" meat, why would you put a flavored sauce on it? But... it was damn good. I actually got a side of it for my fries.

I used to frequently stop at a seafood restaurant in Pismo Beach whenever I drove up or down the coast, but over the years I have watched the prices at this particular restaurant go way up and the portions go way down (anyone who knows Pismo Beach knows exactly where I am talking about.) From now on I think I will make Alex Bar-B-Q my lunch stop.

Frank & Joe's Southern Smokehouse

2008-08-29T09:21:00.000-07:00

Frank & Joe's Southern Smokehouse (Closed)
110 E Colorado Blvd
Monrovia, CA 91016

Frank & Joe's has been closed for some time now, and that's too bad... but not necessarily for culinary reasons. The place was attractive - full of Southern memorabilia. The owners were extremely nice, always shaking hands and asking how you were doing. And they always had plenty of ice cold bottles of Turbodog.

However, the food was very inconsistent. Sometimes the crawfish corn chowder was as good as any chowder I have ever had; sometimes it tasted like old corn in spoiled milk. Sometimes the fried catfish was reminiscent of the food stands at JazzFest; sometimes it tasted like the original KFC popcorn chicken (i.e. fried chicken skin.) And sometimes - usually, in fact - the pulled pork sandwich was like the one here: not much pork, too much lettuce, and all of it swimming in one of two barbecue sauces: either the much-too-sweet sauce or the "smoky" version that tasted like straight liquid smoke.

Still, sometimes the food could be pretty good, and as I said, it was a nice place to spend a hot summer afternoon watching baseball and drinking beer. There was a rumor they were trying to reopen somewhere, and if they do I will go back. But I doubt I will ever get the pulled pork sandwich again.

Dallas BBQ (New York City)

2008-08-23T11:28:00.000-07:00

Dallas BBQ
1265 3rd Avenue
New York, NY 10021

Several years ago my friend lived by a liquor store in Venice Beach. One night we ran out of beer and headed over there just before closing. The only other customer in the place was an obviously homeless, deranged man who was lecturing about God to a bag of Funyuns. My friend and I were trying to decide what to buy (as if it made a difference at that point) and my friend made a comment about Steel Reserve, something along the lines of "that's supposed to be terrible."

At that point the bum interrupted his sermon and turned to us and said "Oh man, don't get Steel Reserve. That shit make you crazy!"

So we bought a can, and, indeed, it was the most foul thing I have ever tasted.

I thought of this story after eating at Dallas BBQ. I had wanted to eat at Blue Smoke, but the wait was about two hours and I was hungry. So my friend and I got in a cab and asked the driver to take us to a barbecue place. This is where he took us, and, after I paid him, he added (not too helpfully) "But you probably don't want to eat here, it'll make you sick to your stomach." And indeed it did.

To be fair, as soon as we saw the food we should have left. My pulled pork was a disgusting looking mess, served on a bun about four inches thick. My friend's ribs were drowning in a nasty sauce. I don't know how anyone can serve food like this to customers.

So from now on, I will always listen to deranged men on matters of malt liquor and cab drivers on barbecue.

Rogue Distillery & Public House (Portland)

2008-08-23T11:10:00.000-07:00

Rogue Distillery & Public House

1339 NW Flanders

Portland, OR 97209
-

After the amazing sandwich I had at the Deschutes restaurant, I figured I should try Rogue. (I have never liked Rogue beers as much as Dechutes, but it is still beer.) This pulled pork sandwich was more like what I'm used to getting at brewpubs. It was pork already mixed with sugary barbecue sauce, taken out of a container, microwaved and served to me. (I have heard this referred to as "crockpot barbecue.") It was terrible.

I still enjoyed the place, though, because 1) my friend and I started with an appetizer of popcorn shrimp that was fantastic, and 2) the waiter gave us free beer. That's really all it takes for me.

They also have an appetizer called "Kobe Blue Balls" - balls of kobe beef with blue cheese. It sounded great and my friend assured me it was delicious, but there was just no way in hell I could bring myself to ask for an order of Kobe blue balls.

