One night last year I was desperately looking for something new to slather on a few quarter chicken legs that I intended to barbecue.
Something I had read on the internet or seen on television (I can no longer remember which, though I vaguely recall Alton Brown) prompted me to attempt to create my own signature dry rub. I swear I saw Alton talking about it on one of his shows, and how it was important to label said spice rubs with dates and ingredients, lest you open up your cupboard 6 months later and have no clue what the heck that jar full of brown was.
Two guesses about what I didn’t remember to do…
I have this glorious little 4 ounce tin of a spice blend I made that is absolutely transcendent; hot, tangy and pungent – but I have no recollection of what exactly is in it. For a while I thought I had written my recipe down somewhere, but at this point if I did, I put it somewhere so safe that even I can’t find it.
I know you’re thinking how hard could it possibly be to recreate, right? Well, blending it took me the better part of a half hour because I put in about 20 different herbs and spices. I think at the time my intent was to come up with my own kind of ras al hanout-type blend, something that would have many layers of flavours throughout. Based on visual cues alone I can identify a handful of its contents (celery seed, epazote, pimenton), but not nearly enough to properly duplicate it’s majesty.
Fuck.
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Tags: barbecue, rantings, spice rubs, stupidity
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There are a lot of matters on which the Everyman and I do not see eye to eye. It keeps life interesting, to say the least.
One of the few things we can wholeheartedly agree on is the dearth of good barbecue in Toronto. For a city that claims to be so multicultural and world class, I find the lack of goods to be appalling. The stuff that is recommended is not terribly palatable, either. Since I never managed to visit, I can’t pass judgment on the recently departed Cluck, Grunt and Low, but I have sampled fare from the St. Louis chain, Lou Dawg’s and Phil’s, and I’d be hard pressed to state that any were spectacular. In St. Louis’ case, it’d be generous to say they were comparable to their frozen food counterparts. My impressions of Lou Dawg’s were posted earlier this week and can be found here. Phil’s was only marginally better but not sensational, and while ribs had the requisite smoke ring, the meat was tough, slightly dry and did not fall off the bone. I’m willing to concede that it could have been an off day, but one has to wonder how delicious the food could possibly be if they ended up on Restaurant Makeover in the first place.
It’s not official yet, but the Everyman and I have decided to embark on a barbecue pilgrimage this summer. We haven’t pinned down our exact locale of choice yet, but have both vetoed Texas on the basis that we don’t consider it to be true barbecue (sorry). So far the options run the gamut from the Carolinas to Missouri, but one thing’s for sure; it’ll definitely be in the south. I like to think of it as our own version of Feasting On Asphalt - minus the motorcycles, of course.
I’ve often wanted to plan a culinary roadtrip of sorts (if we’re going to dream, I’ll say either France or touring around Italy), but until somewhat recently, the Everyman was not overly receptive to the idea. I’m not sure what changed his mind, but I can say that this brought the idea of a barbecue tour to the forefront of mine.
Once we sort out the details I’ll post additional info and put out the open call for noshing recommendations. Looking forward to it!
Until next time…
Tags: barbecue, Feasting On Asphalt, Lou Dawg's Southern Sandwiches, Phil's Original BBQ, Restaurant Makeover, Restaurants, road trip, St. Louis Wings
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Barbecue in Toronto.
For as long as I can recall, it has been my own personal Everest. To say that the landscape is lacking in decent options would be an understatement.
Having received several recommendations for Lou Dawg’s Southern Sandwiches recently, I was cautiously optimistic that this one might finally be the place to change all of that. On our drive home Friday night, the Everyman and I decided we would visit on the weekend, and the ideal time ended up being before we went to a Sunday matinee.
Crossing their subterranean threshold, my senses were immediately assaulted by a wave of intensely smoky vapor. The meat-cave smelled the way I imagine a whole roasted porker might from the inside. It was enticing as you first walked in, but after a few minutes underground it started to become slightly disorienting and bordered on nauseating.
