I like barbecue. There's something delightfully gluttonous about it, something deeply American. There are few times when I feel like a patriot and oddly it's mostly as I'm chowing down on some ribs or smoked pork. There's an almost spiritual component to it that always makes me think of that "soul food" moniker.
Also it's just damn tasty.
Now technically speaking I've talked about this place before. Though not. Back at the beginnings of this blog we did a showing on the various Pastrami Burgers in the valley and the one I dubbed best was the one at The Grub Box. Now, for reasons that are ultimately none of my business, that lovely burger restaurant (who has improved on it's lack luster fries) is sharing it's space with Dem PO' Boyz a nice little local BBQ joint. The place is out of the way but the service was friendly, and the place was nice and clean if visual uninteresting.
But the look of this kind of place is completely unimportant. This kind of out of the way hole in the wall is about the food. And that... that was worth the drive out to Magna.
They had the usual menu set up for such places a variable number of meats linked to a set number of sides. Between my companion and I we tried four of the meats, and four sides. I had the ribs and the pork, the potato salad and the mac and cheese, while my companion tried the brisket, chicken, beans, and cole slaw. All said a respectable amount of food for the price point. I had two large ribs and a nice pile of shredding pork with similar amounts for my associate's choices.
The sauces were just fantastic. They used a mix of different region sauces, though the Carolina mustard heavy one on the pork and ribs may be my new favorite anything. I could drink that, it's actually pretty close to a recipe I've been working on myself and well, honestly they did it better.
The brisket had a nice bark and flavor to it, and it's sauce was very nice. Deep, rich, sweet but earthy, all those things you want in a BBQ sauce. The chicken had good flavor but either needed a little more sauce or was just dry. Not inedible but the weakest of the meats. The pork was very rich in flavor and just about perfectly paired with that yummy sauce. (Please note that I do not use the Y word lightly) The ribs were just about as perfect as I want out of ribs. Thick smoke ring. Fall off the bone tender. Deep smokey flavor and a solid complex rub. SOOO tasty. I highly suggest it.
I did feel that maybe some of the stuff could have benefited by just a tad more salt but otherwise that meat was all I want BBQ to be.
The sides were a mixed bag. I liked the cole slaw and the beans were good, though they had a flavor profile I hadn't had before, obviously made in house. Sweet but not too sweet, nice little bit of spice and a clear bean flavor. They were interesting, and pretty good otherwise. The mac and cheese was tasty, had the texture of a homemade baked version with just a touch of tomato and spice. Spicier then I expected but I came around to it in the end.
The two sour notes were the oddity of having to buy out drinks from a different register, which was just odd. I mean, understandable given the situation but odd, and the potato salad. It was just kind bland. It was like it was missing something, I just can't figure out what it was.
However, my dear readers, I humbly ask that you try this place out. Not for Dem Po Boyz, and not for yourselves. But for me. So that they can stay in business long enough for me to become a regular.
See you in the Chow Line,
-The Fat Kid