Willy's Smokehouse (Monterey)

2008-08-23T10:31:00.000-07:00

Willy's Smokehouse

95 Prescott Ave

Monterey, CA 93942

I had pretty low expectations for this place. It is located right off Cannery Row, so I figured it would be one of those tourist places that populate the area, like Bubba Gump, El Torito, and, God help me, a place called Steinbeck's Espresso Bar. Walking into the restaurant further lowered my expectations - it looked like it was trying too hard. It was clean, there were posters of some of the more famous barbecue restaurants in America, and everyone was ridiculously friendly. Now, none of those things are necessarily bad, but they made the place seem inauthentic. (When it comes to barbecue, I much prefer the curtness of a place like Charlie Vergos' Rendezvous, where the maitre d' looked like he was deciding between seating us at a table or stabbing us repeatedly.)

My pulled pork sandwich, however, was very good. The meat had plenty of smoke ring and obviously was not reheated. The sandwich could have used more meat, for sure, but at least what they did give me was good. The sandwich, which was described on the menu as "Memphis-style," was topped with an "apple-jalepeño coleslaw." About the best thing I can say about that is it wasn't too distracting.

I don't ever plan to eat there again (actually I don't plan to ever go to Cannery Row again) but it was definitely worth eating there once.

T.G.I. Friday's

2008-08-22T10:44:00.000-07:00

T.G.I. Friday's

2625 E Eastland Center Dr

West Covina, CA 91791

This one I did not see coming.

I have eaten at T.G.I Friday's three times in my life, and all three times were terrible meals. I mean truly awful. When I was 18, visting a friend in Boston, we went to T.G.I. Friday's because he assured me they would serve us beer without asking for our ID. He was right, but even after several beers I still thought the food was horrible. (I was 18 then and a Rick's Spuderito was a main staple of my diet, but I still couldn't eat the crap they served me at Friday's, even when drunk.)

A couple years later, after a Chinese meal in the Washington, D.C. area, a few friends and I went next door to a T.G.I. Friday's to have drinks. After a couple hours we ordered some appetizers. Same story: terrible food. A couple years after that I ate lunch at a Friday's in Boulder, CO, and I almost got sick to my stomach. So when a friend suggested we eat at T.G.I. Friday's after we had been to IKEA, I did not have high hopes. But they had been recently promoting their "Jack Daniels Pulled Pork Sandwich," so I thought I'd give it a try.

I kid you not - it was fantastic. Although it's impossible to tell in this picture, because the pork is drowned in sauce, there was actually a smoke ring on the pork. I never in a million years would have expected that. The pork tasted fresh and the sauce was pretty good.

So now I have been to Friday's four times, and only three of them were terrible. That's not a good average (although the Dodgers will still sign you for $36.2 million.)

Santa Fe BBQ Company

2008-08-22T10:05:00.000-07:00

Santa Fe BBQ Company

1505 Encinitas Blvd

Encinitas, CA 92024

This was another stop my friend and I made down in the San Diego area. Neither of us were impressed. My pulled pork had plenty of smoke ring but tasted old and tough. The sweet barbecue sauce didn't help. The fries were good, but you can get good fries lots of places. Good barbecue is harder to come by. My friend described his chopped brisket as pretty average, too. He has eaten many times at Rudy's BBQ in Texas so he has a pretty good idea what good brisket is, and this wasn't it.

I see online that they have gone out of business and been replaced by "Brett's BBQ." They look to have a better menu than Santa Fe BBQ had.

Raxx Barbecue & Brewing Co.

2008-08-21T06:04:00.000-07:00

Raxx Barbecue & Brewing Co.

3397 Mission Inn Ave

Riverside, CA 92501

I'm always a little suspicious about trying barbecue at a place that bills itself as a brewing company. Sometimes, like Deschutes, it's actual barbecue. But more than likely it's reheated out of a package, already bathed in sauce, and slapped on a bun. (It's not barbecue if I can do the same thing at home in less than five minutes.) Thankfully, Raxx falls into the first category.

I started with the "Texas Egg Rolls" - pulled pork and cream cheese stuffed into a chili pepper and then a wonton wrapper and fried. That sounded awesome. It was.

My pulled pork sandwich was also very good, although after the pork and cream cheese I was so happy I probably could have started eating the menu and not cared. The sandwich was topped with fried onion strings and sauce (unfortunately they did not have a mustard sauce; if ever there was a sandwich crying out for a South Carolina-style mustard sauce, this was it) and I added some of my slaw to it. The shoestring fries were great, although to be honest I only ate two of them after the egg rolls and sandwich.

