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Tommy Gunn's

Sfuffy

By Sfuffy
in Pennsylvania: Dining

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aliwaks

aliwaks

Posted
Posted (edited)
  There is no reason to go to The Smoked Joint, unless the sides are that important to you or you like to waste money. ;-)  I think LaBan's review was off the mark.

Thats a shame, sorry you had such a poor experience at The Smoked Joint...tell me, I don't know much about Tommy Gunn's. Do they actually smoke thier meats ? for how long? with what kind of wood? does anyone know?

Edited by Holly Moore (log)

"sometimes I comb my hair with a fork" Eloise

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Andrew Fenton

Andrew Fenton

Posted
Posted
I asked the cook at the South Street location.  He says the meats are slow smoked over hickory - 7 to 10 or more hours - at their catering kitchen in Manayunk.

Hmm. Wonder if growing pains are causing a dropoff in quality? Just speculation-- I've never been to the Manayunk location-- but I'd heard it was pretty good, and the South Street product wasn't so great.

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Tim Dolan

Tim Dolan

Posted
Posted

I live close to the Manayunk location, and I'd say that they're pretty streaky quality-wise. Every few weeks they'll turn out a batch of broken, nasty, bottom of the bag wings or some Sahara desert dry spare ribs. I thought that this would've been cured a few months after they opened but I was on the receiving end of some shoddy BBQ about two weeks ago. I'm gonna keep going though, cause when they're good (most of the time), they're good .

I would kill everyone in this room for a drop of sweet beer...

Homer Simpson

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Daniel

Daniel

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Posted

If there are any Rocky Fans out there in Philly :biggrin: you will also remember that Tommy Gun was Rocky's protege in the 5th installment.. He later died of aids in real life.. Weird name for a place in Philly...

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philadining

philadining

Posted
Posted
If there are any Rocky Fans out there in Philly  :biggrin:  you will also remember that Tommy Gun was Rocky's protege in the 5th installment.. He later died of aids in real life.. Weird name for a place in Philly...

It's another one of those crazy city ordinances: all restaurants in Philly must be named after characters or locations in Rocky movies. You might remember his opponent in Rocky 34, whose nickname was "The Striped Bass", his manager in Rocky 73 was Maury Moto, etc... If you look hard enough, they're all in those movies somewhere.

"Philadelphia’s premier soup dumpling blogger" - Foobooz

philadining.com

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vigna

vigna

Posted
Posted (edited)

I was intrigued with all the attention that Tommy Gunn's has been receiving on the site and decided to try out the South Street location. I had the combination BBQ plate and found it extremely disappointing. I fully agree with Holly's assessment of the brisket. The ribs (both kinds) were extremely dry and burned. The pulled pork was good, as was the sauce. The beans were very soupy but I liked the cole slaw, which had an unusual tang. Service was very poor and it was uncomfortable to eat on site because of the loud music. I tried the same combination plate at the Manyunk place a week later (as take out) and there was little difference -- most strikingly, the ribs were really dried out. I much prefer The Smoked Joint, where I've had 4-5 really nice meals, served in a friendly manner (plus one can get good beer). The best BBQ in the past year for me was on the group visit that many of us made to two places in the Northeast (names now forgotten), especially the first place on State Road(?), which had fantastic food including barbecued salmon. Big question for me: why all the attention here for Tommy Gunn's, which I found to be very mediocre.

Edited by vigna (log)
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philadining

philadining

Posted
Posted
  Big question for me:  why all the attention here for Tommy Gunn's, which I found to be very mediocre.

location, location, location! Really, it's mostly a matter of them being pretty easy to get to, and open late. With some good reports from their other locations, I had been hoping for some good, truly smoky, barbecue without driving to the Northeast.

I agree with your assessment, I overall liked the food and setting better at The Smoked Joint, so I'll probably go there more often, but others have had the opposite reaction. Sadly I think both places might be a little inconsistent.... I was hoping the dryness/doneness issues were just opening jitters affecting the South Street Tommy Gunn's, but if you had the same problem in Manayunk, that's does not bode well.

Again, for what it's worth, the spareribs at Tommy Gunn's were really great the day I was there.

