Epic Portions

Tag: BBQ

  • Satchel’s Barbecue – Ann Arbor, MI

    This is based on a true story…

    Shaya and I were sitting around the other day when the hunger pains began to hit.  It had only been 45 minutes since the last time we had eaten, and we had plans for a serious tennis battle, so we knew our stomachs meant serious business on this one.  We put our heads together and tried to decide which local establishment would do the best job at battling these pains.  Burgers?  OCB?  This was going to be an extremely important decision that would determine exactly how many more times we would need to eat that day.

    So I’m like “Hey Shaya, I saw this article in AnnArbor.com about this little BBQ place in Ann Arbor/Ypsilanti started but this guy who’s never owned a restaurant before.  He just really likes BBQ so he was like “Oh hey I’m going to start a restaurant”  It sounds good.  Let’s go there.”  And Shaya was like,  “Bananas.  Let’s go there.  Hooray!”  So we both jumped into Danger Ranger and headed off for this BBQ joint we knew nothing about that was started by a guy who had no restaurant experience.  It sounded promising.

    I pull into Satchel’s, which is right next to Whole Foods, and I see the smoker sitting right next to the road.  Who needs some fancy sign when you have a metal contraption smoking large pieces of meat and preparing them for my consumption?  I’m not saying that because Satchel’s doesn’t have a sign, because they do.  I’m just saying it’s good advertising.  Nice work, guy who’s never owned a restaurant before.  The inside of Satchel’s  pretty much looks like a backyard picnic that had to be moved indoors due to inclement weather.  Everything is simple, from the menu written on a large chalk board to the wooden picnic tables which would probably fit a little league baseball team.

    I stepped up and ordered the pulled pork, mac and cheese, and baked beans.  That’s pretty much my go to BBQ order.  Shaya went with the brisket, greens, and mac and cheese.   I’m now going to list my 6 favorite things about Satchel’s BBQ.

    1. BBQ Baked Beans – The beans are made in the smoker.  They are incredible.  By far my favorite part of the meal.
    2. Smoke Raaaaaang – All of the meat has a beautiful smoke ring.
    3. Burnt Eeeeeeends – Beautiful burnt ends on the brisket and the pulled pork.  My favorite part.
    4. Unlimited Sweet Tea – And it’s good too.  Diabities in a cup.  The way it’s supposed to be.
    5. Simple – No bullshit.  You eat on paper plates and bus your own table.
    6. SAUCE – This should be higher up but whatever.  There’s about 8 different sauces to choose from.  Whats up options?

    Ok, but seriously.. The pulled pork comes undressed(allowing for consumer meat application), and is actually pulled from the bone.  Often pulled pork is simply shredded chunks of pork but Satchel’s serves you large chunks of pork meat that is obviously hand pulled after coming off the smoker.  The  meat itself is incredibly tender and tastes of a delicious peppered rub even without any sauce.  I had a small amount of fat on a couple chunks of my pork, but If found it to be the perfect amount.

    As I mentioned before, the BBQ baked beans are out of this fucking world.  I have never in my life had anything like them.  They are smoky but sweet at the same time.  They are, by far, the best baked beans I have ever had in my life.  The mac and cheese was great, but wasn’t anything incredibly special.  Just solid BBQ joint mac and cheese.

    Satchel’s is combination of legit and delicious.  If you like food that is both legit and delicious than it just may be for you.

    Satchel’s BBQ
    3035 Washtenaw Ave
    Ann Arbor, MI 48104
    http://www.satchellsbbq.com

  • Slow’s BarBQ – Detroit, MI

    Since its opening a few years ago, Slows BarBQ has been one of the most popular eating destinations in the Detroit area. This is great for both Detroit’s economy and local business owners, but terrible for this guy named John who visited the place 5 times in hopes of eating delicious BBQ only to have his hopes smashed by an hour wait.  Don’t think just because I didn’t stick around those other 5 times that it’s not worth the wait.  It’s just difficult to justify that long of a wait when Mexican Town is right around the corner. If you’re going to give them a try, I strongly suggest going at an odd hour for late lunch/early dinner as there’s often a wait to get a table or even a lone spot at the bar.

    You walk into Slow’s through a huge wooden door that doesn’t really even look much like a door.  I’m sure some of the general public has fits about where they enter the restaurant.  How inconvenient!  It’s a nice, artsy touch, I think.   We walked into a modern looking place, light wood everywhere and a hell of a bar that sits right in the middle of the restaurant.  The decor is upscale and offers trendy take on BBQ.  It’s a nice place in a rough neighborhood, just down the street from the old Tiger stadium site. It’s a pretty dodgy looking area, and parking is just on the street, but there’s little reason not to feel completely safe there during the day.  During the night time you may run into a character or two, but that’s going to happen in Detroit.

    Service is laid back.  You don’t get the feeling that you’re being waited on by some college kid but they also don’t act like professional servers.  There’s no drink suggestions or a recommendation of a daily special.  They ask what you want, recommend something if needed, then bring you your food. It’s no bullshit service, which I can always appreciate.

