BBQ action this evening was at Moose’s BBQ up in Moncks Corner. A bit of a drive out there from my place, but definitely well worth the 70km round trip.
This was actually my second trip out to Moose’s, and I was eagerly anticipating tonight’s visit out there. The buffet line is well stocked with a wide variety of items, but I think the highlight of the buffet is the brisket. Not that the rest of the buffet isn’t good, but for me, it’s the brisket that brings me back.
If you haven’t left Moose’s fat and happy, there’s something wrong with you.
JB’s for BBQ
Thanks to Chrys and LowcountryBBQ.org, a group of blogging and tweeting BBQ enthusiasts is starting to grow. Tonight some of us converged at JB’s Smokeshack tonight for good company, conversation and some mighty tasty BBQ.
Can’t really explain why I’ve been here so long without making a trip to JB’s until recently. Like most BBQ joints around here, it doesn’t really look like much, but what it’s lacking in appearance is more than made up for by the food.
The buffet comes in two sections, and it’s hard not to make at least two trips up to the buffet. Everything is drool-inducing good. At $8 ($11 for dinner), it’s tough to find a deal like this that’s much better.
To go along with the pile of smoked meat on your plate, there’s a variety of sauces on the table. The brisket carving guy recommended the mild sauce to go along with the brisket. Not too much of it though he said, or it will mask the flavour of the brisket. He was pretty spot on too, although I would expect that he knows what he’s talking about.
Definitely a place where you’ll never leave hungry (unless you’re a vegetarian).
BBQ meetup: Mama Brown’s
Had a good time meeting up with people at Mama Brown’s BBQ over in Mt. Pleasant. It’s not a fancy place (the good BBQ places never are), but the food is tasty and they offer a number of dining options ranging from small to large plates and the all-you-can-eat buffet.
I went for the all-you-can-eat option.
Round 1: Pulled pork (vinegar based sauce), mac and cheese, mashed potatoes and red rice.
Round 2: More pulled pork, ribs, more mashed potatoes and some other kind of rice.
Afterwards, the Digitel folks recorded an episode of their DigiCast podcast and interviewed Chrys, the man behind LowcountryBBQ.org.
Based on this first visit, I’d say it’s hard to leave this place being anything but fat and happy.
Carnivore date night
Last night the wife and I went out on a date to Oak Steakhouse. It was a very pleasant evening, although it got a little loud at our second floor corner table with all the noise from people waiting at the bar echoing off the ceiling towards the end of th evening.
The food was quite spectacular and we ate ourselves a little silly. Really, how can you not at a place like Oak. I started with a carpaccio of beef while the wife went with the foie gras. Both very excellent. I’d never had a carpaccio before, so it was an interesting and tasty experience. Not at all like what I expected.
By the time we finished our salads (ceasar for me, the spinach salad for her), we were already getting full. The dressings on the salads were perfect, and we just couldn’t stop eating them.
Then came our entrees. At Oak, being a steakhouse and all, large hunks of meat are the star items on the menu. All of them grilled, and all of them very yummy looking. I went with the 36 oz bone-in ribeye which came out on a hot cast iron pan. The wife ordered the 28oz porterhouse. For some reason ours didn’t come out sizzling like the other diners’ plates did. Anyway, it was a carnivore’s dream. The ribeye was a bit charred on the outside, but cooked to a nice medium/medium rare on the inside. I sliced off a decent sized 5 or 6 oz serving (no way I was going to be able to eat the whole thing at this point) and started eating. A bite of the ribeye with the accompanying foie gras was utterly sinful. Buttery sweet texture and flavour of the foie gras went perfectly with the ribeye.
We left with enough meat to last us through at least 3 more meals. Definitely a place we would go to again, although probably not too often.
4.5 stars out of 5 (-0.5 stars for the rather loud atmosphere on the second floor. I bet the third floor would be much quieter).