THIS PLACE IS UNDER NEW MANAGEMENT AND HAS BEEN RENAIMED! We will re-review.
“Meat isn’t murder, it’s delicious.”
---
John Lydon
WILLY’S
BBQ & GRILL SMOKEHOUSE
(Soon
to change its name to TAVERN 101 BAR AND GRILL)
24834
Roadside Drive
Agoura
Hills, CA 91301
818-991-7227
11:30
AM to 10 PM Monday through
Sunday
We were actually intending to try to find que in the
other direction. The place we wanted to
try was in East Pasadena but they are closed on Mondays. A chance Google turned us on the
Willy’s. The afternoon was free so why
not? When you’ve driven to Palmdale just
to sample some que driving to Agoura is no big deal.
Willy’s is easy to drive by if you are not paying
attention. It is a small place on the
frontage road at the south side of the 101 freeway in Agoura. There are many other businesses that are more
noticeable. Willy’s hides behind a tall,
blank wooden fence that makes the patio, in front of the building, habitable
for dining in nice weather despite its proximity to the freeway. There is a small parking lot behind it,
accessible down a narrow driveway, on the west side of the building. The lot is shared with some office space behind
it. It’s OK to park on the street. There is a sign, barely visible over the top
of the fence, but we found it because the smoker was going leaving a telltale
plume of hickory scented smoke from the back of the building. We parked in back where the large trailer
smoker was intruding a bit into the handicapped access space.
We entered from the rear where the signage says “Tavern
101”. I really can’t say that the
interior is restaurant designer roadhouse.
This place IS a roadhouse. It
seems to be a somewhat upmarket (7 flat screen TVs) country bar with a kitchen
attached. The woodwork is oak and some
reproduction, humorous, bar signs (along with a couple of real pipeline warning
signs) are scattered around the room. The seating is all at tables with the ones
around the edge of the dining area and in the bar proper being at pub height.
Since it was at the beginning of the lunch hour on a
Monday morning we were the only customers in the place. We were greeted by a bright, pretty, and very
helpful server named Paige who was wearing a T-shirt that had the “Tavern 101”
logo. When asked about the name she said
that they were changing it to differentiate them from the barbecue place down
the street. She gave us our menus and
took our drink orders. The setups on the
table were real metal flatware wrapped in real cloth napkins. There were four squeeze bottles of barbecue
sauce on the table, Sweet, Mild, Spicy, and Turbo. Paige also informed us that if the Turbo
sauce was not hot enough they also have a Nytro sauce by request.
The Lunch menu says nothing about combo plates, but two
meat combos are available by request.
Sharon ordered a Beef Brisket and Baby Back Ribs combo with Baked Beans
and Macaroni & Cheese for sides. I
had a Pulled Pork and Tri-tip combo with Sweet Potato Fries and Coleslaw. We were given a basket of Corn Bread while we
waited for our orders. The food arrived
quickly, but Sharon’s meat was not dry, as ordered. The kitchen made up a new plate
immediately. By this time there were
other customers there and they were working on other orders so the response was
impressive.
Corn Bread
The basket had four squares of a sheet pan cornbread that
was moist but crumbly. It was not too
sweet and had kernels of corn in it. It
was a good appetizer, but is not firm enough to stand up to un-melted butter.
Macaroni & Cheese
The macaroni was a penne regatta and was cooked al dente
and mixed with a creamy cheddar cheese sauce.
It was very tasty and good as a side dish but not a main dish mac and
cheese.
Baked Beans
This was a conventional side dish serving of beans in a
pleasantly not too sweet sauce. With a
little searching I found some small pieces of pork in it. Again, strictly a side dish and not beans you
would be tempted to make a meal out of.
Coleslaw
What I would refer to as a competent coleslaw, multiple
cabbages with carrots, it had a cream style sauce that was a bit too creamy and
wet to my taste. However, it did not
taste bad and went very well on a pulled pork sandwich made with the leftover
pulled pork.
Sweet Potato Fries
We tend to avoid sweet potato fries most places since
they are usually underdone and nasty. These were properly done and very tasty. Not only were these crisp and hot as served,
but they were even good the next day as nuked leftovers.
Tri-Tip
It was pleasing to find a nice, juicy chunk of tri-tip on
my plate. If it was sliced too thin I
would have no one but myself to blame. A
proper smoke ring was visible when I cut a slice off the end. The taste lived up to the visual clues…just
how tri-tip is supposed to taste.
Tri-tip is usually done with oak and the hickory is a more subtle, but
still excellent.
Baby Back Ribs
The Baby Back Ribs were, in a word, great. They were just short of fall off the bone
tender and were just smoky enough so they tasted properly barbecued without
overwhelming the flavor of the pork.
These definitely do not disappoint.
Brisket
This is the one place they fell down. Don’t get me wrong, it was better than many I
have had, but this tasted like brisket my mother could have made if she was
having an exceptionally good day. It was
a bit dry, too well done and didn’t have the full flavor of the smoke. A bit of the mild sauce improved it. The leftovers did, however, pass the kitty
test.
Pulled Pork
Proper Southern style pulled pork, this has flavor that
was not overwhelmed by anything else on the plate. Of course, I had to make a pulled pork
sandwich with the leftovers, the leftover coleslaw and a bit of the sweet sauce
(It has a mustard base.) the next day for lunch. It was great!
I did not give the leftovers the kitty test. When it is this good the cats can get their
own.
Paige said that they were changing the name to Tavern 101
in order to differentiate themselves from the barbecue place down the
street. Well it isn’t hard. The place down the street is the original
Wood Ranch Barbecue and while it ranks well enough it is not destination
barbecue. Willy’s is destination
barbecue. They smoke with hickory and while
hickory smoke is a bit subtle for some tastes it is done right here. Whatever they want to call the place this is
great barbecue. We give them eight and a
half. If the brisket was up to the
standards of the other que it would have been a nine.
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