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| - It really does boggle my mind when I eat a mediocre meal at a small restaurant. You would think if you're going to go to the trouble of opening a new joint in such a crowded marketplace, you'd make an effort to serve up top-notch, above-average food every single night.
The food we consumed during our trip felt lazy, uninspired, and completely phoned in. It was as if the chef figured, hey, it's a slow Wednesday night; why should I actually *try*?
We ordered two sandwiches to share: the Smoked Brisket ("with caramelized onions and a horseradish brisket sauce") and the Smoked Pulled Pork ("coleslaw on sandwich or on the side").
The Brisket was absolutely the worse of the two. It was dry, overcooked, and completely lacking in flavor, smoky or otherwise. It was the kind of meat you'd expect to get at a school cafeteria, quite frankly. The horseradish brisket sauce was pretty tasty, admittedly.
The Pulled Pork fared slightly better, only because it was a more enjoyable sandwich to consume. The pork itself had a slightly leftover taste to it, but that was at least drowned out by the very strong barbecue sauce it had been slathered in. Was there anything smoky about this sandwich, though? Absolutely not.
The accompanying coleslaw was overpowered by vinegar, so that went unfinished. I also ordered a side of the Slow Cooked Baked Beans, and as I remarked to my dining companion, these beans answer the question of what baked beans would taste like if they were served for dessert. The whole thing was just cloyingly sweet, to the point where they were almost inedible. These may just be the worst baked beans I've ever eaten.
I have to wonder if the food at Appalachia is always this bad, or if the chef was just having an off night. In any event, I'll never return.
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