    The menu is divided between soups/appetizers, sandwiches, and actual BBQ platters.  There are many different appetizers that range from 5-8 bucks, the sandwiches are very affordable and usually fall in 7-10 dollar price range, while the BBQ platters are anywhere from 11-20 bucks depending on how much food you get.  On this particular visit, it was 11:30AM so I wasn’t exactly in the mood yet to start shoveling ribs into my mouth.  Looking back, I don’t think there is a bad time for that, but I just felt like ordering something different.

    I started with the Brisket Enchiladas and man was this a good decision.  The corn tortillas, which come from Mexican Town, tasted incredibly fresh and were well stuffed with very juicy brisket.  They are topped with smoked Gouda and American cheese and finished with their spicy BBQ sauce.  This is serious.  I could have ordered an entire pan of these for my dinner.

    For my main course there really wasn’t any choice other than the Triple Threat Pork sandwich, which was featured on Man v. Food.  The Triple Threat comes with apple wood smoked bacon, pulled pork, and a large slice of ham.  This combination is surrounded by two huge pieces of Texas toast.  This is some serious stuff.  The pulled pork is probably the most tender I have ever had in my life.  The flavor isn’t amazing, but it’s not bad either.  I’m very picky about my pulled pork and I would have to say this gets a solid B.  The bacon is perfection and that’s all I have to say about it.  The ham is fantastic, as well.  I’m going to go out on a limb here and say that if you’re not a fan of pork products, then maybe this sandwich isn’t for you.

    Just in case this meal didn’t make me fat enough already, I decided I had to have a side of mac and cheese.  Who goes to a BBQ joint and doesn’t get Mac and Cheese?  Come on now.  That would be terrible of me.  The mac and cheese was solid, but not great.  It’s more hearty than creamy and is heavy on the pepper.  It’s different than most mac and cheeses I’ve had.  I’m not saying it’s bad, just a little different than I expected.

    If you’re in Detroit and have some time to kill, go check out Slow’s.  It’s a fun experience and the food is quite tasty.  Like I said, you may end up waiting up to an hour for a table, but it’s worth it to sample some of the best BBQ Detroit has to offer.

    Slow's BarBQ on Urbanspoon

  • Blue Tractor BBQ & Brewery – Part Deux

    Blue Tractor BBQ & Brewery – Part Deux

    A few months ago I caught some hell for going to Blue Tractor BBQ & Brewery in Ann Arbor and ordering the Buffalo Mac & Cheese over some actual BBQ.  I felt that I owed it to people to actually try the ‘que and report on it.  Here you go, complainers.

    Since January, I’ve been back to Blue Tractor twice and haven’t been disappointed either time.  The food has been solid both times and the only real bitch I have had was that that sweet tea was a little sub par, which isn’t a big deal because the alternative is their delicious selection of beer that is brewed in house.  I had a pint of their IPA and a pint of the Bock, which were both very drinkable.

    They give you a little rack of three sauces, a vinegar based sauce, tomato based sauce, and a Texas style sauce.   I’m a Carolina style vinegar sauce man myself, but the other two were definitely acceptable on my table.  If you’re a BBQ joint you HAVE to leave me more than one flavor of sauce for my disposal.  If not, your BBQ is dead to me.

    If I had one more bitch it would be that they don’t have any kind of combination options.  Most BBQ joints give you the options such as a half slab of ribs and pulled pork with your choice of two sides.  Everything at Blue Tractor is set for you, with one ‘que option and restaurant designated sides.  I was incredibly disapointed to learn that a side of Mac & Cheese is $5.00.   This needs to be changed!  I need options, damnit!

    The last time I went I decided to go with the beef brisket.  It just seemed right.  Brisket is very close to my heart and I figured this would be the perfect way to find out if the place was legit or not.  The brisket is braised in the vinegar sauce and served over buttermilk mashed potatoes.  The meal also comes with seasonal vegetables.  It’s sliced very thin so you can’t get much taste of whatever rub they use, but the tenderness of the meat is perfect.  The beef literally melts in your mouth and requires very little chewing.  The amount of fat on the beef was perfect, as well.  All in all, solid work on the brisket.  The buttermilk mashed potatoes, unfortunately, were average.  If you’re going to make buttermilk mashed potatoes you’re obviously not attempting to make anything healthy, which means they should be rich and delicious.  These fell a little flat.  The seasonal vegetables were blah, but I’m not much of a “seasonal vegetables kind of guy”.  Give me some baked beans or something.  Come on now.

    Beef Brisket from Blue Tractor BBQ & Brewery

    ..and for those of you who are like me and get tears in their eyes at the sight of a good smoke ring…

    Smoke Ring/BBQ Porn

    Check them out.  For Ann Arbor, it’s good BBQ that’s very affordable.  You’ll probably pay a little less than half of what you would pay at Zingerman’s Road House.

    I would like to note that they share a kitchen with Cafe Habana, a Cuban restaurant next door that is owned by the same people.  That’s really funny to me.