Tipped

Root Beer and Coleslaw

February 26, 2008

Two things yet to be mentioned by other reviews:
1) root beer. You can't buy rootbeer in this damn country so I always have this when I'm at Bodeans, which is a good thing as it means I am sober enough to enjoy...
2) the coleslaw. Coleslaw is normally just sloppy gunk, this stuff is the real deal and I could eat heaps of the stuff.
The rest of the food is pretty damn fine too, and the service is always excellent. But if you take one thing away from this is that you must order a side of coleslaw.

Good, but Big Easy is better

February 14, 2008

easy going, great place and downstairs is a riot if you have a gang (and book early). I once made the mistake of stumbling past on playoffs or Superbowl night and the place was jammed and apparently booked out for months.

anyway, good food and service but I still prefer The Big Easy :)

Tags: ribs

Rough Edges, not Burnt Ends

February 13, 2008

Bodean's does a lot of things right, from the heady smell of barbecue sauce permeating the upstairs dining room to the buckets of Coors Light beer - which under just about any other circumstance would be outrageous to order in Britain - and finally to the food itself. The range of choice is decent, although (obviously) the odds are stacked against any vegetarians in your group. My meal, a Soho Special (pulled pork sandwich) was quite tasty and messy, as it is meant to be, and I was very satisfied with it. I also went to Bodean's with some proper Southerners, and they were pretty pleased with their food as well. The prices weren't even that bad considering the portions, the quality of the meal, and the speed of service.
So why only three circles? Well maybe I was expecting too much, but it was just the accumulated effect of various small issues that eventually attained critical mass and brought down my experience. As I said, there is a delectable flavour of smokey bbq sauce in the air upstairs in the main bar and dining room which is rather intoxicating when you enter. Downstairs, in another sizable dining room where we sat in a lovely booth, the smell of sauce was mixed with a less appetizing anti-septic citrusy odour that came from the cleansing of tables and hung unfortunately in the air throughout the meal. I was also bummed at the lack of bourbon whiskeys and the seemingly innocent ignorance of our waitress (who was very attentive and lovely to us, but just didn't seem to know barbecue all that well..).
These various issues, among others, slightly brought down the overall sense of the place for me. I'd still recommend it as a good barbecue spot in London, but I can't quite echo the ebullient attitude of some of the other reviewers.

Tags: bbq, american beer, sports

Got Game?

December 12, 2007

We South Africans are fiercely proud of our 'braaivleis' which probably came into being around about the same time as the first steer was wrangled onto a grill at the old Bar BQ Ranch in Texas. Although our style places less emphasis on smoked meats, I am now also a big fan of this truly great American style BBQ. 'Pig out for a Tenner' which includes a bottle of house beer (or soft drink) and Tuesday half-price steak dinner nights are paticularly good value.

The upstairs bit is a big, airy and very stylish deli-diner, while downstairs is an even bigger restaurant-style diner with cosy padded leather booths. Great atmosphere in either as it's guaranteed to be busy if it's open, you might even spot the odd visiting celeb from stateside if you're lucky - it's that kinda place!

It's also a great place to catch US sports with major events screened into the early hours. 4 large 42'' Plasma Screens featuring live, and pre-taped sporting events from NASN (North American Sports Network/NFL, NHL, MLB, and NCAA events, etc).

I travelled 5000 miles for BBQ

November 13, 2007

You might question why an Englishman that lives in America would visit a barbecue joint on a visit to home shores. I view barbecue as one of the true American cuisines, it can make light work of some of the toughest cuts of meat and is a real art form to get right.

I live in San Francisco, home of some great food but sadly not great barbecue. My partner and I love barbecue so he was suspicious to say the least when I suggested that we dined here on a Sunday night. The place is divided into the top floor cafe style counter service joint with a full table service restaurant downstairs. We went for downstairs and my better half proceeded to order a little bit of everything from the menu. I decided to go for the lamb ribs which had a distinctly British accent to this Yankee cuisine. When our dishes turned up he stared at both plates suspiciously, poking and prodding at the meat with his fork checking the consistency. Undeterred he went in fork first and started working his way through an assortment of brisket, pork, chicken and of course ribs. The look slowly transformed from suspicion to delight and he revealed that he was waiting for something to "go wrong" as he motored through a plate of barbecue that you would be pleased to be served in the middle of Texas!

If I was going to nitpick i'd say the corn bread was a bit too cakey and the barbecue beans could be meatier but then that is not enough to deter it from the 5 blob rating.

The lamb ribs were melt in the mouth tender but the breast of lamb doesn't yield much meat and the cartileginous tissue that seperated the meat layers was a bit too fatty and took the sheen off of an otherwise excellent meal. Note to the chef, try barbecuing a breast of mutton as the older sheep has more meat on it and the tougher cut would lend itself well to the low and slow method of cooking.

It came as no surprise when I learned that Bodeans is the brainchild of award winning barbecue champion chef Bryan Tyrell and bespectacled Belgian food luminary Andre Blais of Belgo fame.

Long may they be successful!

Tags: barbecue