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| - We are in Las Vegas for the weekend and decided to visit Memphis Championship Barbecue. While the ratings for MCB were not stellar, they seemed OK enough to give it a try, especially since it was nearby our hotel. This was not a good choice.
Growing up in Alabama, I've eaten barbecue for most of my six decades. I know the difference in great smoked meats and southern sides. These items were not great.
Service was good. We were seated immediately and our server was at the table within a couple of minutes. I decided we'd order the Deviled Eggs appetizer. The server explained they were rather sweet because of Miracle Whip. She was right, but, they tasted OK. We did note that the plate was wet, usually indicating that the eggs were make a while earlier and stored in a cold refrigerator. Not old, but certainly not made when ordered.
Our server brought us some "fresh rolls and honey butter". The "honey butter" may have been made in-house, but the rolls were a food service bread that had been heated. We then placed our orders, one pulled pork plate and one two meat plate consisting of pulled pork & brisket. Sides ordered were collard greens, fresh corn on the cob, and red beans and rice. I'll address each item, starting with the sides.
Collard Greens- VERY overcooked (to the point of being almost black and mushy) and extremely sweet. The only flavoring was a heavy spiciness, not flavor, but heat. The only way to flavor them was with green pepper vinegar, but they were so overcooked we sent them back, choosing instead to have fried okra.
Fresh Corn on the Cob - The corn WAS fresh, but while the collards were very overcooked, the corn was nearly raw. So raw that it wasn't even warm all the way through. The husk end of the corn was still green, not white, as cooked corn is. When I explained to the server that the corn was not cooked she told me that they "flash fried the corn". I had to ask what she meant. Apparently they put the raw corn into a fryer basket and drop it into a deep fryer for "1- 1 1/2 minutes because we don't want it to turn into popcorn". The server apparently doesn't understand that popcorn is a specific strain of conn, which is dried. So, the cold/raw corn was returned. It was replaced with hush puppies. So now we've had two sides sent back.
Red Beans/Rice - Apparently canned red beans just heated up. No special spices. We kept them but they weren't good.
Fried Okra/Hush puppies - When okra arrived the breading was very uniform, so I asked if it was house made or frozen. Surprise...both the fried okra and the hushpuppies were frozen food service products. Now, as a southerner I am pretty appalled that a BBQ restaurant doesn't make hushpuppies from scratch. I mean, how hard is it to mix up a corn meal batter and drop it in a fryer?
Frankly, the best side was the frozen okra. It wasn't overcooked and was hot.
Sad...truly sad.
The meats, which should have been the star, just turned out to be a black hole of flavor.
While the pulled pork had a nice bark and smoke ring, it had absolutely no flavor. It was hot and not dry, but without a bbq sauce it was bland. The "Original Sauce" used on it was not much better. Only the "Sticky Red Sauce" had any flavor.
The brisket was tender, but aside from it's smoke ring there was no flavor there either.
They advertise their "Magic Dust", a seasoning that is apparently sprinkled on everything. Unfortunately, they should have rubbed it into all the meats prior to smoking.
But, the kicker was the piece of "baked" plastic found in my pulled pork. While I wanted to not believe everything was reheated that made me rethink it all.
So, the whole meal was extremely disappointing. Fortunately our server, who'd said she'd "been doing this a long time" was helpful and apologetic. She came back to our table to tell us the entire meal had been comped. While we did not eat but about 25% of the entire meal, we did not expect that to happen. As everyone should, we tipped her for the total of the whole meal.
My suggestion for the restaurant is to start flavoring the meat, make FRESH well-cooked sides, and dump the frozen & food-service prepped items.
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