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| - This was our third night in the Charlotte area and we had not yet tried to find some barbecue. Bubba's looked like a good choice and was not too far from our hotel. We were a little early and pretty much had the place to ourselves at first.
Hushpuppies were provided. They were not sweetened but were fairly oniony which covered up the mild corn flavor. We prefer them without onion.
The coleslaw was the yellow mustardy style that apparently you get in this part of the world. I've heard it called Eastern style, but can't say I've had it this way at the other places I've been in the Piedmont and Coastal Plain. Maybe I have just forgotten. This one had a flavor that I had a hard time identifying. I'm sure it came from the mustard, but is not mustard seed itself. It reminded me of bathroom cleaner, really. I spent most of the meal trying to figure it out, then it came to me. They are using a flavored prepared mustard, perhaps mint or some other herb. I found it unpleasant and distracting. Bottom line is I did not like this version.
The green beans are pretty plain with just some onion added. They needed salt, a splash of vinegar and a little barbecue meat, side meat or jowl or something. The baked beans were actually the best side and they were also pretty simple. They were probably seasoned with the rib sauce which is very dark, kind of Kansas City style.
The ribs were full untrimmed spare ribs with plenty of fat. They were not smoked, showing no pink from the process and leaving no smoke on your hands. I don't believe they were grilled either. Grill flavor was not there. Whether I am correct or not, they appeared to be roasted somehow. Later I read that they use an electric cooker, so that could explain it. They were also very solid, toothy. I don't want mush and don't fully subscribe to the fall-off-the-bone preference, but these were not done. So they were underdone roast pork with an herb rub that was hidden by that heavy KC style sauce. They are served individually cut apart. You could never pull them apart at the table.
The chopped pork barbecue was pretty much the same as the ribs in having no smoke (again the electric cooker). Their sauce is just vinegar and red pepper, with no salt. I have eaten a lot of eastern style sauces and love them. This was crude and did not help the pork much. The meat was chopped medium fine. It was served sauced about right, not wet or dry and not fatty. I don't expect heavy smoke in Eastern NC pork, but a little please. This was just roasted pork to me.
Some places you get poorly conceived and poorly made food. Those I give 1-2 stars. This was not like that, it was just not my style. So I give them credit (three stars) for what they do, I think it is a matter of personal preference. This experience scared us out of any further tries for barbecue while in Charlotte. We will save it for our next trip that takes us to Raleigh and points east.
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