Bodeans

[Simon Majumdar]

Last week our own Mr Rayner ( you remember him "Blue Harbour Rocks" ) asked me to accompany him to try out a new BBQ place in D'arblay St. We met first in The Player where said hack's Martini cherry was well and truly popped and then went to Bodeans. I wont go into detail about that meal as Jay is going to put a review in The Observer

Suffice to say it was good enough that Robin and I went again last night. primarily as Jay had not allowed me to order all of the menu. Tight Journo bastard or what?

We replicated the previous week almost totally by starting at The Player with an exceptionally well made Old fashioned ( with Hancocks single Barrel Bourbon ) a good deal at £11 per pop

The on to Bodeans

The restaurant is an ersatz version of every southern BBQ joint and is run by Andre Blaise ( of the original Belgo fame ) and Jay described their menu perfectly as BBQ Esparanto. A bit of Texas here, a bit of Kentucky there.

The previous week the starters had been a bit miserable, so Robin and I did not bother. Instead we went straight for the main courses and ordered

1/2 slab baby back ribs

1/2 slab pork ribs

Whole slab of beef ribs

1/2 Chicken and pulled pork combo

chain of four linked sausages

Each came with a side of beans ( very well made indeed ) and a slightly pointess coleslaw

We also ordered two bottles of Anchor Liberty Ale

The ribs ( the beef in particular ) were excellent. Moist and suitably slow cooked. We went back to see the smoker ( quite a beast - the machine that is not the man who seemed perfectly charming ) The chicken remained as it had been the week before, dry and chewy and the pulled pork was awful, lacking any of the unctuousness of its southern cousins. The sausages had a great flavour but were not as dense as the links I had on my trip to Texas.

They have a bit of a marketing ploy in only serving Burnt Ends on a Wednesday. But Burnt Ends are such a thing of beauty that I would rush back for them.

The service is charming and helpful. The manager is a very friendly woman called Suzzanne who didn't mind our demand to "see your oven" and they aced the mint tea test

Bill with us ordering far to much for normal folk was a paltry £53 inc service. Not bad at all

We spoke to Andre and I think, a la Belgo, he is looking to roll out the concept ( the design is set up with the word "franchise" high on the agenda ) and people could do worse, although I am not sure if it would play in the provinces

I may or may not make it to The Player tonight. If I don't you can find me round the corner looking at someone's Burnt end

6/10

S

Edited January 22, 2003 by Simon Majumdar (log)

[Charlene Leonard]

Simon, what are burnt ends?

[Simon Majumdar]

Here is a link

Basically, they are the trimmings from the end of a brisket or a slab o ribs . They are slightly tough and chewy but have huge flavour and can be drenched in BBQ Sauces

BTW the sauces at BOdeans were not bad. One was a good chipotle/vinegar sauce a la the Coarolinas. The other was a hickory sauce much like the ones we had in Texas. Robin thought there should have been one a notch up on the heat scale

http://bbq.miningco.com/library/weekly/aa081702a.htm

S

[Jon Tseng]

How does it compare to Arkansas Cafe?

Did you have any brisket first time round?

J

[Simon Majumdar]

Ribs better at Bodeans

The upstairs is a cafe/take away and they do Brisket sarnies and Pulled Pork

I didn't try last night, but may go back tonight when I try the burn ends post The Player

S

[CathyL]

Thanks for the report, Simon. A few questions:

1. Were the ribs dry or wet?

2. Any details on the smoker? E.g., gas-fired with wood chunks (what kind) added for smoke?

3. Are persons of the British persuasion likely to know the origin of the restaurant's name?

[Simon Majumdar]

1) A mixture. The Pork was dry, the Beef, wet

2) The smoker was a gas smoker with the wood burner in a side oven to the main one. It had about 10 racks which rotated.

3) Its a brand of hot sauce isn't it? Oh, and a bad band.

S

[CathyL]

Don't know about the sauce, but I rather liked the BoDeans.

