“I hate people who are not serious about
meals. It is so shallow of them.”
---Oscar
Wilde
ROBIN’S
WOOD FIRE BBQ
395
North Rosemead Blvd.
Pasadena,
CA 91107
626-616-0585
626-351-8885
11:00
AM to 10:00 PM Tuesday through Sunday
When you walk up to Robin’s it looks like the place is a
recycled Mexican restaurant. Inside, the
paint on the walls may be garish, but one whiff tells you that this place is
the real deal. They smoke meat
here. We have been here before with a
couple of friends and we came here about 7:00 PM on a Sunday evening with the
same friends. Lucky for us most the
people waiting at the time were all there for takeout and there was a table
available. We were seated at a table in
sight of the kitchen. The table was
painted with a red checkerboard pattern.
There was a roll of paper towel on it along with the salt and pepper
shakers and a Mason jar that had the flatware in it. Looking around from the table we saw the
walls covered with vintage advertising signs from all over the country. No restaurant designer reproductions
here. They are all real.
Our server arrived immediately with our menu and took our
drink orders. Sharon decided on a
Garbage Can Combo which has BBQ Chicken, Baby Back Ribs, Spare Ribs, a Beef
Rib, Tri-tip and a Hot Link. This is
probably enough for four people. The
only thing I wanted to try that was not on the combo was Pulled Pork so I
ordered a Carolina Pulled Pork Plate.
All the plates come with Coleslaw, which Sharon doesn’t like so she
ordered the Mac and Cheese as a substitute for the slaw which meant a slight
upcharge. Her other side was Baked
Beans. I ordered the Coleslaw and garlic
mashed potatoes as my sides. One of our
friends ordered a Spare Rib plate and the other a Cheeseburger in Paradise.
Real Serious BBQ
Chicken
They named this one right! This is chicken smoked with authority. It was tender, had a good smoky flavor and
was done through without being dry. The
menu and web site say they use oak and apple wood to smoke, but I suspect they
also use hickory. Many places have
roasted or grilled chicken with some liquid smoke and barbecue sauce…either
that or they chased the chicken through the smoker. Not here.
This is the real deal.
Bodacious Baby Back Ribs
Again, this is the real deal. These are baby backs that make you glad you
are a carnivore. Perfectly smoked, great
pork flavor, not quite fall off the bone tender, they are just what you want in
Baby Back Ribs. By no means do these
disappoint.
Most Excellent Spare Ribs
The name sounds like something from the Wayne’s World bit
on SNL, but they really are excellent.
The flavor is definitely pork, strong enough to stand up to the other
flavors on a combo plate, but not over smoked.
These ribs are great in the combo plate or as a plate by
themselves. The leftovers were great
nuked a couple of days later.
Apple Wood Smoked Tri-tip
As a Californian (Well, transplanted, but I’ve lived here
for 60 years.) my reaction to many barbecue restaurants is, “If you don’t know
how to do Tri-tip, don’t.” Robin’s knows
how to do Tri-tip. It is tender, juicy,
has a proper smoke ring and has flavor that would tell any non-Californian just
what Tri-tip is all about. My only
objection is that they slice it thinner than I would like. I can live with this.
Wood Fired Beef Ribs
While the Beef Ribs here are not large enough that you
think they came from frighteningly large steers they are certainly more than
enough for a serving. Barbecued beef
ribs may be larger at other places, but they don’t come any better than
this. The first bite screams BEEF!
Louisiana Hot Link
At first bite your reaction is that it is not that
hot. Then the heat builds, but before it
goes over the top with heat the heat stops and the spices burst into your
mouth. If you think that I am trying to
describe the perfect Hot Link you are not far off the mark. If your macho demands tonsil scorching hot
links these aren’t it, but if you crave the perfect balance of heat and spice
in a link, this comes closer than most.
The serving was two. I took one
home and it was just as good nuked for lunch the next day.
Carolina Pulled Pork
It tasted more Memphis style, but it was so good that I
can’t complain. This pulled pork is
flavorful enough to stand up to everything else on the combo plate including
the hot link. I had the full plate,
which is a more than generous portion, so I was able to enjoy the leftovers for
a couple of days. It even passed the kitty
test, without causing the kitty any digestive upset, which tells you just how
good smoked pork it is.
Cheeseburger in Paradise
OK, it’s just a perfect conventional cheeseburger with a
thick, juicy patty, cheddar cheese, lettuce and tomato. That’s the point…it’s done perfectly…not
barbecue but a damn good burger that’s worth $10.95.
Coleslaw
I never before experienced a slaw that was shredded too
coarsely, but here it was. Coleslaw is
made from cabbage but this one was like biting into a cabbage. At least it was not too wet. I was not that impressed with it on the
pulled pork sandwich I made with the leftovers the next day either.
Garlic Mashed Potatoes
The mashed potatoes looked like they were made with red
skin potatoes with some of the skin left in.
This can be a tasty way to do it but in this case they somehow lack
body, if mashed potatoes can be thought of as having body.
Mac and Cheese
The mac and cheese is a baked version. This is not Sharon’s favorite since she
feels most baked preparations leave the macaroni a bit mushy. It is certainly cheesy with definite cheddar
and what seems to be a white cheese or sour cream in the mix. It has some little green flecks in it that
could be onions or parsley. We should
have asked since they don’t seem to add any flavor. It looks good on the plate, but the
experience is disappointing.
Cornbread
All the meals come with a large blueberry corn muffin,
well, actually a cross between a muffin and an individual loaf along with some
blueberry butter. It’s a variation on
cornbread that is not unpleasant but not great.
It’s sweet and not quite strong enough to stand up to cold butter but
makes a decent pull-apart appetizer while waiting for your order. We all had the opinion that it probably would
not be bad with coffee at a breakfast meeting.
Baked Beans
When the Baked Bean arrived Sharon knew she was in
trouble. The chunks of bell pepper and
onion were so large that they stuck out of the bowl. She passed them to me. I don’t have any trouble with bell peppers
and onions. I do have trouble with
undercooked beans, and these were definitely undercooked. The sauce was not too sweet, in fact, it
wasn’t much of anything. These beans
need to be rethought.
The whole point of barbecue is the meat. If you judge it strictly by the que, Robin’s
gets a 10. The sides may knock the total
barbecue experience down by a point, (or two if you are persnickety), but the
meat is so great that our opinion is that you should just go there and enjoy being
a carnivore.
