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| - Opening night at Big Earl's!
They were busy right at opening, looks like old town needed a BBQ joint!
I know there's much debate about what constitutes "real" BBQ - IMHO there are many "real" BBQs. A wide range of cooking styles, rubs, sauces, textures, flavors, etc. The point being no one BBQ can hope to please everybody. With that in mind, Big Earl's has a definite "style".
1) All the sauces are slightly spicy. There are no sweet or tangy sauces here. Indeed, the Ghost Chile sauce is awesome hot!
2) All the sauces are smoky. If you don't like your BBQ to be slightly "metallic" (i.e. like an iron skillet), this won't work for you.
That said I encourage you to give Big Earl's a try and decide for yourself!
The staff was friendly and knowledgeable, better than I expected for an opening night. Prompt drink refills in a nice canning jar glass. I'm a little annoyed with the guy who kept stealing my dirty napkins. They could have absorbed a little more sauce!
Apps: Just me tonight so I only sampled two, the fried pickles and the Big Earl's Challenge wings. The pickles were indescribably awesome, I couldn't stop eating them! Seemed to taste both dill and slightly sweet (like a cinnamon sugar) and wonderfully crunchy in their light breading/batter.
The wings were covered in the Big Earl's Ghost Chile sauce - good hot! The heat doesn't grab you right up front but builds to a nice burn after a few wings. Oddly, the sauce seemed to make the skin on the wings slippery - so watch out for flying wings!
The brisket was awesome! Sure to be a tough competitor in this year's brisket throw down. The pulled pork was tender and juicy, can't wait to try it in a sandwich. The pork ribs were a little dry for me, but nothing a little extra sauce didn't cure :-)
I had sides of mac 'n cheese and homemade fries. Both worth having again. Although you need to eat the mac 'n cheese first because it cools quickly and loses some of its creamy goodness.
I ordered a banana pudding for desert which I took home to share with my wife. I have no idea how it tastes because she didn't share.
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