THEY'RE GONE!

They’re Gone!

Unfortunately, (or fortunately, as the case may be) not all of the barbeque places we have visited have survived.  It’s sometimes a shock to be visiting an area where we have enjoyed good “que” and find that the place we had enjoyed is gone.  Other times we were not surprised at all.

THE BARBECUE COMPANY

3807 Santa Claus Lane

Carpentaria, CA 93013

This is an unfortunate loss.  Our conclusions on the experience here was:

“Is this the world’s best barbecue?  Well, no, but it is a contender, and not at all what you would expect to find in what is essentially a beachside strip mall.  It stands with much more expensive and much more famous barbecue restaurants and definitely comes under the heading of a destination barbecue restaurant.  We give it between an eight and a half and a nine.”

We think we know what happened here…location, Location, LOCATION!  It was visible from the 101 freeway, in the daytime, just after you passed it!  You had to really be determined to go there to come back around and find the Padaro Lane off ramp in the daylight let alone at night.  Too bad, the que was great.

CENTRAL TEXAN BBQ

10500 Merritt Street

Castroville, CA 95012

Our feelings on this one were mixed.  They had good “que” but the whole experience was not that great.  We concluded:

“The experience is authentic and kind of fun, so it’s a bit hard to be critical, but considering that there are lots of barbeque places that are fun and have authentic que, that don’t look like they are standing because the termites are holding hands, we are.  Taken as a whole, the experience doesn’t rate over seven and a half.”

Upon further reflection that conclusion was a bit over generous.  The meat was very good but the rest of the experience was acceptable only because of the company we had.  Guess the termites stopped holding hands.

BABY BLUES BBQ – WEST HOLLYWOOD

7953 Santa Monica Blvd.

Los Angeles, CA 90046

This was a complete shock!  We did not see this one coming at all.  Our original conclusion was:

“Baby Blues is a small chain.  They have another location in Santa Monica.  It will be interesting to see if the owners can keep up the exceptional quality of food and atmosphere if the expand it further.  Make no mistake, it is exceptional.  They seem to take pride in using what they feel is the best method of preparation for each style of meat regardless of the barbecue style.  You can’t pigeonhole it.  This is a barbecue destination.  Taking it all in, I gave it a nine, Sharon a nine point five".

The other location is still open and we will visit it for a post.  One of the local restaurant reviewers wrote that it could not compete with more trendy restaurants in the area.  Really!!!  What do they want?

SMOKE CITY MARKET

5242 Van Nuys Boulevard

Sherman Oaks, CA 91401

No surprise here, we did not enjoy this one.  Our original conclusion was:

“I suppose the problems we had with the Smoke City Market were that we had expectations.  With great reviews, recommendations from acquaintances, and experience with Texas barbecue, we were probably set up for a fall.  Regardless of our expectations, we would have been disappointed anyway.  We would really have to find a good reason to give it another try.  This one gets a five."

The marketplace (barbeque lovers) has spoken.

MY BROTHER’S BAR-B-Q

21150 Woodland Hills, CA 91364-2103

818-348-2020

This is another one we don’t really miss.  This was strictly coffee shop barbeque which was unfortunate since they were really nice people.  Our conclusion was:

“There is a definite nostalgia value to My Brother’s Bar-B-Q.  When I was a kid, this was barbecue.  It does not come from the barbecue tradition but from the restaurant management tradition. There are barbecue places in this area that are nearly as venerable as My Brother’s that come from the regional barbecue tradition, and they have continued to refine their product in the contemporary barbecue mode.  This is what we have come to look for in barbecue.  A couple of steak houses in the San Fernando Valley live on their 1950’s nostalgia.  It works with a steakhouse, but not for a barbecue restaurant.  I really hate to have to say this because all the people there are so nice, but we give it a five.”

I don’t really know what happened.  Perhaps the older patrons that had the habit of coming here moved or died off, or maybe they just moved on to other places and there was nothing to attract new customers.  Or, as will often happen in the restaurant business a principal retired or died and no one wanted to or was able to continue the business.  Whatever it was it’s gone.

WILLY’S BBQ & GRILL SMOKEHOUSE

(Soon to change its name to TAVERN 101 BAR AND GRILL)

24834 Roadside Drive

Agoura Hills, CA 91301

Well it did, and as Tavern 101 seems to have somewhat of a different vibe.  This requires a visit for a new review.  We will sneak in the next time we drive out of the west end of the Valley.

JOHNNY REBS' TRUE SOUTH - LONG BEACH

“We all eat, and it would be a sad waste of opportunity to eat badly.”

