“My doctor told me I had
to stop throwing intimate dinners for four unless there are three other
people.”
--- Orson Wells
SPRING STREET SMOKEHOUSE
640 N. Spring Street
Los Angeles, CA 90012
213-636-0535
Following Orson Well’s
doctor’s advice we invited three more people to go to the Spring Street
Smokehouse with us last Saturday night.
We were attending an event at the Museum of Natural History. We took our 4 year old grandson to the Spider Pavilion
member’s preview night. Yes, you’re in
the cage with the spiders. Sharon
insists some are large enough to carry off a mouse. After our bout with arachnophobia, I called the
restaurant to see if we needed reservations.
I told them that we were about a half hour away and that there would be
one child and four adults that act like children. When Amber stopped laughing she said that it
was not too crazy in there that night and that she would save a table for
us. She did not even ask my name. When we arrived, a half hour later (thanks to
downtown LA Saturday night freeway traffic) there was a table waiting for
us. It points out that this is a
restaurant where the staff is exceptionally accommodating.
You get the feeling that
the Spring Street Smokehouse is a fun local place for the denizens of downtown. It is in a storefront just up a quiet side
street (Spring Street North of Cesar Chavez is a quiet side street, not a major
downtown street.) right on the border between the Olvera Street historic
district and China Town. Parking in this
older part of town is a bit of a problem, but there are a couple of pay lots,
with a $5.00 flat rate for the evening, that are within very short walking
distance.
The interior is a sort
of restaurant designer roadhouse with a twist.
The walls are covered with corrugated steel instead of barn siding. A nod to the trendy is a large mirror on the
back wall that allows those facing the rear to see who else is in the
room. There is a bar on one side of the
dining room and about a dozen tables distributed around. They are not hesitant to pull tables together
to accommodate a larger party. The
tables are covered with white paper and crayons are available for the children,
and adults who act like children to exercise their artistic skills while
waiting for their food. Utensils and a bottle
of ketchup are in a metal basket at the side of the table along with roll of
paper towel to be used as napkins. In an
exceptional nod to traditional barbecue service a whole white bread, in its
wrapper, was on the table along with a set of tongs. Amber brought us menus and took our drink
order. By the way, they have an
exceptionally good cream soda available.
I lived back East until I was eight and cream soda brings back memories.
We ordered a three meat
combo platter with pulled pork, tri-tip, and chicken. They have individual and share sizes on the
platters so we ordered a share size. We
also ordered a 4 X 4 rib platter, four
spare ribs and four baby back ribs and a couple of a la carte beef hot links to
get a good sampling of the que. The
sides were baked beans, coleslaw, collard greens, fries, corn bread and mac and
cheese. We also had s’mores and bourbon
bread pudding for dessert.
We’ll do the sides first.
Corn Bread
I don’t like to start with a negative, but points off for
this. The serving was two small corn
muffins. They looked good, but Sharon
spotted the peppers in them immediately.
Taste did not follow the looks since they were rather dry. Although dry they were, somehow, able to
stand up to butter, but even with the peppers, all you could taste was the
butter. For want of a better description
they were disappointing.
Collard Greens
The greens were exactly the opposite of the corn
bread. Traditionally prepared greens
don’t get any better than this. One of
our party was trying greens for the first time and became hooked. Great greens!
Fries
One of Sharon’s great dislikes is underdone fires. She loved these. They were hot, crisp and tasty. This is an example of why French fries are
the most popular food in the country if not the world.
Baked Beans
The beans were not bad for commercial baked beans with
bacon and brown sugar right out of the can.
Well, not quite right out of the cans since each serving had a chunk of
pork floating in the middle of it.
Enough said.
Coleslaw
I never thought that I would find a vinaigrette dressing coleslaw
that I didn’t like, but here was another incompetent slaw. Maybe a coarse shred slaw makes a statement,
but there are limit to the coarseness.
Some of the shreds of cabbage were almost a foot long making it which is
fine if you want to braid them first, but to say the least, a bit difficult to
eat. It was comprised only of different
kinds of cabbage. That’s all, just
cabbage. It could have used some
interesting additions like cilantro or other vegetables. While you have previously read my complaints about
slaw that was drowning in dressing this one was actually too dry. Here, you could barely taste the
dressing. All the parts were here to
make a really exceptional slaw, but the execution missed.
