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| - Walking up the stairs of the Monarch Tavern, turning the corner and into Baju, I immediately got an awesome vibe. A real local, neighborhood hangout with regulars sitting at the bar. Completely unpretentious, groups sitting along picnic tables, chatting away with a few pints and several bites. Baju is new but the bar is untouched by time and the pinball machine helps.
The beer here is impressive especially those on draft like the GLB Karma Citra IPA and several others.
The menu is equally awesome with 5 BBQ meats and sides galore to choose from. Some sides sound like mains like the pork wings, burnt ends and moink balls, so you can technically have meat mains with meat sides (I'm not judging, I thought of it). The variety is really great and the Pig out Platter makes sense if you want to try several things out and have at least one other person to share with.
With 3 others, we opted to go with the Pig out Platter $42 (3 meats, 4 sides) and 2 half orders of the other meats (8-9$/each) so we could have all meat options altogether because, why the hell not.
What I recommend:
St. Louis Cut Spare Ribs (smokey, spice rub is slightly sweet and flavorful, meat is tender, not 'Fall-off-the-bone-status' but great anyways)
Smoked Chicken Thigh (smokey, very tender, flavorful)
Beef Brisket (smokey, flakey, a tad dry but very good with homemade sauces)
Curry Potato Salad
Collard Greens
(missed the burnt ends but I bet those are bomb)
Honorable Mention:
Moink Balls because they are friggin meatballs wrapped in bacon...
Overall, I really liked everything about Baju. The prices are good, the service I got was really caring and patient, the beers are great, the food is comparable to the best BBQ in T.O. and the neighborhood is super chill. I will go back very soon.
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