Went in for lunch on a Tuesday. No cars in the parking lot, no customers inside. When I walked in I noticed that the lights weren't even turned on. The kind lady behind the counter asked if this was a carryout.
Ummm is the dining area open?
Yes, sit wherever you'd like.
The dining room is quite large. After looking at the menu I had decided on a two meat combo with beef ribs and pork ribs.
We don't have the beef ribs today.
Hmmmm okay... do you do brisket?
Yes, it's the sliced beef.
Okay. May I have the pork ribs and brisket please. Black eyed peas and slaw for my sides.
My food came out rather quickly and I was a little surprised at first glance at the plate. Is that gravy? (see the pic)
The meat was cold as was the gravy/sauce.
I've been a KCBS certified judge for about 6 years now and one of the things I've learned is that one way you can tell if brisket is properly cooked is called "the pull test". You tug at the slice of brisket and it should pull apart with just the slightest resistance. I tugged, and tugged, and pulled, and then sawed, and sawed some more. My jaw got tired from chewing. Woefully underdone.
The ribs. The bite test. Take a bite from the side of the rib. IT SHOULD NOT FALL OFF THE BONE. That means it's been overcooked. It should slightly resist the bite but should bite through cleanly and the bone will appear dry where you've bitten. This rib sadly was like pork jerky wrapped around the bone. It actually crackled as I took bites off of it and crunched as I chewed.
Both the black eyed peas and cole slaw were pretty okay. I wish the black eyed peas had a little ham hock or... smokiness or something to them but again, they were okay.
I paid for it so I ate it. So it wasn't inedible... just was rather sad, like an empty restaurant at lunchtime, with the lights turned off read more