Mac and Cheese
Actually, this was very good. It was elbow macaroni al dente with a nice,
creamy cheddar sauce. The four year old
said that he didn’t want any mac and cheese when we ordered it. After he tasted it he scarfed it down. His mother said that she had never seen him
put away food like that before. He also
put away a substantial quantity of the beans which made us thankful that we
didn’t have to go home with him.
Hot Links
Everyone agreed that they get an A+ for this. Well, maybe not everyone since Sharon and the
grandson did not try them. Juicy links with a good spurt when cut, a nice
texture, and just the right amount of spice without masochistic heat are a joy
on the tongue. I could have made a meal
of the links.
Chicken
We have another place where someone knows how to barbecue
a chicken. You could tell it was
barbecued since it was moist, smoky and most importantly, thoroughly done. Again, I could have just ordered the chicken.
Tri-Tip
Maybe I should have just ordered the chicken. Tri-tip should not be sliced this thin or
cooked this long. It’s not corned
beef. It arrived sauced, and although I
wiped off the sauce to taste it, it was just too thin to get a good taste. It needs to be thick enough to get a good
taste of the juices, spice rub and smoke when you bit into it. This is beef but was certainly overcooked and
so tasteless that is was completely overwhelmed by the sauce.
Pulled Pork
This was not pulled, but chunky as though someone in the
kitchen was more used to doing carnitas.
The problem was that it was too dry for carnitas despite the generous
amount of sauce ladled over it. It did
have a better barbecue flavor than the beef, but was still less impressive than
the chicken. I haven’t tried the
leftovers as a sandwich yet, but I don’t think it will be exceptional.
Pork Spare Ribs
The first thing you noticed was that they were small, but
plump although a bit fatty. When this
happens, the fat usually at least intensifies the flavor. In this case it didn’t. The flavor was only slightly smoky and not
intense enough to stand up to the sauce.
Again, the chicken was more impressive.
They were even bland as a leftover.
Baby Back Ribs
These were definitely overcooked. While meaty, they were a bit tough and dry. Even the generous amount of barbeque sauce
slathered on couldn’t save them. Somehow,
even with the overcooking, the flavor was not intensely smoky. I really have to wonder just how they are
doing the barbecuing. Of all the things
you can order at a barbecue place the baby back ribs are the one thing you
don’t want to disappoint. These do.
S’mores
I’ve never seen s’mores done like this. It is served in a cup with the graham
crackers at the bottom and filled with melted marshmallows and chocolate. You eat it with a spoon. It isn’t the most sophisticated dessert in
the world, but we all, adults and child, thought it was fun.
Bourbon Bread Pudding
I had to ask Amber if it was from the Johnny Walker
school of bread pudding or the Jack Daniels school of bread pudding. She said that she thought it was Jim
Beam. Except for the fact that it was
covered with whipped cream, and not a cooked bourbon sauce, this was bread
pudding the way it should be done. It is
firm but not so much that you cannot eat it with a spoon and has just the right
sweetness. This is one of Sharon’s
favorites.
If I seem to be severe about the que here it’s because
the place has so much potential. The
staff is friendly. Service is good. The
bar is excellent with an extensive menu of beers, wines listed on chalk boards
around the room, and a couple of signature soft drinks. And, above all, the atmosphere is fun. The problem is that the food seems to be
about half hits and half misses. The
hits show that someone in the kitchen really knows what they are doing, but you
come to a barbecue place for the que and not all the que is good. Every type of meat had the same barbeque
sauce ladled over it instead of tailoring each sauce for each type of meat. And the barbeque sauce used was not that
great to begin with and I suspect came directly out of an industrial sized
can. With someone in the kitchen who
knows what they are doing there is no reason that it can’t all be good. Spring Street Smokehouse is not a destination
restaurant for the que, but I would not hesitate to go back there if I were
downtown at lunch or dinner time.
(Assuming they would let me back in the door after reading this.) We give it a seven.
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