Vermont Street BBQ (Lawrence, KS)

2008-08-21T05:38:00.000-07:00

Vermont Street BBQ
728 Massachussets Street

Lawrence, KS 66044

I love Lawrence. It's gorgeous, the people are friendly, and it's only about a half hour from Kansas City, one of my favorite cities in America. However, I've never had much luck with food there. Several years ago my friend and I ate at an Old Chicago and we both felt like crap the rest of the night. On this most recent trip, I asked a guy at a gas station for a barbecue recommendation, and he enthusuasticly replied "Oh, man, you gotta go to Vermont Street. It's the best I've ever had." Seeing as how he is so close to some of the best restaurants in the world, this seemed like quite a statement. I see now that he probably has never eaten barbecue in Kansas City.

The people at Vermont Street BBQ were very friendly, and their mustard barbecue sauce was good. That's about all the compliments I can give. The pork on my sandwich was dry, there was not very much of it, and it was served on hard bread. I thought maybe that was a joke, like maybe they serve their day-old bread as a garnish, but after a few minutes I realized that actually was the bread they intended me to eat. My fries were limp and the slaw was drowned in a much-too-sweet dressing. My friend's hot links tasted like a steamed hot dog; not exactly a bad thing, but not what I was expecting in a bbq joint just west of Kansas City.

Maybe they can get away with this kind of stuff because they're in a college town. The prices were good. But I seriously doubt they could compete with the big boys in Kansas City.

The Swinging Door Texas BBQ

2008-08-19T13:15:00.000-07:00

The Swinging Door Texas BBQ

11018 Vanowen Street

North Hollywood, CA 91606

I've heard from people that this place has closed, and if so, that's a shame. I've only been here a few times, but every time was very good. These pictures are from the first time I ever went, with my buddy Zach. He travels to Texas a lot for work and is a big fan of the Texas style of barbecue. I am much more a fan of the Carolina style, but between Scotch and nothing, I'll take Scotch.

We started with an order of fries that were great - thick steak fries right out of the fryer, with some of their spicy barbecue sauce. We both had brisket sandwiches. I had mine chopped with slaw, Zach had his sliced, with beans. I loved the slaw, I don't remember what he said about his beans. But the important thing is we both thought the brisket was great.

We liked the place so much and ate so much food we didn't even go get a second lunch afterwards (we have a history of doing that.)

Memphis Bar-B-Q Company (Sacramento)

2008-08-19T12:40:00.000-07:00

Memphis Bar-B-Q Company

455 Bercut Dr

Sacramento, CA 95814

I don't know what it is about barbecue joints with the name "Memphis" in the title, but so far I have been let down by them. One day I will make it to Memphis Minnie's in San Francisco; I hope that isn't as big a disappointment as Memphis Championship Barbecue or Memphis Bar-B-Q Company.

This is a pretty big restaurant, although when I went in for lunch there was only one other table occupied. I've been to lunch in Sacramento many times, and I have never seen a restaurant so empty for lunch. That should have been a sign. I asked the waiter a couple questions about the barbecue. I would have been just as informed if I had asked the silverware. He was a nice guy, but he didn't really seem to have a clue about anything, except probably the best tatoo parlors in town. (I'm not saying I needed to know the ingredients in the sauce or where they buy their pork, but asking if the meat is smoked or cooked in an oven seemed like a reasonable question.)

When my pulled pork sandwich arrived I took a bite of the slaw to see if I wanted to put any on my sandwich. It was good. And the fries were hot out of the fryer. The bun was fresh, too, and I had high hopes for the pork. It sucked. It was fatty, didn't tast like it had been smoked (at least not recently) and the sauce tasted metallic.

They definitely do not deserve to have the word Memphis in their name.

Bam Bam BBQ

2008-08-19T09:57:00.000-07:00

Bam Bam BBQ

853 E Route 66

Glendora CA 91740

I had never heard of Bam Bam BBQ, but I saw it one day while driving down Route 66, so I figured I would give it a try. The girl working there was very nice; I ordered a pulled pork sandwich and asked her recommendation for a side. She said the cole slaw was her favorite but that the mac & cheese was the most popular side. I went for the slaw.

