Another Bad Restaurant In Indy!


 
T

Tony Hunter

TVWBB Pro
I got word today from a friend at work that there was a new restaurant on our side of town that has become the rave! Its called "Just Barbecue". So, I told him that I would check it out this evening since I would have some time to kill.

I went to joint, and there were two giant barrel grills outside just a smoking away. I got out of my car and I smelled lighter fluid lit charcoal - no wood at all. I went inside and met one of the owners and this was one of the nicest brothers you would ever want to meet. We carried on a little Q conversation that was sparked by my order - a small order of rib tips... No Sauce! He asked why I did not want sauce and I told him that "for me", real BBQ is identified by its flavor without sauce! He then accused me of being a Texan!
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Don't worry, I assured him I was from God's own state of residence - Indiana!
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He brought me my order and I did not open it until I got in my car because I knew what to expect and I did not want be less than gracious with bad facial expressions and such. We talked a bit more about Q and about my all purpose rub. He wants me to bring a sample of some of my Q.

Anyway, when I got into my car and off the lot, I opened the box and I saw a box of rib meat that had been severely boiled and finished on the grill without a drop of any kind of rub anywhere! The color was tannish-grey and the meat was falling off the bones and had no flavor except a hint of fluid lit charcoal!

Again, great people who have had the courage to venture out and open a joint; and for that they deserve mega props! Only if the meat was half as good as these people were nice!
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Anyway, I plan to take them some of my Q as promised. Who knows what will come out that!

Tony
 
Tony, that is truely sad. I've been on a quest for finding really good "que" places. Have been disappointed in my finds. Of course I haven't been to Memphis or KC yet. Most of the ribs I've gotten were tough and chewy,pork butt tasteless and the brisket dry. Thank you Mr. Weber for the WSM
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<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by paul h:
Tony, that is truely sad. I've been on a quest for finding really good "que" places. Have been disappointed in my finds. Of course I haven't been to Memphis or KC yet. Most of the ribs I've gotten were tough and chewy,pork butt tasteless and the brisket dry. Thank you Mr. Weber for the WSM
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Amen to that!
 
Paul, I went to another good BBQ joint here in Louisville 2 weeks ago. That makes 4 good places around here. Is it as good as my Q? No but they try real hard!
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I dont know how long they will be in business if they dont get rid of some help. Way too many people working there imho.
It was called
Pig City BBQ located in Middletown "sm city outside of Louisville". Pork was good. Brisket was chopped but tasty. Ribs were average. Wings were excellent. The toasted ravioli was heart clogging goodness. We infiltrated their pits and they use the Fast Eddy Cookshack pellet smokers. I will go back. Decent food like that keeps me on my toes.
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content"> I plan to take them some of my Q as promised. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>You really must. It's the 'neighborly' thing to do.
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Why yes I have tried Statens and it is on my list of the 4 really good Q joints ive tried in Louisville. Its not perfect but really good.

On edit we had a bad experience today. Couldnt say that we were pleased.
 
Hey Dale, Email me off list with the names and locations.My daughter lives in Louisville so I get up there frequently. Maybe you , me an Stu could meet over some good BBQ.
 
A few weeks ago the family and I checked out a place out in North KC called "KC Rib Company", looked fairly new so we said what the heck. Went in and were helped by a very elderly woman (easily could have been in her late 80's early 90's) very nice but took forever to get our order in. Anyway, so we seat ourselves and the boys (6 and 3 years old) immediately grab the BBQ sauces they have on the table to sample. Both spit it out. These boys are used to good Q sauce since we are in good ole KC and they love going to competitions just to sample!! Anyway that was a bad sign. I figured they both got too much spice, etc from the tip, so I waited for the food. I LOOOOVE smoked wings as well as the wife so we ordered 2 orders of wings, and some ribs. Needless to say the wings were rubber and had ZERO smoke, they looked like they were done in the oven and then sprinkled with rub at the very end. NO flavor whatsoever, and the ribs looked grey and zero taste as well. Might have been boiled because they were nothing like a good slow smoked set of ribs. What rubbed me was that they had plaques and awards for get this "1st place sauce and and ribs". Maybe the elderly lady had to cover for whomever won those awards and didn't quite get the recipes right or someone has been very very lucky at Q. For those out of towners, please don't stop there as you will think all KC Q is poop. Instead try the old and true.

