Out with two buds tonight on a quest for some good BBQ and to zap a few other cravings. I've been here one or two times before but for whatever reason was never able to try a lot of things.
First off I love the atmosphere and decor of the place. Upscale bayou? can that exist? seems like they were able to do it. Plus its nice and dark and comfortable.
One thing I recall is how great the service is EVERY TIME i go. Three different visits.. three different servers.. top notch each time.
Food!
Appetizers
Wings:
Delicious! These are smoked, fried, and then sauced. I hate(strong word on purpose) baked wings. I thought I was going to hate these but the combo of the smoked then fried works amazingly. It allows them to only flash fry for crisp. This keeps the wings juicy and plump but with the fried crispy skin that wings should have.
Brisket Fire-Pie:
Don't bother :/ I knew this was risky but I had a pizza craving. Normally BBQ pizzas have way to much BBQ sauce. This was the opposite it had very little sauce.. so little that it had no flavor impact leaving you wondering what that funky after taste is.
Cornbread:
Strong corn flavor.. not overly sweet. Could feel the grease/butter levels killing me not so slowly. But was good to the taste buds.
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BBQ
Pulled Pork:
Nice smoke flavor and good moisture content without being overly fatty. Not the best I've had but no complaints.
Brisket:
Same feelings as the pork. It was good and executed properly but certainly not the best I've ever had. None of the BBQ was overly salty but some of it was to far on the other end of the scope and could have used some more salt. There was no real bark on the brisket which was a little disappointing.
Smoke Links:
I didn't care for these at all. They were to fatty for my taste and needed more... something in your face. I think everyone agreed these were the our least favorite items.
Baby Back Ribs:
Very tasty ribs but surprisingly not my favorite out of the three offered. These are usually the safe best for best ribs at whatever place your at. There was something out of whack with the meat itself. It failed to really pick up the smoke flavor maybe? They were moist and tender and fall off the bone. But fall off the bone on the side of smoked to long.
Beef Ribs:
Surprisingly lean for beef ribs. Since they were so lean these could have used a little more time in the smoke unlike the baby backs. Beef ribs take a much longer time to break down to perfection.
St Louis Style Ribs:
YUM! Best ribs on the menu. Next time this is all I will order in the rib category. Flavor was great., meat was great., still a little over done but it took nothing away from them. I would come back for this alone.
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Sides
Mac & Cheese:
Delicious but they went the fake cheese route. It is hard to make good mac and cheese the old fashion way. Its hard in small quantity let alone restaurant quantity. I would rather have them understand this and serve it with primarily fake cheese and be tasty then try and do from scratch and serve me curdled cheese fail.
Pecan Cole Slaw:
Also sexy! Crisp, cold, refreshing, and not soggy. The nuts were a nice addition but if they could have somehow brought it out more in the dish it would have been ever better.
Potato Salad:
Mmmmmm. This was great and a tie for best side dish with the mac and cheese. Be warned.. This is HEAVY. Its probably 90% mayo but its potato salad.. its not healthy don't try and make it healthy. They did it right. It took a year off my life and I loved every bite of it. Its the bad years anyway! Creamy, perfect amount of mustard, great seasoning, lots of fresh dill.
Beans:
Interesting.. Sweet but not grossly sweet like some. Smokey but almost to a crazy level. When I tasted this I honestly felt like I was eating something with a liquid tobacco smoke flavor. It also had a lot of what was probably the BBQ beef in it. Not sure what I thought about this.
Planned Return Order:
Wings
St Louis Ribs
Mac & Cheese
Potato Salad
Pecan Coleslaw
Get these if nothing else and I would be shocked if you didn't leave grinning ear to ear.
Pros:
Great Service
Great Atmospheric
Acceptable Great to OK dish ratio
10% off for yelpsters!
Cons:
Awkward Location
Awkward Parking
Pricey
For those still stumped by the "how can fall off the bone be bad" the best test for ribs done correctly would be ribs tender enough to pull apart with your teeth but ones you can pick up and hold by a bone and not have fall apart. If you pick up ribs by the bone and the meat stays on the plate and the bone comes up clean its been neglected. I know this sounds crazy to most but when you have enough ribs done properly you will taste and appreciate a rib that was on as long as it was supposed to be and no longer.