"Philadelphia’s premier soup dumpling blogger" - Foobooz

philadining.com

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Andrew Fenton

Andrew Fenton

Posted
Posted
  Big question for me:  why all the attention here for Tommy Gunn's, which I found to be very mediocre.

location, location, location! Really, it's mostly a matter of them being pretty easy to get to, and open late. With some good reports from their other locations, I had been hoping for some good, truly smoky, barbecue without driving to the Northeast.

Yeah, that's about right: it's easy to get to, so people talk about it. Same deal with the Smoked Joint, which is okay but not half as good as Sweet Lucy's. On the other hand, it's in Center City, so more people go to it.

The other thing is just that there are cycles of attention for particular restaurants or kinds of food. Today it's barbecue; tomorrow it'll be something else.

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herbacidal

herbacidal

Posted
Posted
Big question for me:  why all the attention here for Tommy Gunn's, which I found to be very mediocre.

Yea, the dirty little secret on how to get more attention for food in a particular area on Egullet is to get more active members who frequent that area.

At the current time, I'd say much of our PA readers are central Philly based.

So we just need more people in Bucks County. And in Chester County. And in South Jersey...

Herb aka "herbacidal"

Tom is not my friend.

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Daniel

Daniel

Posted
Posted
If there are any Rocky Fans out there in Philly  :biggrin:  you will also remember that Tommy Gun was Rocky's protege in the 5th installment.. He later died of aids in real life.. Weird name for a place in Philly...

It's another one of those crazy city ordinances: all restaurants in Philly must be named after characters or locations in Rocky movies. You might remember his opponent in Rocky 34, whose nickname was "The Striped Bass", his manager in Rocky 73 was Maury Moto, etc... If you look hard enough, they're all in those movies somewhere.

Haha.. Who could forget Rocky's wealthy uncle Tony Luke who was married to Pat.

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Holly Moore

Holly Moore

Posted
Posted

Have been back to Tommy Gunn's South Street for a couple of more lunches. Better experiences though the service is still a tad funky. Could be bacause they're not all that busy so noone is running at full adrenneline level.

First time I went with their "South Streeter." Smoked, grilled hot links on a french roll topped with homefries and sauce. A very good sandwich.

gallery_14_1082_13949.jpg

Today I had the Rib lunch special. Three ribs with a side and soda for seven something. The ribs were the best of everything I've tried to date. The only meat with a deep smoke flavor. Very moist and juicy. A little on the fatty side. But on a par with Sweet Lucy's. Corn salad is a a fine way to serve cold corn.

gallery_14_1082_14799.jpg

The disappointing brisket sandwich. I'm guessing the brisket suffers from the trip down I 76 from Mannyunk to South Street.

gallery_14_1082_6794.jpg

and the baked macaroni and cheese.

gallery_14_1082_1303.jpg

Still need to give the pork sandwich a try.

Holly Moore

"I eat, therefore I am."

HollyEats.Com

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Holly Moore

Holly Moore

Posted
Posted

I'm not sure starting to suck is valid. I'd say it's figuring out what to order. To date the brisket seems to be the consistent disappointment for the South Street location. Also it's relatively new - let's see where they stand in a few weeks.

Holly Moore

"I eat, therefore I am."

HollyEats.Com

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mrbigjas

mrbigjas

Posted
Posted

we stopped by the manayunk location of tommy gunn's for a bbq snack this afternoon. had a couple of delicious ribs, which could have been a little smokier--i would say another 45 min to an hour--but they were damn good anyway. and the greens are still awesome. i think i read somewhere here that they're vegetarian, and i definitely notice the lack of pork/smoke flavor. but that's not necessarily a bad thing, because what they taste like is a spicy, vinegary concentration of greens flavor. man oh man do i love them. but then again i have a borderline unnatural affection for greens in all shapes and forms.

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  • 5 months later...
mrbigjas

mrbigjas

Posted
Posted

so today we had tommy gunn's cater us lunch for a going-away party at my office. and while i don't have any new comments on the food or anything that hasn't been said before, let me just mention that dealing with these folks is a pleasure.

oh and their brownies? are just ridiculous. i'm not usually much of a dessert person but ... whoa man are they good.

and i still love their greens.

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