Adrian
 
http://www.birdssmokehousebbq.com/

This place opened a few months ago in Daleville. I've had a few things there and have found it to be pretty good. I haven't tried the ribs.

Unless you live in the Muncie/Anderson area, it's probably a decent trip. It's a little east of I-69 at exit 34 (Exit 0 is essentially I69/I465). If you're passing through it is worth the stop.
 
Paul & Dale

I'm in Northern KY but I can be in Louisville in 1hr 20 mins or so. Louisville was part of my territory when I was in sales so I know the area pretty well. Let me know..."ROADTRIP"!
 
Paul, cant find your email but my whole team wouldnt mind meeting you guys somewhere. We like to go to places and when we do go we buy everything, share, and really talk it over.

Pig City BBQ in Middletown
One removed on edit
Jucys in Pewee Valley
Bootleg is down 65 outside of Louisville.
Actually there is another place that I havent been to yet called Big Rs or something like that which is only 6 miles away. They were at one of the comps last year that we did. I have to get over there and see this guy. We have smokey bones and all them other chains but they arent on my list.
I get good food at all 4 of these places and leave happy everytime. I am picky when I go out too. But I'm not impossible to please either.
 
Hey Tony,

I'm in Indy, too. (NW side) Where is this place you're talking about?

Rimas
 
So if they are nice guys and willing to learn about real BBQ, it would be nice to show them the way.
 
I think it would be very difficult to run a BBQ restaurant, especially in the early going. You never know how many people will walk through the door and you never know what people will order. If you are preparing cook-to-order like steaks, you just put them on the grill as needed. You can't do that with Q. So how do they deal with the huge swings in numbers from one night to the next?

(Of course I am not saying that is an excuse for boiled ribs or oven baked Q with no rub.)

I guess what I am saying is that is that it is not surprising that a semi-skilled amateur--as most of us are--can turn out better Q than the vast majority of Q proprietors. We generally know how many mouths we need to feed and we know when they will want to be fed.
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by David Lohrentz:
I think it would be very difficult to run a BBQ restaurant, especially in the early going. You never know how many people will walk through the door and you never know what people will order. If you are preparing cook-to-order like steaks, you just put them on the grill as needed. You can't do that with Q. So how do they deal with the huge swings in numbers from one night to the next?

(Of course I am not saying that is an excuse for boiled ribs or oven baked Q with no rub.)

I guess what I am saying is that is that it is not surprising that a semi-skilled amateur--as most of us are--can turn out better Q than the vast majority of Q proprietors. We generally know how many mouths we need to feed and we know when they will want to be fed. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

David,

I am in the serious planning stages of my Q joint. I still have more planning and preparation to do but it will be well worth it. Your concerns are very legitimate; thats why I plan to ease into my restaurant by first vending to the community that I plan to serve. I will vend on the weekends to build a presence in the community and to set the expectation of the quality of BBQ I will be offering. This will give me real life practice for the restaurant and will help me gauge the demand - to some degree.

I am not crazy, I completely understand that even with tactical market research like this, I probably won't have a true picture of the actual demand I will have to face but at least I won't be going in blind and I will have made friends and regular clientèle.

The other thing about me that is going to make this a difficult venture is I don't plan to compromise in the area of meat preparation. BBQ takes a long time to cook correctly and I plan to do it all low and slow! This means late night preps and early morning starts on the cooking. Call me crazy but somehow I am going to work out the logistics so that the Q will be authentic.

Just my thoughts,

Tony
 
Tony, I was watching this program on BBQ. One of the places they reviewed had lines out the door BUT they only made so much product . When it was gone they closed. I guess that would give them some manor of quality control on the finished product
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by paul h:
Tony, I was watching this program on BBQ. One of the places they reviewed had lines out the door BUT they only made so much product . When it was gone they closed. I guess that would give them some manor of quality control on the finished product </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Paul, I think I saw that program too. I can't remember it exactly but it was fairly recently. I liked the idea that people where line up to get it while they could - I'll bet that was some great Q!

Tony
 
There are still quite a few places that close when they run out. Mostly they are country places--city people have different expectations.

David-- The predictabilty issue is more predictable than it seems. It doesn't take long to get a rhythm established. And, if it's wished, holding equipment is available which enables a proprietor to keep meats at temp with little change in texture or moisture for many hours.
 
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