Yer Fave BBQ Spots!

[chowfun]

The ribs can be tough from the rib crib, but I love their sauce.

We had some good barbecue from the Duck Deli in Doylestown a few years ago.

[jmbrightman]

Sunset Restaurant And Barbeque, located on Route 9 in New Castle, DE.  Located on Route 9 one block north of the exit for Route 9 and I-295, last exit before the Delaware Memorial Bridge.  Nice roadside operation with fantastic ribs.  Also serves fried fish and great sides.

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thanks for the recommendation. I will be near there Tuesday and will give them a try. I am a big fan of Fat Jack's beef ribs - does Sunset do beef ribs, or pork only?

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They only do pork spare ribs, but the racks are nice size.

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I tried Sunset today and was underwhelmed. The ribs were unseasoned, had no smoke flavor (they barely had any pork flavor) and were gray in appearance.

[Bluehensfan]

Sunset Restaurant And Barbeque, located on Route 9 in New Castle, DE.  Located on Route 9 one block north of the exit for Route 9 and I-295, last exit before the Delaware Memorial Bridge.  Nice roadside operation with fantastic ribs.  Also serves fried fish and great sides.

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thanks for the recommendation. I will be near there Tuesday and will give them a try. I am a big fan of Fat Jack's beef ribs - does Sunset do beef ribs, or pork only?

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They only do pork spare ribs, but the racks are nice size.

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I tried Sunset today and was underwhelmed. The ribs were unseasoned, had no smoke flavor (they barely had any pork flavor) and were gray in appearance.

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I'm not at all surprised seeing the state of dining in the First State. At least you lived to tell your tale, seeing where the place is located!

[tim]

Hi,

We're looking for BBQ ribs, pulled pork, brisket, chicken and the sides....

Anywhere in Philadelphia to the main line.

Thanks,

Tim

[Andrew Fenton]

Some of the threads on barbecue in the Philadelphia area:

Sweet Lucy's

Favorite BBQ spots?

Pig Daddy's BBQ, Drexel Hill

Tex's BBQ, Phoenixville

Famous Dave's

Another Sweet Lucy's thread

Ribs

Ron's Ribs

These are just some of the threads on the topic; I discovered them using the search box- located at the bottom of the PA forum page- entering the word "barbecue".

[Siouxsie]

I got a thread going about a month ago that was titled Phoebe's (as in Phoebe's BBQ on South St.). About 20 responses & very helpful!

Siouxsie

[Tim Dolan]

Speaking of Phoebe's, from the looks of things they're trying to open a new location on Umbria St. in Manayunk. The awning has been up for a few weeks and there's a sign in the window that says "coming soon!", but as of late last week they're still not open for business. Does anyone who frequents the South St. location have any idea what's going on? I would love a new bbq place in the area since the only other place, Tommy Gunn's, is maddeningly inconsistent.

[Rich Pawlak]

I have haead that Phoebe's will be ready to roll by July.

And BTW, my new fave spot for ribs and BBq pork sammies is The Station Bistro in Kimberton. Carig Miller really knows how to work a smoker.

[MarketStEl]

Since this thread is still live, I will add that after wowing my friend Vince, his partner Brian and their guests with ribs I prepared at their Memorial Day cookout in Fox Chase, one of my favorite BBQ places in Philly is:

Wherever I can get my hands on a charcoal grill.

I talked these two into buying one instead of a propane model a couple of months ago; on Memorial Day, they learned why.

[percyn]

Some of the threads on barbecue in the Philadelphia area:

Sweet Lucy's

Favorite BBQ spots?

Pig Daddy's BBQ, Drexel Hill

Tex's BBQ, Phoenixville

Famous Dave's

Another Sweet Lucy's thread

Ribs

Ron's Ribs

These are just some of the threads on the topic; I discovered them using the search box- located at the bottom of the PA forum page- entering the word "barbecue".

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Another place to add to the list is BBQ USA, in Worcester, near Norristown.

Went to Tex's BBQ today to get a Smoked Chicken. It takes make hours of smoking to impart this deep mahogany color and intense smoky flavor. Not cheap ($15), but if you crave rich hickory flavor, it is worth every penny. Made chicken stock with the bones and leftovers.