I enjoy meatfests with the best of them, but Lou Dawg’s portion sizes are a hair’s width away from overkill. The Everyman and I wanted to sample as much of the menu as possible, so we split an order of their smoked wings, a half rack of ribs, a pulled pork sandwich, meaty bbq beans and a couple jalapeno cornbreads, all washed down with Stewart’s old fashioned soda. It sounds like a ton of food, and by all rights it is, but just to be clear, we only sampled a little of everything, and managed to finish nothing. And for the record, vegetarians need not apply; though the side dishes are mostly vegetarian, everything in the place seems to absorb the odor of meat, something I’m sure no self-respecting saladhead would love.
The server informed us that the wings are somewhat of a specialty, but after trying a few bites I’m not sure I know why. The rub on the outside is distastefully dry and powdery, and after more than a bite and a half it’s annoyingly sweet. The wings themselves are gigantic though, and awfully meaty, so they’ve got that going for them; they just need to tone down the quantity of spice rub a little. The smoked wing novelty wears off quickly and we jettison the order without even getting halfway through; we’ve got bigger fish to fry.
Next up we both sample a few forkfuls of their meaty bbq beans. My first impression is that they reek of beer, to the point where it’s almost all I can taste. Being that I don’t drink or even like beer, that puts them at a bit of a disadvantage. The Everyman loves beer but even he thinks it’s too much. They’re also disproportionately meaty for the amount of beans we’re given, which sounds like an odd complaint, but do you really need ten to fifteen 1.5 inch chunks of pork in a tiny 6-8 oz container? The sauce they’re simmered in is also a little too saccharine for my liking, and causes me to gulp down mouthfuls of pop (bad idea) to try and combat the problem. We give up on the beans soon after and move on to our respective mains.
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Tags: barbecue, Lou Dawg's Southern Sandwiches, Restaurants, Reviews
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So, let me preface this by saying that I know it’s been way too long since I wrote my last post. I’m still trying to acclimate myself to the ridiculous commute to my new job. It’s about a 3 hour round trip every day, and it basically means I leave waaaaaaay too early and get home when it’s late. And that it’s dark when I’m doing both too.
So, that being said, I have several reviews that have been pending since I took my hiatus between jobs. I will say that I now feel that my trip to Chicago this summer has ruined BBQ for me forever. Perhaps if we hadn’t gone to Fat Willy’s while we were there, I wouldn’t think that BBQ in Toronto is so sub par. Who can say…
Phil’s Original BBQ was a place that the Everyman and I had always wanted to visit. And then, we saw them do a Restaurant Makeover and my desire to eat there plummeted. Even though the Restaurant Makeover chef seemed very pleased with the overall quality of the food, I still kind of felt that there was no good reason for a place that makes delicious food to do a show like that. So for a long time we put our plans on the back burner and kind of forgot about Phil’s.
While I was off between jobs, the Everyman and I had a hankering for some good old fashioned barbecue. We both realized that the closest we would probably be able to get to the nirvana that was Fat Willy’s was at Phil’s Original BBQ. Off we went.
To be fair, we visited on a Friday afternoon for lunch, and the place was almost entirely empty. During our visit there were only 2 other tables occupied, and just before we left a squad car arrived to pick up a take out order. I must commend the service at Phil’s. The waiter (who I assumed was a friend or relative of Phil’s wife) was so exceptionally friendly and fun that I still managed to have a wonderful time even though the food wasn’t first rate.
On Restaurant Makeover the one thing they could not stop talking about (aside from the BBQ) were some traditional Venezualan corn pancakes that Phil’s wife made. I decided that these were worth a taste, and indeed they were. At first they just seemed like a corn omelette filled with cheese, but the more I sampled, the more I fell in love with their fluffy sweetness. When I was finished my plate I was sad that there wasn’t more. I think Cachapas may be my favorite new ethnic delicacy.
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Tags: barbecue, Fat Willy's Rib Shack, Phil's Original BBQ, Restaurants, Reviews
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