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BBQ Joint Disappointments

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  • Starsky
    replied
    It's not just you. Any BBQ joint I try, I measure by their brisket. Haven't found one yet that can surpass mine. No brag, just fact . Here in the midwest it's more about pork in my opinion

    Leave a comment:


  • jecucolo
    commented on 's reply
    I feel the same way about the food cooked on my deck.

  • jecucolo
    commented on 's reply
    I totally agree! If you pay attention and practice the fundamentals taught here good restaurant food is hard to find. I owe a lot to Meathead and the Pit folks!

  • Bkhuna
    replied
    You want to compare BBQ deserts? Try Orlando, FL. Might as well live in Artic Bay, Canada.

    The problem is that everyone has access to Youtube, social media, and Chefutainment channels on TV. So many people who have never actually learned to make BBQ or have never eaten good BBQ have become overnight "experts". 99.999% of the stuff you see on these shows is garbage. But people who don't go out and open BBQ restaurants.

    I can sum up a place by looking at a few selected items. I know what I like and can compare it to places I've been to in my travels. I'm not afraid to walk in, look around, and flee if something isn't right.
    Last edited by Bkhuna; February 27, 2021, 04:18 AM.

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  • Donw
    replied
    With few exceptions I know I can usually cook BBQ better than most commercial operations. However, I cook in a different world than they do. I usually cook for 2-12, occasionally for up to about a hundred or so but all those meals have my full attention the entire time. I may have spent a week or more in the planning and preparation just for those meals.

    The commercial operations has to do this everyday for possibly 100’s of meals, with all the distractions of also running a business and having to employ other people who aren’t always there or on their best game. I always have to cut them some slack even if I think I could have done better. After all, someone else is doing the cleanup.

    There are those exceptions but they have, probably from experience, the right people, the right equipment, the right suppliers, and the right attitude to repeatedly turn out their best hundreds of times each day. Most don’t or can’t.

    Leave a comment:


  • Redwng
    replied
    My wife and I have been talking about this same topic for many years. When we lived outside Houston there were a couple decent BBQ places but I have a difficult time paying paying $18-$20/lb for ribs or brisket when I can make the equivalent (and usually better tasting) at home much cheaper.

    We don't do a lot of beef anymore and lean towards fish especially here in FL but getting served even a fish wrap that is overcooked really ticks me off. I have a hard time going back after being served something that is overcooked which is why we usually go out to breakfast if anything. OK, off my soap box...thx.

    Leave a comment:


  • ecowper
    commented on 's reply
    Yeah, there’s not much in the way of good BBQ in Western WA

  • ofelles
    replied
    I live in a vast wasteland. I have to go to the Smoking Pig in San Jose (about 50 miles) to get anything decent.
    But then I do a pretty good job at home if I do say so myself.

    Leave a comment:


  • ecowper
    replied
    I almost never eat BBQ at a restaurant. Unless I’m in Austin, Dallas, or Kansas City. Even there, I’m pretty picky where I go.

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  • Old Glory
    replied
    I am in the same boat. I have yet to get a good pulled pork at a restaurant. Nine times out of ten it is re-heated and watery or slathered in BBQ sauce. When I make it at home it doesn't really need sauce.

    Ribs same thing. There are a few places that make decent ribs but only if they are fresh. Again they are mostly kept warm all day under a heat lamp or re-heated from the day before. Even when my ribs are just ok they are better because they are fresh.

    I am still trying to master brisket so I usually order that when I go out for BBQ since I don't make it at home.

    Leave a comment:


  • au4stree
    replied
    It’s the same for my family, we grew up eating Big Bob’s on hunting trips, those were the best pork shoulders. The owner was in our club so we always felt special when he’d plop that big ol’ Smokey hunk of goodness on the counter.

    I say all that to say we were spoiled at an early age and learned to just cook it ourselves at home. I now live in Bham metro and the bbq here is terrible. The sad thing is people here think it’s great, they can’t help it, it is what they know. Imagine dry meats covered in ketchup-y sauces.....

    klflowers , Fox Bros BBQ is legit, terrific brisket.

    Leave a comment:


  • jfmorris
    replied
    klflowers it's not just you. Over the last decade or two, as I honed my BBQ chops, especially the last 3-4 years, I've found that a BBQ restaurant is about the last place I want to go, as I know I will usually walk away disappointed. Or if I go, I'll get a half chicken or something other than pulled pork.

    We ate at Dreamland after church with my son and his wife recently, and my son ordered ribs. I think I got rib tip nachos or something crazy, as I wasn't wanting straight up BBQ from there. My son even mentioned that the ribs were good, but not great.

    I was in Chattanooga on Wednesday, and for lunch we just ate at touristy old downtown Big River Brewery or whatever its called, and had a very good bbq chicken pizza and some beer battered fish and chips, which we shared. I intentionally bypassed the downtown BBQ options. If we eat out, I'll try to get something I don't make at home, or else a burger, which is usually good out.

    The exception is if I am in Memphis, or out in Texas. And I'll take the chicken with white BBQ sauce at Big Bob Gibson's over in Decatur, AL.

    Leave a comment:


  • smokin fool
    replied
    I've long lamented the lack of BBQ joints in the GTA and the fact that we've been in Covid lockdown on and off and now since Dec is not going to help things .
    Many/most can't/won't survive on take out orders alone.
    Adamson BBQ took a stand against the shut down and was handed down $187,000 in fines this week so see how he fares.
    I don't think your alone in thinking your BBQ is any better than the 'pros' in some cases, when you hit a cook outta the park why not stick your chest out.
    I'm sure the pros would give you your due's for a job well done too.

    Leave a comment:


  • smokin fool
    commented on 's reply
    Great point about lack of attention in preparation.
    I'll go one further, how many dishes are pre-prepared off site, delivered and re-heated to be served.
    There was a great Italian place nearby, always packed, you needed to book two weeks before until it was found out the majority of meals served came out of a microwave or was reheated.

  • Steve R.
    replied
    I'm the same way. This place has ruined me for 99% of the BBQ restaurants out there. A smoker used to be some kind of magic black box that produced some of my favorite foods. Now that I have seen the wizard behind the curtain, there is no going back to those days.

    Leave a comment:

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