The food was incredibly mediocre. The slaw was like a high school cafeteria (which is not entirely bad, but not something I want to pay for as an adult) and the pork had obviously been sitting in a steam tray for quite a while. Even worse, as you can see, the sandwich was drenched with barbecue sauce, a ridiculously sweet, syrupy sauce that added nothing to the meat. I took a picture of my food and the girl said "oh, you must really like it." I didn't have the heart to tell her what I really thought.

I would not ever go back there, but it's a moot point now because they are closed. I hope that nice girl found a job somewhere else. She deserves to be serving better food than this.

Blake's Place

2008-08-19T09:35:00.000-07:00

Blake's Place

2905 E. Miraloma Ave. #3

Anaheim, CA 92806

I had heard that Blake's Place gets really crowded at lunchtime so I figured I would get there early and beat the rush. Well, it was worth a try. I arrived about ten minutes after 11, on a weekday, and the place was already full. (By the time I left, about 35 minutes later, the line was out the door, at least 20 people.) But it wasn't a big deal because the line moved pretty fast and they were very friendly.

There is a picture of a pulled pork sandwich on their website that I had planned to get, but while I was waiting I saw someone at one the tables had a trio of sandwiches so that's what I ordered (the "sandwich sampler.") The meats are smoked brisket, turkey, and pork. All three were very good but my favorite was the turkey, and I would have to say my least favorite was the brisket. It was the driest of the three. They only put a touch of sauce on the sandwiches, which I appreciated, although their sauce was very tasty so I added some more to the brisket sandwich.

It's a bit of a drive down to Anaheim so I probably will never go back, but I am glad I went.

Mr. Cecil's California Ribs

2008-08-18T12:57:00.000-07:00

Mr. Cecil's California Ribs

13625 Ventura Boulevard

Sherman Oaks, California 91423

In the book "Charles Kuralt's America," the author writes: "There may still be a law on the books in North Carolina that if you don't cook it over hickory logs, you can't call it barbecue." I was reminded of that while eating at Mr. Cecil's, which was just about the worst "barbecue" experience I have had in the L.A. area. There is no way this food was cooked in a smoker. It had to have been (over)cooked in an oven.

My brother and I started with some hot links. They were decent. Nothing special, but edible. Things got worse from there. I got a pork sandwich that was probably the driest sandwich I have ever eaten. This was surprising, as there were several giant chunks of fat strewn about the meat. But even after I picked those out (and that took a while; there was a lot of fat) the sandwich was inedible.

My brother's ribs were also overcooked. They were charred on the outside and completely dry. I would be embarrassed to serve this kind of food at a backyard barbecue, let alone to paying customers. The barbecue sauce on the table was very good, and the fries were great. But I had not driven out to the Valley for fries. Now I understand why I have heard so many people say negative things about this place.

Jake's Roadhouse

2008-08-18T12:11:00.000-07:00

Jake's Roadhouse

622 S Myrtle Ave

Monrovia, CA 91016

I first starting going to Jake's about ten years ago. I had a summer job working in the canyons up in Monrovia and every day my best friend and I took our lunch break down the hill. Usually we had lunch in the Home Depot parking lot because we both had a crush on the girl who ran the hot dog cart. We would each eat about three hot dogs and drink somewhere between two and twelve cans of Country Time lemonade and sit there for an hour admiring her. Hot Dog Girl, we called her. Our originality matched our coolness.

But some days we wanted more food than hot dogs from a cart, and we would go to Jake's. It was always good, and, although I don't remember the prices, I'm sure they were reasonable. But after that summer I never went there again. I returned almost a decade later, though, and I don't see that much has changed. I got a pulled pork sandwich. It was very good. I liked the sauce (although they used too much, as places that pre-sauce a sandwich usually do) but the sandwich definitely did not need mayonnaise on it. It says on the menu that they put mayo on the barbecue sandwich, which I have never seen before on a pulled pork sandwich, and I immediately thought 'well, I'll just ask for it without mayo.' But then I thought 'well, I do like mayo, maybe it will be interesting.' It wasn't. There is a reason I've never seen mayo on a barbecue sandwich: it's completely unnecessary.

