I've certainly had my fair share of barbecue over the years, having travelled to the south a number of times and specifically seeking out the best 'cue on offer. So I was excited to learn that there was potentially a great barbecue joint mere kilometers from my house. Unfortunately, Blue Sage is nothing less than a complete letdown.
I walked into the empty restaurant and immediately noticed a lack of smoky smells. This didn't alarm me as it's possible all the smoking is done offsite. I was greeted by the owner, a large man who proceeded to talk my ear off. He asked my dining companion and I if we'd ever eaten barbecue and we both responded in the affirmative. Then he proceeded to explain the difference between true barbecue and grilling, which we both found silly and kind of insulting. (We're not *idiots*.)
Finally he stopped talking and went away, and we had a chance to look at the promising menu. I quickly settled on my go-to meal at barbecue joints, a pulled pork sandwich, while my dining companion opted for a rack of ribs. The garrulous owner reemerged to take our orders - I chose baked beans for the side and my dining companion picked beans and coleslaw - and disappeared into the back to prepare the food.
15 or 20 minutes later, which felt like a long time since there was nobody else in the place, our food arrived. The chatty proprietor explained that my sandwich had been drizzled in his mustard sauce, which sounded promising enough. I took one bite and was immediately hit with waves of vinegary flavour. It seemed excessively vinegary but I thought perhaps it was just a fluke. A second bite proved that it was not.
Beyond the ill-questioned sauce, the sandwich suffered from a total dearth of smokiness. I'd be surprised if this pork ever saw the inside of a smoker. Worse than that, the meat had a gamey, leftovery taste that would seem to indicate it had been sitting around for a while before it was reheated and drenched in that aforementioned sauce.
The beans were passable. Sweet and thick, they were a marginal cut above usual canned beans. My dining companion said his ribs were tough but edible. No smoke there, either, unfortunately.
I really, really did not enjoy eating that sandwich, but I'm not one to waste food so I plowed through anyway. I won't be returning, that's for sure. The owner talks a big game but I wonder if he's actually *tasted* his own food.