“Tomatoes
and oregano make it Italian; wine and tarragon make it French. Sour cream makes
it Russian; lemon and cinnamon make it Greek. Soy sauce makes it Chinese;
garlic makes it good.”
--- Alice May Brock
MOM’S
Bar-B-Q HOUSE
14062
Vanowen Street
Van Nuys,
CA 91405
818-786-1373
818-786-1389
FAX
11:00
AM to 9:00 PM Tuesday through Thursday
11:00
AM to 10:00 PM Friday
Noon
to 9:00 PM Saturday
Mom’s Bar-B-Q House is one of the standards by which to
judge barbecue. You might not guess this
the first time you come to Mom’s because it is probably the most humble
barbecue establishment you have ever seen.
It is a tiny storefront location in the corner of a minor strip mall. Inside there is seating for maybe twelve
people. Three quarters of the place is
kitchen. Obviously, most of their
business is take out. The first thing
you notice is the good smell of the food.
As you look around the room you see the menu writ large on the
wall. Then, you begin to notice the
photos, mostly and head shots, of the famous and near famous that frequent
Mom’s. Finally, you notice the awards
that indicate that what is served here is no ordinary barbecue.
What is served here is Louisiana, Creole, style barbecue
and soul food. So, vampires,
beware! Mom does not fear garlic. The barbecue menu is a bit limited, but they
concentrate on the basics. They also
have fried chicken and fried fish on the menu, what you would expect from a
Louisiana Creole kitchen. Unfortunately,
they don’t do shrimp.
We had a couple of friends over who wanted a Mom’s fix so
we had the opportunity to order more than our usual combo plates to get a good
sampling. The combos are two of any meat
so we ordered our first one of pork ribs and chicken with rice and greens, the
second was beef ribs and links with cole slaw and baked beans and we also
ordered a separate rib tips dinner with potato salad and macaroni salad. The yams and mac and cheese are special order
items, not regular sides. There’s a
reason as you will see. We always order
at least a half pint of each. Of course,
we could not resist getting an order of corn bread.
Corn Bread
Actually, it was not up to par this time. It is a sheet pan corn bread, and came out a
bit dry. It was tasty, but crumbled at
the sight of a butter patty.
Yams
These are wonderful!
They are sweet, well spiced, and a real treat. At the first taste you will find out why they
are a special order item. Don’t wait to
the end of the dinner hour to make your order because they will run out of
yams.
Greens
More people would like greens if they had these. This is how greens are supposed to taste. They are not over cooked and not too vinegary.
Sets the standard.
Cole Slaw
Not bad, but not exceptional. This is a competent shredded slaw with
carrots.
Macaroni Salad
Not your grandmother’s macaroni salad, unless Mom is your
grandmother. The pasta is al dente; it
has chunks of fresh tomato, green pepper and scallions and is subtly
dressed. It will make you rethink what
a macaroni salad should be.
Potato Salad
This is too smoothly mixed for my taste. I like to be able to feel the individual
chunks of potato as I eat it. It is
tasty and the taste is home made. I don’t
think this one came out of a bulk carton from Smart and Final.
Baked Beans
The beans fall down a bit. They are oddly flat. Not bad, but not that
great.
Mac and Cheese
Another item that sets the standard and don’t wait too
late to place your order if you want this either. They regularly run out. If you are used to mac and cheese mixes from
a box you need to try this baked mac and cheese. It is mac and cheese done right, with
macaroni that is not mushy and real cheese.
Pork Ribs
Mom’s serves their meat wet. This is not a problem here. The sauce hides nothing, but be aware that
the preparation is not stingy on the garlic.
These ribs are meaty, fall off the bone tender and have amazing
flavor. Whatever style you prefer in
pork ribs these are about as good as they get.
Links
We ordered mild links and were a bit disappointed. I’ve had them here before and something was a
bit off this night. The spices are
unique but good; however the texture was a bit mealy as though it had some kind
of filler. Although they were mild to
first taste they had a hot aftertaste that was a bit too much for Sharon. Both she and Leslie reported that the
aftertaste burned their mouth and throat.
Beef Ribs
What can you say?
They are relatively meaty, not fall off the bone tender but tender when
chewed, and not in the least bit stringy.
(I hate stringy beef ribs.) The
have a slight glaze to them which makes me think that they are double
dipped. Be aware, that if you have
leftovers you need to repackage them in tightly sealed plastic containers so that
the garlic smell will not knock you over when you open the refrigerator door the
next morning.
Chicken
The barbecued chicken is done but not overcooked and has
a flavor that stands up to the sauce.
This may seem like faint praise, but it’s not easy to get barbecued chicken
right, and many places can’t get it as consistently right as Mom’s. Try their fried chicken too.
Rib Tips
Rib tips are another of those things that it is not easy
to do right. These are done right,
tender and not cooked to dryness. If you’ve
ever done rib tips yourself you know that it’s a bit of a crapshoot as to
whether or not they are meaty enough to be worth it. It speaks well of the care they use to select
their meat at Mom’s that these are mostly meaty for rib tips.
Everyone has an off day and Mom’s is no exception. The food on the night we did this post would
give them a rating of eight and a half. Most
times we have ordered here they would get a nine. You might think that this isn’t so great but
you must understand that Mom’s is the standard that we use to compare other
barbecue. Either they are better than
Mom’s, which doesn’t happen that often or not as good as Mom’s, which happens a
lot. Even when they have an off day they are exceptional. If you are in the area you have to order from
Mom’s. But, remember, Mom doesn’t cook
on Sundays.
No comments:
Post a Comment