Anyway, I was pleased to be back at Jake's. It isn't great barebcue, but it's good, and they were very friendly. I considered driving by Home Depot and getting a hot dog for old times' sake, but I decided to let that one go.

Texas West BBQ (Sacramento)

2008-08-18T09:51:00.000-07:00

Texas West BBQ
1600 Fulton Ave
Sacramento, CA 95825-5112

There are a few things in life that are guarantees for me. I have never had a shopping cart at Trader Joe's that worked properly. I have never found an Adam Sandler movie even remotely humorous. I have never met a German whom I did not like. And I have never eaten at a barbecue restaurant with the word Texas in it that was any good. Texas West, however, turned out to be a spectacular exception.

The first time I went there, I got the chopped pork po' boy sandwich. This was fantastic. It was covered with so much sauce that I didn't think I was going to like it, but the sauce was pretty damn good. The meat had plenty of smoke ring and was melt-in-your mouth tender. The french roll it was served on could not have been more than a couple hours old; it was the perfect match for good meat. The fries were well done, which is exactly how I like thicker-cut fries. My friend's hot links were very good, too.

That was for lunch, but I liked it so much I went back for dinner (my friend wouldn't join me; she said eating at the same barbecue restaurant twice in one day is "too weird," which I suppose is true, but, whatever.) This time I got the "Memphis Pulled Pork" sandwich. Usually when a BBQ joint calls a sandwich Memphis-style, especially in California, they mean it is served with slaw on the sandwich. This came with slaw on the side. There was nothing really special about the slaw, but it was still good. The pulled pork was good, probably the best pulled pork sandwich I have had in my many trips to Sacramento, but it still wasn't in the same category as the chopped pork sandwich I had for lunch.

I also had an ice cold Budweiser. I don't know what it is about Bud, I never drink it (I'm pretty much only a Guinness man) except when I eat barbecue. I would say that the last 50 times I have eaten barbecue (which covers at least the last three weeks) I have either drank iced tea or Budwesier.

Memphis Redbirds

2008-08-18T08:33:00.000-07:00

I loved Autozone Park the first time I ever saw it. It's got the perfect location - one block off Beale Street, right in the heart of downtown. If you stand in the outfield and take a picture you can get a great shot of the Peabody Hotel sign in the background looming over the stadium (I took a great picture of this and, of course, lost it.) It's got the classic red brick exterior that has become so popular that it sometimes looks silly, but in this case fits in with the surrounding buildings. And it's big. It's one of the largest minor league stadiums I have been in.

Unfortunately, the first time I saw Autozone, the Redbirds weren't in town. The second and third time I was in Memphis it wasn't baseball season. But finally, when I made it to Memphis for Memphis in May, the Redbirds were home. It was a great place to see a game. The seats were inexpensive, relatively easy to get (I had assumed games during Memphis in May would have been more popular, especially a Saturday night game like the one I saw.)

And, I had the best concession stand item I have ever eaten: a footlong hot dog covered with chili and cheese, impaled with three forks, each ringed with a beer-battered onion ring. I started to get heartburn about halfway through the dog. But it was totally worth it.

Bryan's Pit Barbecue

2008-08-17T10:18:00.000-07:00

Bryan's Pit Barbecue

6333 West 3rd Street

Los Angeles, CA 90036

(In the LA Farmers Market)

I've been to the Farmers Market dozens of times and I think every time I've eaten at either The Gumbo Pot or Tusquellas Fish & Oyster Bar, often both. (Once I took a friend there who had just moved out from Brooklyn and I bought us a couple slices of pizza from Patsy D’Amore’s Pizza, but she took one look at the slices - disgusting looking grease bombs with soggy dough and solidified pieces of cheese - and said "No chance in hell.")

But I decided I should try this place, even though it always smells hideous when you walk by. I got the sliced pork sandwich. I was not impressed. There was quite a bit of fat on it, and I doubt the meat was truly smoked. It tasted like it had been sitting in an oven for a while. I liked the slaw, and their barbecue sauce was quite good, but not good enough to make the sandwich worth eating. I threw away almost the whole thing and went and got a shrimp cocktail and some sweet Potato chips.

