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| - I've seen this little place for years now, sitting lonely and always looking as if it wasn't really... open. I never had the time to stop in, despite my love of BBQ. It just so happened that today I was driving by right about the same time I was hungry for lunch, and as I drove by, I pulled up yelp and discovered that it had aggregated five stars. Stop the presses, baby - I ain't passing by no 5-star BBQ joint hungry, I promise you that.
It's accurately described as a "hole in the wall," because it's in kind of a dingy little section of 19th Avenue just North of Osborn in what obviously used to be a little house. This is how a proper BBQ joint is supposed to be described, though, so that didn't detract me one bit. As others have noted, it is immaculately clean inside, and like all great BBQ joints - sparse. Most importantly, its walls were lined with articles praising its BBQ goodness... I was getting extremely excited. In the end, however, like most Phoenix BBQ, it was hit and miss. More hit than miss, I am pleased to say.
I had the 1/2 slab pork ribs with "bubba beans" and the mayo potato salad. My companion had the "Ranger" - which is what they call their pulled pork sandwich, piled high with cole slaw - as God intended. Bonus points for that. Unfortunately, the BBQ sauce at Town Talk II is curiously bland. They claim it's the recipe from the original Town Talk, which opened downtown in the 40's. If so, it might explain why the sauce tasted like something that might be welcome in a nursing home kitchen - not sweet enough, not spicy enough, just... there. At least it didn't taste like Bullseye.
I'm a big proponent of the idea that the meat should speak for itself besides the BBQ sauce, so let me say this: the ribs are the best prepared ribs I've had in Phoenix, period. That distinction used to belong to Bobby-Q's, these guys have them beat. Perfectly tender, perfectly smoked. With ribs though, I find the sauce to be an important finish, and in this case the sauce actually detracted from my experience. The pulled pork was competent, but seemed old, it just wasn't juicy enough or smoky enough, and of course the sauce didn't help here either.
The sides were a mixed bag as well. The cole slaw was INCREDIBLE, these guys know how to make a good spicy cole slaw. Bigtime props for that, it's nearly impossible to find this kind of slaw anywhere. But the "bubba beans" were a terrible distraction - they are chili beans, not BBQ beans, and biting into them was very off-putting. The potato salad could have been phoned in from Frys.
The proprietor of Town Talk II is a very engaging and friendly guy, As a matter of fact, it was his attentive and friendly service that will ensure that I will return to Town Talk II again, even if I do have to smuggle in my own sauce.
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