Jethro Bodean was a character on 'The Beverly Hillbillies.'

[Dave the Cook]

Jethro Bodean was a character on 'The Beverly Hillbillies.'

I'm not normally one to correct a Goddess, but I believe Jethro spelled his name B-O-D-I-N-E.

Simon, where do you find Kentucky in this menu? In my mind, Kentucky is unique for burgoo and barbecued mutton. Do they have these?

[Simon Majumdar]

I had some great pork in Kentucky. Don't tell me I am wrong as Jay has put this in his review. But then as he has also misquoted me on a couple of other things, no one will notice for all the other inaccuracy

S

[CathyL]

I'm not normally one to correct a Goddess, but I believe Jethro spelled his name B-O-D-I-N-E.

You're right, you're right. Still. The band was named after ol' Jethro, and according to some rag or other (Restaurant??) so was the dead flesh palace in Soho.

[Dave the Cook]

I'm not normally one to correct a Goddess, but I believe Jethro spelled his name B-O-D-I-N-E.

You're right, you're right. Still. The band was named after ol' Jethro, and according to some rag or other (Restaurant??) so was the dead flesh palace in Soho.

Well, OK then. (I liked the BoDeans, too.)

Simon, I'm sure there is great pork in Kentucky -- at Ron Johnson's home, if nowhere else. Had you come to Georgia, I'd have made sure you got it here, too. So you are not wrong, but perhaps your view is incomplete. Mutton is what makes Kentucky barbecue unique, as it is done almost nowhere else -- actually, it's not even done in most of Kentucky.

[Simon Majumdar]

I have had great mutton too in Alabama. is that an import?

God there is so much to learn and so little time

S

[Dave the Cook]

I hadn't heard of this. Will look into it.

Rumor has it that sheep are used for many purposes in Alabama, not all of them related to cooking.

or

It would have to be imported, as the only good thing to come *out* of Alabama is Interstate 20 (yes, old joke).

[Vanessa]

Rumor has it that sheep are used for many purposes in Alabama, not all of them related to cooking.

Like Yorkshire you mean?

v

[Miss J]

Very quickly:

Had Burnt Ends last night in the company of a number of Gullied-up egulleteers. Very good, especially to a smoke-flavour-addict like me. Slightly spicy, extremely moist, outrageously smoky and slathered in tangy tomato-based sauce. (Not tangy like the more vinegary sauce on the pulled pork, but tangy in a balanced tomato way.)

Also had half a slab of baby back ribs, which were good but not a patch on the B.E.

[Simon Majumdar]

After hearing of Jay's comments and hearing the comments of Robin and myself the night before ( and those of a number of customers ) they reworked the pulled pork last night and added some apple juice and a little vinegar to them. It gave a moistness and a much better flavour. The Burnt Ends were very good indeed

S

[Charlene Leonard]

as nice as it was 'pulled pork' just sounds erm, rude to me

[Suzi Edwards]

went this evening, ate almost everything on the menu and can hardly type as i am so stuffed.

i love this resturant. i noticed they have NO vegetarian choices. this rocks.

[Kikujiro]

I'm not much of a BBQ person, not least because in this country we get about as much chance to barbecue as we do to sled down Primrose Hill. Nor is it really something I could try in my flat. So my standards aren't nearly as developed as those of the heavyweight pork-pullers on the US board.

Nor, come to that, is Bodeans in Poland Street really aspiring to those critical heights. But I enjoyed lunch there. There's a downstairs restaurant and an upstairs counter service/takeout place, where the menu is a subset, at lower prices, of that below. The whole has been kitted out impressively, with serious attention to detail (down to the net curtains embroidered with the Bodeans logo, and the huge iron chicken art modelled on the Betty Crocker cookbook).

There's a wood-burning smoke-pit which cooks most of the menu (both are on the website linked above). Only a couple of items (bangers and mash and lobster with curry mango butter) look out of place; the rest seems fairly on the nose. On Wednesdays only, in both rooms, there are burnt ends.