Rub's BBQ & Ribs (Sacramento)

2008-08-17T09:50:00.000-07:00

Rub's BBQ & Ribs
807 Howe Avenue

Sacramento, CA 95825

I found this place by accident - I pulled into a parking lot to turn around and saw the sign for barbecue, something I can never pass by. The sign is visible from the street, but it's very easy to miss because it's in the corner of a shopping center. I am glad I found it; I liked the place. The people were very friendly and the meat was good. It wasn't great by any means, but at least it was fresh. They had a mustard sauce, which I thought was good, but the next time I was in Sacramento and returned, they did not have it. I asked the guy working there and he did not know what I was talking about. So I added some yellow mustard to their spicy barbecue sauce, and it was okay, but nothing special.

Woody's Bar-B-Que

2008-08-16T08:58:00.000-07:00

Woody's Bar-B-Que

11897 Foothill Blvd

Rancho Cucamonga, CA 91730

Just as almost all of my friends prefer In-n-Out and I prefer Fatburger, I have always liked Woody's more than Phillips. I'm not a huge fan of ribs, I like hot links more, and Woody's has some of the best I have ever tasted. Back when I lived in Los Angeles I would go to Woody's about once a month.

I had no idea there was a Rancho Cucamonga location until I drove by on my way to a Quakes game. (I've heard the Rancho Cuc location has closed now, though.) I figured that would be better than a hot dog at the game, so I got a beef sandwich. It was very good. I don't know what kind of barbecue sauce they used (it was different than I remembered from the Los Angeles location, but I can't be sure) but it was very good. The fries were undercooked but the slaw was great.

JR's Barbeque

2008-08-16T08:42:00.000-07:00

JR's Barbeque
3055 South La Cienega Blvd.
Culver City, CA 90232

A friend of mine who knows a lot about barbecue recommended JR's to me, so one day when I didn't have anything else to do I hopped in my Dr. Pepper ride and drove down to Culver City. I'm just kidding, that isn't my car in the picture... although I would like to drive it once.

JR's definitely reminded me of being in the South. It was dark inside (which is why the picture of my pork shoulder sandwich did not turn out very good,) the food was good, and the service was, well, Southern, i.e. friendly but not very efficient. The waitress was very flustered when more than three people showed up for lunch. It took her three attempts to get my bill correct (there was a $1 charge on there that she couldn't figure out, and it perplexed her so much that at one point she actually asked me "Now, what do you suppose that's for?" which I found quite charming, in a friendly Southern way.)

I saw a man there eating lunch with some other men who looked like the spitting image of the father of my best friend in high school. The similarities were so strong that I actually got up to walk over and say hi, but then I figured there was no way my friend's dad would be eating barbecue in Culver City at one o'clock on a Friday. So I didn't go over. A month later I was talking to my friend and mentioned that I had seen a man who looked just like his dad. He asked where and I said "JR's in Culver City."

"Yeah," said my friend, "that was my dad. He goes there for lunch with his friends every Friday."

JR's Texas Bar-B-Q (Sacramento)

2008-08-16T08:04:00.000-07:00

JR's Texas Bar-B-Q

180 Otto Circle

Sacramento, CA 95822

Often people who hear about my passion for barbecue ask me what the best barbecue is that I have had. It's a fair question, but an impossible one to answer. Barbecue - more than any food I know - lends itself to contextualism. I had a plate of beef and ham at Gates Bar-B-Q that may be the most technically perfect I have had, but how can I say that is better barbecue than a cheap pulled pork sandwich eaten at the Memphis in May barbecue festival on the banks of the Mississippi, washed down with an ice cold Budweiser, which on a 105 degree day tastes like the best beer you have ever had? I can't.

However, for the rest of my life I will be able to answer anyone who asks about the worst barbecue I have had. This pulled pork sandwich, although it's hard to tell from the picture, was mostly fat. I was so hungry I tried to pick around the fat and get small pieces of pork, but that was literally impossible. What you see here is exactly what got thrown away. My friend's "hot links" were just a couple hot dogs with grill marks. The fries were cold; the corn had been sitting in water for hours, and the corn bread was as hard as a baseball.

Plus, the building was hideous. It was a giant room filled with Texas flags and other assorted Texas memorablilia. Even though there were lots of basbeall games that day, the big screen TV was tuned to Fox News Channel. The floor was filthy and there were flies buzzing around everywhere. I will leave you to choose your own metaphor.