[jmbrightman]

Here is another spot to try - Rude Hawgs Pit BBQ just opened a place near my home in Washington Twp, about 2 minutes from the start of the AC Expressway. Their brisket is the best I have tried, and the pulled pork is also very good. Ribs are good, not great.

http://www.rudehawgsbbq.com/ribs_birds.html

[percyn]

Relatively new BBQ place:

Jimmy's BBQ

Westgate Plaza

309 Lancaster Avenue

Malvern Pa 19355

http://jimmysbbq.com/

Its in the same plaza as Royal Thai, Mino and Staples, not far from Classic Diner.

Got the Ribs - Nice smoke rings, deep mahogany color on the outside

Smoked Wings -

Smoked Chorizo - They buy their sausages (sweet, hot or Chorizo) and this was not my favorite.

The sauce they serve can be a bit sweet, but other than that, they are doing good and starting to gain some loyal clientele.

[jdanton]

Relatively new BBQ place:

Jimmy's BBQ

Westgate Plaza

309 Lancaster Avenue

Malvern Pa 19355

http://jimmysbbq.com/

We went tonight--had the brisket and the ribs. Both were straight out of the smoker and pretty good. There were out of collard greens. The mac & cheese needs some work (and perhaps a bechamel) but the meats were very good.

The brisket was fork tender and had a nice smoke ring.

[philadining]

Those really lovely pork spare ribs are from Danté's, out at 48th and Lancaster Ave, and they tasted as good as they look. They were tender and moist, and had a subtle smoke flavor that built gradually until you eventually felt like you were sitting right next to the pit.

Based on one visit, these have shot to the top of my list of favorite ribs in the city. I'm eager to try more of their meats, and verify that these weren't a fluke, so I'll be heading back out there soon.

We also tried their fried chicken, which was perfectly credible, in fact quite impressively crisp and un-greasy, but just not quite as exciting as the barbecue.

We only tried a few sides, but totally loved the collards, which had a firm-yet-tender texture, and actually tasted like greens. The potato salad was a little too strong with celery seed for me, but that's a very personal thing...

It's take-out only, and I don't remember for sure, but maybe cash-only. I'll check, and don't worry, it won't be long, Im already jonesing for more of those ribs, or maybe the dry-rubbed Memphis style baby backs... or the smoked hot sausage...

Danté's Barbecue

4834 Lancaster Avenue

Philadelphia, PA

215-473-0177

Edited March 12, 2009 by philadining (log)

[philadining]

And then there's Jimmy's out in Malvern.

I thought these ribs were quite good, maybe not quite as juicy and perfect as Danté's, but a pretty close runner-up. They do dry-rubbed Memphis Style, and I was perfectly happy to eat these as-is, but there is some sauce on the tables, and some hot sauce at the counter.

I'll agree with Percy, that house sauce is a little too sweet for me, but the flavor's pretty good otherwise. I'd love to see a few more barbecue sauces to choose from, and even their hot-sauce collection was pretty limited, but I was pretty satisfied eating most everything without sauce.

I was very pleasantly surprised to find that I really liked the brisket. This has been pretty elusive, although I had a few good platters at The Smoked Joint. We chatted a little with Jimmy, and he said that he's only recently finally dialed-in the right technique for the brisket, so if you've been disappointed before, it might be time to try it again! Our portion was nicely moist, and those blackened edges were freaking awesome. We got it as part of a combo platter with Pulled Pork, which also had very good flavor, but was bordering on dry - not bad at all, but better with a little sauce. The dusting of spices was not as overwhelming as it looks, it was actually a nice accent.

We also had a starter of thick-sliced bacon, which was assertively smoky, salty and fatty, which is to say, pretty tasty. I liked it, but it might be a little too overtly fatty for some. Jimmy said he's been slicing it a little thinner lately, and whatever he's doing now seems about right to me.

Sides were solid, if not the main reason to go here. I liked the collard greens quite a lot, and the baked beans were pleasingly sweet and tangy. Sweet potatoes were simple, but good. Mac and Cheese was fine, if not especially exciting.

I'd been seeing some very mixed reviews elsewhere on the web, but I was very impressed after one visit. I suspect that some of those less-positive reviews might have been due to Jimmy's settling into a new space, or even people just not understanding the dry-rub barbecue aesthetic. The execution seemed pretty solid to me, and I'm happy to head back over there and do some more sampling... soon, I hope...

They're open 10-8 sunday-thursday, 10-9 friday and saturday. Jimmy says he might start staying open later (I vote in favor of that!!)

