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| - SO SMOKEY SO TENDER SO MEATY SO DELICIOUS! Michael Symon has done it again, this time with really solid dry BBQ joint set against a masculine industrial-chic backdrop. Unlike other BBQ, this one's claim to hometown fame is its Cleveland-style mustard-BBQ-sauce.
Come try Mabel's for good BBQ done in a new way.
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The "pig parts" crispy tail side ($7) -- Do. Not. Pass. This. Up. Finger-lickin bone-chompin PERFECTION. Salty meat, crisp crackling skin, oozing fat & sticky tendon, sitting in its own oil, pulled together with a mustardy sauce drizzled on top. CLOGGED ARTERY HEAVEN. Shared among friends, the oiliness is manageable.
The pork belly ($14) -- oh my god it's pork belly, need I say more? Mabel's is so smokey, so salty, so flavorful, throughout every layer from the spice rub through the fat and into the meat. But what really made the meal was the side of spicy pickled cabbage, this magenta ninja of flavor that's just barely salty and spicy and acidic enough to jolt awake your tired taste buds and arm them for the next coating of lard upon lard.
The pork spare ribs ($15) are delish too -- even more smokey and salty and overall more intensely flavorful than the belly.
I love the BBQ best on its own, but the unique Cleveland oomph comes in the form of the thin, sweet, mustardy Mabel's BBQ sauce on the side. The mystery sauce borrows notes from Cleveland Ballpark Mustard and Eastern European influences. It tastes only a little mustardy and also a little sweet and not at all very BBQ but overall just works with everything.
The habanero Aardvark sauce is thick and yummy too! And honestly, it's barely even spicy... don't let these wussy Yelp reviewers fool ya.
Next time I'd like to come back to try the non-pig meats, sample even more sides, and wash it all down with some cold hard alcohol.
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