I was at this Colombian spot recently with 5 others. They're partially a bar and partially a BBQ…read morerestaurant, and as the name suggests, they smoke their meats in barrels. The lighting was nearly as dim as the photos suggested, which was a good thing, while the music, mostly trance and house EDM, was loud but not unbearable. The server was friendly, and although they forgot one of our side dishes, it worked out because we were pretty full by the end. To drink, I had a Guaro Biche, an $18 Colombian cocktail made with Bacan artisanal aguardiente, mango biche, lime, agave, and mint, with biche referring to unripe mango mixed with lime/salt/pepper. The drink was strong but nicely balanced, with the salty mango adding a bit of tartness occasionally. Others had margaritas and beers from the happy hour menu.
Our only appetizer was the Barrel-Roll for $16, a crispy roll of some sort filled with cheese, Santarrosano chorizo, and sweet plantain, and topped with their green and pink sauce. It came with six pieces and was a bit rich and salty, along with some smokiness and a bit of sweetness. It was decent and worked nicely as bar food, but I wouldn't fill up on that, even with the price point being pretty decent.
We soon got one of our "sides", the Smoked Pork Ribs, which was three bones for $18. It's usually $26 for the full-size version, which also comes with two other sides as well. The meat had a good texture in particular, as it was tender, but it didn't fall off the bone, which made it toothsome. The sauce on it was on the sweeter end, which would make sense, as presumably it's the same guava BBQ as on the full-size version. Outside of the sauce, the meat indeed had some smoke. Overall, we enjoyed it.
Next was the pretty good $34 Smoked Angus Picanha Steak, which was 11 oz and came with two sides. The meat was pretty well cooked, though some parts were a bit chewy. Part of that can be expected with the very meaty top sirloin, but only part. The smoke flavor was easily the lightest on this dish. For our sides, we got the very tasty Frijoles/Beans (normally $6), and their delicious and unique Smoked Pineapple.
The main dish was their Picada, or in other words, a platter for the table. They range from a para uno/personal size for $30 to what we got, a cuatro personas/4 people for $95. There were also options to add chicken, shrimp, or more chicharrón, but we didn't get any of them. The picadas had a mix of slow-smoked and grilled meats and featured their smoked chicharrón, Angus picanha steak, pork ribs with guava BBQ, and Santarrosano chorizo. The very large platter also had house potatoes tossed in garlic butter and parsley, tostones, and crispy fried arepas.
In terms of meat we didn't have before, their Chicharrón/Fried Pork Skin was excellent. The outside had a wonderful crunch, and the meat inside was tender with a slight pleasant chew. It was much easier to taste the Chorizo, which was less spicy than the Mexican variety and had a lot more smoke, so it reminded me a little bit of some German wurst. The Potatoes had a good texture, but the flavor was only OK, while the Crispy Fried Arepas had a delicious but unexpected texture, being crispy on the outside and pillowy soft. I'm not sure how big the solo picada is, but I would probably recommend that if you were to go here slowly.
Overall, we had a good meal. Good drink and good enough food with some particular highlights.