 -Anna Thomas

JOHNNY REBS’ TRUE SOUTH  -  LONG BEACH

4663 Long Beach Blvd

Long Beach, CA 90805

(562) 423-7327

https://johnnyrebs.com/

Sunday – Thursday  7:00 AM to 9:00 PM

Friday – Saturday     7:00 AM to 10:00 PM

We really weren’t going there today.  A friend was celebrating her birthday at a belly dance showcase held in a coffee house in Long Beach.  Well, we weren’t (I wasn’t) going to miss that so we planned to go to Long Beach along with another friend.  I looked up the barbeque joints in Long Beach that we had not reviewed (actually, most of them) and I made a list of four that would be on our way to the coffee house

.

The closest one was Robert Earl’s BBQ, which is a an apparently extremely popular hole in the wall, abysmally short of parking, on the northern edge of Long Beach.  I managed to shoe horn my Subaru into a space on a side street that was about a foot longer than it was and we went inside.  Before we could order we found that, at 5:30 on a Saturday night they were already out of mac and cheese, coleslaw, greens, and yams so we decided to go to the next place on the list.  Some of the people waiting for their orders were vocally surprised that we left just because the place was out of some sides, but since we write this blog (something we didn’t tell them) we decided to come back another time when we can get the full experience.

The next place was Johnny Rebs’ True South.  Physically, this place looks the part.  They have done their best to reproduce a southern roadhouse.  The parking lot is dirt and along with the cars you typically find in Southern California there was an assortment of old pickup trucks and motorcycles all of which actually belonged to customers.  The interior is all knotty pine, tongue and groove planking with old license plates and period advertising on the walls along with what appear to be photos of their more notable customers.  Most of the seating is wooden booths with a few tables in the back where the space widens out behind the kitchen. There are buckets of peanuts on the tables and you throw the shells on the floor.  This is definitely a casual place.

At a few minutes before 6:00 there were only three booths and a table open and a few minutes after we were seated in one of the booths the place was packed solid. The hostess and servers were cheerful, prompt and attentive which seemed to bode well.  Although the menu serves for all of their locations (There are two others.) this location only has a beer and wine license which Sharon found disappointing since she really wanted a margarita.  She and the friend with us ordered wine.  They are the designated drinkers so I ordered iced tea and in true Southern fashion the server asked, “Sweetened or unsweetened”. The drinks came promptly and the iced tea was served in a Mason jar.

This is not strictly a barbeque place with some of the menu selections what you could call Southern comfort food.  Besides the ‘que’ they have the appetizers, salads, sandwiches, and dinner selections you would expect to find in the south with a few concessions to California like flat bread pizzas (although with some truly Southern toppings).  They also serve breakfast which is why they open at 7:00 AM.

We have a ‘thing’ for fried dill pickles so we got a half order for an appetizer.  Our friend ordered a Brisket Sandwich with Mac and Cheese as a side.  Sharon ordered a Baby Back Rib Dinner with Mac and Cheese and Baked Beans for sides.  I ordered a Carolina Combo with Sliced Brisket and Pulled Pork with Greens and Fried Okra sides.  The food arrived without an excessive wait so between the three of us we hardly made a dent in the bucket of peanuts.   To finish our dinner we split an order of Bread Pudding between the three of us.

Fried Pickles

The Pickles arrived hot from the fryer with a side of ranch dressing for dipping.  Believe it or not, this is something that can be done badly.  Here, they are done right!  The breading was crisp, not too heavy, and the pickles were not overly salty.  This is one of those great Southern appetizers, and one of Sharon’s and my favorites.   Fried Green Tomatoes are also on the menu, another one of my favorites, Sharon not so much.

Brisket

Well, it looked good on the plate.  What appeared to be a smoke ring was a bit anemic but it was moist and not too fatty.  That is about all you can say for it.  Oh it was cooked and certainly safe to eat but not very pleasurable.  Brisket should have a definite flavor that says SMOKED BEEF.  This was tasteless.  It could have used a couple of more hours in the smoker to develop a flavor.  In fact, its blandness even called into question if they had a smoker.  I’ve had coffee shop barbeque, slow roasted in an Alto Shaam® oven with smoke flavor added and slathered with barbeque sauce that tasted better.  (Please note:  As I have said before this is not meant as a disparagement of Alto Shaam®  products.  They make excellent kitchen equipment and they do make commercial indoor smokers.  It just didn’t seem as if this place bothered to use any kind of smoker.)  Our friend, who ordered a Brisket Sandwich, which was served open faced, noted that the tastiest thing on the plate was the bun.  She did say it was a fabulous bun.