Jimmy's Barbecue

Westgate Plaza

309 Lancaster Avenue

Malvern Pa 19355

http://jimmysbbq.com/

[Andrew Fenton]

I've been driving by Dante's (no accent, I think) for the last few weeks, but never stopped by; I pegged it for a parboiled-ribs kinda joint, and until I saw Phil A.'s report, didn't get it together to try them. I'm glad I did! The St. Louis ribs are very tasty. Too much sauce for my liking- makes it hard to taste the meat- but the texture was very good. I'll get them Memphis-style next time and see how I like them that way.

N.B. that Dante's is in a less than lovely section of Lancaster Ave., and there's no place to sit down in the restaurant, so you'll want to take them home (or eat them in the car, as I did.) And two layers of bulletproof glass at the counter just adds authenticity. But it's most definitely worth trying.

[philadining]

As you can probably see in the pictures, the St Louis Ribs we got from Dante's weren't totally soaked in sauce, so I felt like I was getting a good taste of the meat, but then again, maybe the sauce is why I didn't think they were all that smoky at first.

For what it's worth, I re-heated a couple of leftover ribs, which pretty much dried-up the sauce, and wow, might they have gotten even more tasty? Nah... doesn't seem possible... but damn they were good.

[Andrew Fenton]

Well, more testing can't hurt, can it? And they are on my way home, so I have no excuse not to go again...

[percyn]

The trick with most BBQ places IMHO is timing your visit so that what you are interested in is just coming out of the smoker or has been sitting no more than a few minutes.

[Andrew Fenton]

The trick with most BBQ places IMHO is timing your visit so that what you are interested in is just coming out of the smoker or has been sitting no more than a few minutes.

I'm not so sure I agree. I've actually been able to test this at home and found that, flavor-wise, BBQ that has come straight out of the smoker doesn't seem to be any better than BBQ that has been sitting around for a couple of hours, even a couple of days. I will grant you that the texture of fresh-from-the smoker BBQ is better, though, at least the outside crusty bits.

And in some cases, sitting around improves the smoke flavor. I smoked a bunch of salmon last week. I tried it after it cooled, and it was fine. But the next day, the smoke flavor was more pronounced, and three or four days later, it was more noticeable still, as if the smoke had permeated the fish. At that point, it was really good. Salmon is different from pork, obviously: the pieces of meat are a lot smaller, and it doesn't smoke nearly as long (only 2-3 hours for mine), but I don't think the principle would be too different.

[philadining]

Made another Dante's run:

Memphis Style dry-rubbed baby back pork ribs. Great smoky, spiced flavor, but a little dry. Sauce on the side was pleasantly tangy, but we couldn't tell any difference between the ones marked hot and mild... Will try these again, although I think I just generally have a personal preference for the larger spare ribs.

Brisket was shredded/pulled which seemed odd, but it tasted great. It manged to retain some crucial juiciness amid the crusty edges.

Pulled Pork was my favorite: very moist, deeply smoky, a little crunchy here and there.

We went up to Sweet Lucy's later and there really was no comparison. None of those meats tasted smoky at all. Ribs were dry, brisket and pulled pork seemed more stewed than smoked, kielbasa was good... Actually the food all tasted pretty good, but the textures were wrong somehow, and it was missing that imprint of the wood fire, it just didn't seem like smoked barbecue. The red potato salad was delicious.

So I'll be sticking with Dante. Oh, and Jimmy.

[Jeff L]

You must have hit Lucy's on an off day cause I've always found their meats smoky, especially the ribs and pulled pork. Granted they aren't as smokey as mine but then I tend to use a lot of wood vs charcoal in my smoker.

Sorry to hear about the dryness, no excuses there...that should never happen. I just put Dante's on my VZ Navigator!

[philadining]

I'm willing to believe that it was an off night for Sweet Lucy's (it was saturday night FWIW) but it's funny, I've ben having that reaction over and over to all the old stand-by places...

The first night we got Dante's, we also stopped at Tommy Gunns and Dwight's. We found ourselves saying that exact thing - that this must be an off-night because we remembered these places being much better.

And of course it's possible, but it's seeming like quite a coincidence that they're all having an off night! Of course any place will have some variation, but I also have to wonder if our memories aren't that good.

I know it seems extreme, but if you're interested in making the comparison, it's quite enlightening to go to a few places in a row and eat the same meats side by side.

[Jeff L]

While a comparison bbq run seems like it might be lots of fun, I lack the capacity to consume prodigous amounts of food...however, please continue documenting your important work

[philadining]

Leftover barbecue is a good thing...