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Pork Barrel BBQ, Mount Vernon Avenue in Del Ray - From The Owners of Mango Mike's


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So it may be that barbecue is not the culprit, but rather the modern day barbecue restaurant, that tries to do 10 kinds of meat with 8 kinds of sauce and be all things to all people. As a counterexample, consider Lexington #1 in Lexington, NC. Shoulders only. And chopped to order from shoulders that just came out of their pits (remember to order extra browns!). Night and day.

THIS. A thousand times this. If I read one more review criticizing Hill Country for their pork, or Pork Barrel for their brisket, or either place for their sides, I'm going to finally have to secure the domain www.stuffwhiteyankeepeoplelike.com

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So we should be content with dry chewy and flavorless brisket, chalking it up to how hard it is to run a modern day BBQ restaurant?

www.onlysouthernpeoplecouldpossiblknowgoodbbqandonlytheiropinionmatters.com

Or

www.dontblametherestaurantblametheprocess.com

??

considering other places in the country can do it, I don't see how you can blame anything on how hard it is to run anything. Some people execute well, some don't. By the sounds of it, Pork Barrel does not.

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considering other places in the country can do it, I don't see how you can blame anything on how hard it is to run anything. Some people execute well, some don't. By the sounds of it, Pork Barrel does not.

We stopped in yesterday afternoon. Food quality a firm "meh". Brisket on one sandwich flavorful with just-crisped edges, inspiring a second order which clearly had not spent enough time in the 'que. Chewy cartilidge, unpleasant, and unfortunate, a few hours difference between tasty and terrible.

Cole slaw demonstrated far more vegetal bitterness than previous visit. An infusion of underripe green pepper seemed the likely culprit.

Baked beans and collard greens had overt smoke and vinegar, bold for bite one, boring by bite three. Could have been an off hour on an off day, but these were not the dishes from our previous visit.

Bar service was quick, friendly, and uncrowded at 5:30/6:00, and filling up quickly on our way out.

I did not see the total tab, but food options remain highly affordable, bar drinks seemed the same or higher than other places.

(have fun)

(securing that domain name)

(ad.mich)

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GF and I went here today as it was a toss up between Tacqaria Poblano or PB BBQ....unfortunatley we chose Pork Barrel :unsure:

It wasn't the worst like the BCS Shack of Tomaine poisoning and constant regurgigitation, but it wasn't the best like Pit Stop :rolleyes: ....it just makes me never want to go anywhere else but Gilberts Corner for great BBQ......Yes I am biased about the Pit Stop because it is 1 guy churning out the best BBQ in the area without anything but love, passion and simple goodness.

The place is decorated nicely and really appears smaller inside compared to the mammoth looking exterior. We encountered no problems as we sat at the bar at 3:00 PM and could order anything we needed from the bartender. We ordered a Shiner and a Love to start. GF ordered ribs only to be told that they were out and someone didnt do their due diligence and plan for ribs on a holiday Monday :angry: ....When you only have 4 meat items on your menu, please make sure you plan accordingly. So we ordered a pulled pork sandwich, beef brisket sandwich, 1 smoked sausage link, mac and cheese, collard greens, and potatoe salad as sides. The brisket was smoky, tender and quite good. The pulled pork was really bland...just there and a bit undercooked. Bread stood up well to the meat and sauce. 3 sauces are available: Mustard, Original, and Sweet....mustard is a bit runny and needs to be a bit thicker for my tastes. The original sauce is fairly good, but again, nothing made me want to dip or drown everything in sauce. Some sauces make yiu want to try everything with them ;)

Sides were mediocre at best, with collards being the worst....no need for that smoke flavoring added or all that damn vinegar..just make the darn things simple with bacon or fatback please. Mac and cheese was just too gloppy with cheese and diced jalapenos in there. The smoked sausage was also a bit under cooked and just not satisfying IMHO....I took 2 bites and left the rest.

All in all, I felt a bit frustrated at being full with food that didnt do anything for me or make me want to come back. I did notice that they had slabs of ribs {uncooked I think) moving from their MAMMOTH kitchen to the smoker area up front....hopefully someone at 7pm might be able to taste them. I think they tried to do the best they could with the space but I think they have so much wasted space in the kitchen and second bar which seems to be unused right now. Its a great sized bar and very comfortable but the self help drink trough takes another 4-5 possible tables out of the equation. I felt compelled to leave 4 or 5 made up specialty cocktails written down on a piece of paper gratis for them..as the current drink menu has no vision whatsoever..and that is sad becuase I think this could be a fun, better place...but for now I am quite happy to drive to Aldie, Va for my BBQ needs beacause it is the only place worth my time and money.

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This is so funny. But I don't agree with the author saying:

I am not going to mention the locals because I don’t want them associated with what I am about to say; it isn’t their fault they’re on this list.

The original article was pure PR hype machine working overtime fueled on dollar bills. So there is some blame to be held. I guess that's just my opinion though, I don't know the specifics. But seriously, how else in the world would they show up in that article? Not to mention that Heath and Brett don't even cook in the restaurant. They provide the rubs and sauces, but not the finished product. Im my opinion their hands are far far from the finished product that the restaurant serves. Nothing against anyone personally, but I think a hyping article like this is really degrating to the general public who may not know any different.

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To be fair, it appears the F&W article has been (properly?) edited to reflect it being a list of "Best New BBQ". If I'm a betting man I'd place this one in the lap of the editor, who thought it would make a bigger splash with a more booming title.

Where is Standard's press release :) Also: not including Podnahs in PDX makes this a joke even after the goalposts were moved.

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I love that they exclude congressman (snicker snicker).  Just makes me like the place even more.  If I was working out of my other office today would probably be swinging by to give them some business just for the sense of humor alone, let alone their good pulled pork.

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Last night we were deciding on dinner and both had a craving for BBQ so went to Pork Barrel again - and once again was exactly what we wanted - Split a 3 meat combo (St Louis rubs, burnt ends, pulled pork) with cheesy grits, creamy cole slaw and corn bread.  This is one of the few places that this Kansas City girl sees those smoke rings that make me so happy.  Quick, yummy, easy parking in back, defently in our rotation.

Have taken Grandma here in the past and she loves it also 'feel like I'm back in Kansas City'

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Take out for lunch the other day.  The good- the Carolina pulled pork sando and the collard greens which might be the absolute best thing here.  The Bad- the mac and cheese- I didn't order this Hubby did, but it had a weird taste like nacho cheese, pimento and smoke that we didn't like.  The ehh- the nachos, which unlike Sweet Fire Donnas they don't put the chips on the side to dip, so it was fairly soggy by the time it came, although the ingredients are good. 

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