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| - To celebrate Laura's last day with her left mandibular second molar, and we ordered way more food than we could eat at HWY 61 - we got the assorted BBQ platter for 2 which was enough for 4 regular people (Pork ribs, quarter chicken, pulled pork and brisket). There was also a live blues band which was awesome and unexpected, and they played at a reasonable volume for a dining room. Thumbs up.
The best:
The waitress put our meat plate down in front of us and said "here's the deal; there's a bunch of pulled chicken on there too because the guys in the kitchen said 'That quarter chicken is fuckin' small, yo!'"
The good:
- the band was really good and played a Tom Waits cover
- there is a great beer selection
- the meats are mostly local
- it's pretty reasonably priced
- the coleslaw is GREAT
- the baked beans are good
The bad:
I didn't *love* the actual BBQ. In detail:
- The pork ribs were side ribs, which is not my personal preference
- The sauce seemed like it was having an identity crisis - it wasn't watery and sweet like southern sauce, but it wasn't thick and smoky like Kansas sauce... It was not my personal preference of sauce.
- I don't like it when the meat doesn't come sauced - cooking the meat in the sauce is what imparts some of the complex through and through flavors to me.
- The brisket was chopped and I like it sliced. It was extremely fatty and tasted like chopped steak (it was my least favorite).
- the Fryers were out of service so we didn't get to have chicken wings or onion rings or fries.
Weird-and-funny:
There was a woman who had had too much to drink harassing the band to autograph her (yellow) shirt from a blues festival that they clearly had not been to. It was really funny, and they tried to back away slowly.
Would I go here again?
Yes, but I would order judiciously. I would have a quarter chicken dinner or try the wings. I wasn't in like with the pulled pork (probably because it wasn't cooked in the BBQ sauce) but I thought the pulled chicken was okay. In summary, I really liked BEING here - I seriously had a great time - but I didn't like the food, which was slightly devastating to my plans of 'finding a great BBQ joint.'
Food 2 stars, Restaurant 4 stars so we'll call it an even 3.
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