Pulled Pork

If the Brisket did not say BEEF, the Pulled Pork absolutely did not say PORK.  After a taste I thought it fortunate that the portion on my plate was a bit small.  The taste reminded me of a conversation I had with the Middle Eastern proprietor of a barbeque restaurant who said, “You don’t need a smoker.  Slow roast the meat with smoke flavor and put barbeque sauce on it and no one can tell the difference.”  Yes, you can!

Baby Back Ribs

At least the Baby Back Ribs had some flavor…not a lot but some.  They were certainly falling off the bone tender.  In fact, a piece of meat fell off of one onto Sharon’s lap.  It’s hard to eat barbeque without taking some piece of clothing to the cleaner.  She ate about half of the half rack and I took the rest home for leftovers.  I had it for lunch a couple of days later and it still disappointed.

Mac and Cheese

This is peculiarly interesting Mac and Cheese.  When it arrived on Sharon’s plate it was cold.  A taste made it seem that the cheese sauce had too much flour in it for thickening.  The portion on our friend’s plate was cold also.  We pointed this out to our server who promptly returned with hot Mac and Cheese side orders.  Hot, it was a different story.  There was a flavorful combination of cheeses and it came off as one of the better Mac and Cheese sides we have tried.  However, I took one portion home as a leftover, and noticed that cold, it again tasted too floury.  Microwaved, it again tasted very good…puzzling.

Greens

This is a very conventional preparation of greens, but it had way too much vinegar.  This would not change the mind of anyone who does not like greens.  Best conventional greens are still found at Mom’s (See previous post on Mom's.) 

Beans

This is a simple bean in sauce preparation.  The sauce has a little bite to it, not something that I would say is hot, but on the edge for Sharon.  It is an adequate side dish but could use some meat in it for more richness. 

Fried Okra

It’s good!  The okra was pleasantly dry and had crisp, thin breading.  It was served with a side of ranch dressing for dipping.  I have one small complaint, it was sliced too short.  Most fried okra is cut short but here I felt like I was eating okra pellets.

Bread Pudding

We all enjoyed the bread pudding.  It was creamy, not dry, and very flavorful.  I suppose it could have used a more traditional bourbon sauce, but in this case, that’s nitpicking.

It is rather hard to write this review because the place is cute and the people are so darn nice.  And, to be perfectly fair, we did not try the entire experience, the other items on the menu and breakfast.  But, what we review is the “que” and that fell far short of average.  I’m afraid we have to give Johnny Rebs’ a four.

MAX CITY BBQ

Great food is like great sex. The more you have the more you want.

--- Gael Greene

MAX CITY BBQ

4729 Eagle Rock Blvd.

Los Angeles, CA  90041     

323-254-4227

http://www.maxcitybbq.com/

So we were driving down Eagle Rock Blvd, to Auntie Em’s Kitchen to get some dessert after eating at the Oinkster when we noticed the Max City BBQ.  The simultaneous double takes as we passed almost gave us whiplash.  On the way back, with our baked goodies, we stopped and noted the address.  We were quite busy for the following month, but when we had an opportunity to have an early dinner with a friend who lives nearby we suggested that we try Max City.

I checked on the Internet and found that they get crowded at 6 PM on Saturdays so we got there about 5:30. There was only one space left in the parking lot which they share with a liquor store.  Walking in, we noticed the simple, but clever, planter wall that they built out back to conceal the smoker.  The place is a small, corner storefront with a patio to one side at the back.  The patio is about half their seating capacity.  The interior is sort of upmarket, Western woodsy with a few tables on one wall and a counter.  The menu is on the wall and on take out menu sheets.  The tables have metal containers with real metal flatware and napkins.  Barbecue sauce in two varieties, Spicy and Not Spicy, is on the table in squeeze bottles.  

You place your order at the counter where they have a state-of-the-art computerized order system.  They sell meats by the pound, sandwiches, salads, with chicken or tri-tip, some selection plates, desserts and drinks.  They also have a lunch plate selection (Monday thru Friday 11:30 to 3:30), big party assortments and a Sunday Brunch menu,

Our order was taken by one of the young, cheerful, and efficient servers.  They gave us a number to put on the table (actually a playing card in the number holder) so the server could bring the order to us.  I ordered a Spence’s Platter of Pork which is ¼ pound of Pulled Pork, ¼ rack of Baby Back Ribs and ¼ rack of St Louis Ribs with two sides, in my case, Collard Greens and Coleslaw and Cornbread.  Sharon ordered Uncle Kenny’s Smoked Platter which is ¼ rack of St Louis Ribs and ¼ Chicken (breast and wing) with Baked Beans and Mac & Cheese and Cornbread.  Our friend ordered a Tri-Tip Sandwich and Baked Beans for her side.  I had the Watermelon Lemonade and Sharon had the regular Lemonade. Our friend had a bottled root beer.  The food arrived quickly and was hot.  The food was served on ¼ baking sheets and the soft drinks in Ball jars.