Counter service is a very fast-food style operation -- you order and pay, and someone brings you your food on a tray without much in the way of real crockery. I went for the pulled pork sandwich, unnecessarily called a Boston Butt. It was £4.50. I asked for a side of pickles. The server told me it came with pickles. Okay, I said, we'll split a side of fries -- But it comes with fries. These are practically McDonald's prices. In Poland St.

Everything tasted pretty good to me. The pulled pork was on a burger-type bun, not necessarily what I expected but fine, and laid on thick with coleslaw. The meat was soft and pleasant and the sandwich disappeared quickly. My companion, wheat-phobic, had requested his without the bun, and got two paper containers with even more meat and slaw than I had. The fries were crisp and enjoyable, and the waitress brought over a couple of bottles of sauce, hot chipolte and smoked hickory. The waitress, incidentally, was great: friendly, enthusiastic, helpful, informative. When we asked if they had desert, she said, I can bring you some from downstairs, and went off to check on the menu there. My apple pie (£3.25 -- this is the restaurant price, remember, as it was from that menu) came a la mode, and seemed convincingly US in style -- pastry very soft but the whole comfortingly warm and cinnamoney. Companion's key lime pie was, as per the TO review, really lime cheesecake, and served very cold.

André, the managing director, is a Canadian who was part of the original Belgo team and turns out to be just as friendly as his staff. He was very open about the place -- opening in December was good, Jan quiet, last week better due to write-ups -- and took us downstairs to see the restaurant/bar, which has an alcove where on weekends kids eat free and watch cartoons on a big screen while they're looked after by the staff, which I guess is a good idea if you don't actually want to eat with your kids.

So, real BBQ in Soho. Basic but well done in good surroundings at very low prices, with a team that really seem to like what they're doing. And right opposite Yo! Sushi, too.

Oh, and you can so shut up about Nando's now.

Edited February 11, 2003 by Kikujiro (log)

[jamesmarsh]

Had dinner here last night and came away pretty impressed.

We ate in the downstairs restaurant rather than the upstairs deli (which would surely be better as a bar as it was completely empty and may well have put off any potential customers walking by).

Two of us shared a pulled pork and chicken combo, a rack of ribs and some fries. It was A LOT of food. I'm not an expert on such things but the ribs and pulled pork were exactly as i expected - succulent, with a nice smoky flavour and not too sweet. Sauces were ok but not really necessary for the ribs. The chicken was less successful with the breast being particularly dry. Annoyingly, you can only order the pulled pork as part of a combo with the chicken.

I'll definitely be back though - the dining room has a lovely atmosphere, the waiting staff were charming and seemed genuinely interested in the food. And the bill, including two large beers, water and service came to a whopping 31 quid.

On the way home we tried to think of another restaurant in Soho where you could come away so satisfied having spent the same amount of money. We couldn't.

[sandra]

We had dinner here tonight, came up on it as we were walking home - great baby backs and baked beans, liked the coleslaw, but have had better - potato salad was unimpressive...

Will definitely be going back for burnt ends, pulled pork, etc etc etc...

Can almost hold a candle to Brother Jimmy's in NYC!

[Dave Humm]

I finally got round to trying it last week, as I was on my own and in a bit of a hurry I tried the upstairs part, and got the special offer (10 quid for a slab of ribs, fries, coleslaw and a house beer or wine) = very impressed and happy punter.

[mogsob]

We had dinner here tonight, came up on it as we were walking home - great baby backs and baked beans, liked the coleslaw, but have had better - potato salad was unimpressive...

Will definitely be going back for burnt ends, pulled pork, etc etc etc...

Can almost hold a candle to Brother Jimmy's in NYC!

Wait a sec. If it can only "almost hold a candle to Brother Jimmy's", why on earth would you ever go back?

[Clerkenwellian]

has anyone been here recently? Is it still as good? Any particular recommendations?

cheers!