Our road trip to the New Mexico MeatUp is under way! We are heading due South to the Gulf Coast of Mississippi to spend a few days with Lisa's family, then heading West to make the New Mexico MeatUp over Labor Day weekend.
First stop, 17th St BBQ in Murphysboro, IL.
Not wanting to miss something good, we got the 5 meat platter with mac and cheese and potato salad. They were out of BBQ beans, or that would have taken the place of the potato salad.
Now that I have been here, if I should happen to wander this way again I'll know to get the ribs, sausage and skip the rest.
The ribs had a good dusting of their own rub which I tasted by itself with the bottle of it that was on our table. Alone it tastes like it might be a little too heavy on the chili powder, but on the very juicy half rack of ribs, it was very nice. There were four sauces on the table to choose from, but none of them were needed to help with the flavor of the nicely rubbed and well cooked baby backs. To my tastes they were the best meat on the platter.
The sausage was pretty black pepper forward, with a nice texture. The smoke flavor was just about spot on for my tastes. Lisa picked it as her favorite thing on the platter.
The brisket was very dry, and very chewy. I don't know if the picture will do it justice for just how little moisture was left in it. The fat was rendered nicely, so I don't think it was an example of under cooking it and leaving it tough. This was just a poorly treated piece of meat. Either in the cooking, holding, or both. The bark had a nice flavor to it, but that couldn't save the rest of it.
The turkey was better than the brisket, but also lacked moisture. It wasn't horrible by any means, but I'm wondering if the regular pitmaster has the weekend off.
The pulled pork was pretty much a repeat of the turkey. It wasn't bad, but it wasn't exactly good either. To be fair, I have had maybe three pulled porks that I would go out of my way to eat again, including my own. So I'm probably not the best one to judge the quality of pulled pork.
The sides were good. The mac and cheese had some shredded cheddar on top of it, but underneath was a basic American cheese or possibly Velveeta mac and cheese. That is to say that it is exactly what you want and expect a mac and cheese to be. The potato salad was also good. They use a fair amount of sour cream in theirs to make it different from most of the mayo based potato salads, and I for one thought it worked well.
For dessert Lisa picked the strawberry shortcake. Canned strawberry topping on Bisquick shortbread. Not exactly a show stopper, but it's a good sized portion for sharing, so I can't really complain.
The service... Well... It's truly the luck of the draw. There was one server who was hustling and doing a good job with her tables. That's not who we got. We got, the other one. We got to know a lot about her as she told her life story to the people sitting behind us, including her hopes of moving out West in four or five years. I would have rather gotten our bill in a timely manner, but that wasn't something that fit into her life plans right at that moment. A server has to make an effort to get me to leave less than fifteen percent as a tip, and by golly, this young lady was up to the task.
At the end of the day, I would go back just for the ribs and sausage, but I'd skip everything else. And probably order ahead for carry out.
First stop, 17th St BBQ in Murphysboro, IL.
Not wanting to miss something good, we got the 5 meat platter with mac and cheese and potato salad. They were out of BBQ beans, or that would have taken the place of the potato salad.
Now that I have been here, if I should happen to wander this way again I'll know to get the ribs, sausage and skip the rest.
The ribs had a good dusting of their own rub which I tasted by itself with the bottle of it that was on our table. Alone it tastes like it might be a little too heavy on the chili powder, but on the very juicy half rack of ribs, it was very nice. There were four sauces on the table to choose from, but none of them were needed to help with the flavor of the nicely rubbed and well cooked baby backs. To my tastes they were the best meat on the platter.
The sausage was pretty black pepper forward, with a nice texture. The smoke flavor was just about spot on for my tastes. Lisa picked it as her favorite thing on the platter.
The brisket was very dry, and very chewy. I don't know if the picture will do it justice for just how little moisture was left in it. The fat was rendered nicely, so I don't think it was an example of under cooking it and leaving it tough. This was just a poorly treated piece of meat. Either in the cooking, holding, or both. The bark had a nice flavor to it, but that couldn't save the rest of it.
The turkey was better than the brisket, but also lacked moisture. It wasn't horrible by any means, but I'm wondering if the regular pitmaster has the weekend off.
The pulled pork was pretty much a repeat of the turkey. It wasn't bad, but it wasn't exactly good either. To be fair, I have had maybe three pulled porks that I would go out of my way to eat again, including my own. So I'm probably not the best one to judge the quality of pulled pork.
The sides were good. The mac and cheese had some shredded cheddar on top of it, but underneath was a basic American cheese or possibly Velveeta mac and cheese. That is to say that it is exactly what you want and expect a mac and cheese to be. The potato salad was also good. They use a fair amount of sour cream in theirs to make it different from most of the mayo based potato salads, and I for one thought it worked well.
For dessert Lisa picked the strawberry shortcake. Canned strawberry topping on Bisquick shortbread. Not exactly a show stopper, but it's a good sized portion for sharing, so I can't really complain.
The service... Well... It's truly the luck of the draw. There was one server who was hustling and doing a good job with her tables. That's not who we got. We got, the other one. We got to know a lot about her as she told her life story to the people sitting behind us, including her hopes of moving out West in four or five years. I would have rather gotten our bill in a timely manner, but that wasn't something that fit into her life plans right at that moment. A server has to make an effort to get me to leave less than fifteen percent as a tip, and by golly, this young lady was up to the task.
At the end of the day, I would go back just for the ribs and sausage, but I'd skip everything else. And probably order ahead for carry out.
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