Tri-Tip

Someone knows what they are doing here.  The meat had a good smoke ring, a nice bark, was tender, flavorful, and juicy and not sliced too thin.  It was served on a Homeboy baked roll and had a side of coleslaw that you could put on the sandwich if you wished. Our friend, who usually does not finish a meal, ate the whole thing.

Chicken

This chicken was definitely smoked, but was tender and not dry.  You know that the person handling the smoker was good.  The breast was ample and Sharon will be getting couple of chicken sandwiches from the leftovers.

St Louis Ribs

Like the tri-tip, the ribs had a good smoke ring and were visually appealing.  They were just short of falling-off-the-bone tender and very flavorful.  Sharon, however, found them a bit too spicy for her.  They were done with a glaze and I don’t know whether it was the glaze or the rub that had the spices.  I thought they were great, but Sharon said that they left her mouth burning.  I nuked one as a leftover and still thought it was great,

Baby Back Ribs

Again, visually perfect and the flavor was just about perfect too.  These were falling-off-the-bone-tender, and as good baby back ribs as you can find anywhere.  

Pulled Pork

What can I say?  It looked like pulled pork should look and tasted like pulled pork should taste.  I tried it dry, and with both sauces.  Their spicy sauce (It isn’t really that spicy by my standards.) did not overwhelm the flavor of the pork. The coleslaw made the perfect complement to it which I confirmed by making a pulled pork sandwich with the leftovers.

Collard Greens

I have to say that these are exceptionally good greens, if not the best conventional greens that I have ever had.  They are a bit spicy, red pepper flakes are visible, and not at all vinegary. There is a surprising amount of meat in them which is probably why they are so rich.  I don’t know if they would make converts of people who don’t like greens, but if you like greens, definitely order them.

Baked Beans

Not the kind of beans that you would make a meal of, but these make a better than average serving of side order baked beans.  They are a tad spicy and rich because of the generous amount of meat in them.  I suspect that these get more flavorful as the servings get closer to the bottom of the pot.  Our friend’s serving was cooked to perfection and the sweet/spicy sauce had a lovely, thick, dark, bottom of the pan, color to the beans and still had lots of pork in the serving.  Sharon’s seemed to be from a new batch and the beans were somewhat undercooked, more al dente than long simmered, a thinner, lighter colored sauce but still the same sweet/spicy seasoning and lots of pork chunks in the sauce.

Mac & Cheese

The only thing that was a bit disappointing here was the mac & cheese.  The serving we had seemed to have the right ingredients, al dente pasta and a white cheese base, but it was a bit dry and had a slightly mealy texture.  Have to take some points off for this. 

Coleslaw

This is competent, two cabbage and carrot coleslaw with a creamy dressing.  It was not too wet.  While I may personally prefer a vinegar and oil dressing I found it to be very complementary to the pulled pork in a sandwich.

Lemonade

The lemonade that Sharon had was very good and definitely came from fresh lemons.   The watermelon lemonade is something that many people would call light and refreshing.  I found that the lemon just overpowered the watermelon and made the flavor a bit wishy washy.  Next time I will order the regular.

Cornbread

The cornbread muffins are rich, slightly sweet, with kernels of corn in them.  They are very tasty and dense enough to stand up to butter.

Dessert

The restaurant has a nice selection of homemade desserts to choose from, from pies to key lime bars to chocolate chip cookies.  If the desserts aren’t homemade, at least they are not the commercially made, barely edible selections that most restaurants serve.  We splurged on the blackberry buttermilk pie.  The generous slice came with a side of real whipped cream.  The crust was nice and flaky; the filling was delicious with real blackberries.  All in all, a satisfying conclusion to a tasty and satisfying meal.   

You know that their portions are generous and the patrons like the food because there are two stations with take home boxes, side order containers and bags conveniently located for the customers.  When we left there were many people walking to Max City from different directions.  I don’t know if they were locals or just couldn’t find a parking space close by.  (The parking is very limited and shared with a busy liquor store.  The restaurant does have a liquor license and has a nice selection of beers to choose from.)  We also observed that they seemed to be doing a good takeout business.  All this is with good reason…the que here is great.  We give Max City BBQ a nine plus!