The last non-wedding meal of our Cali trip was spent at Baby Blues BBQ. Albert had spotted it on Google Maps and then I passed it on my morning run and confirmed it smelled legit.
On Saturday, we’d eaten a late breakfast and weren’t ready for lunch til nearly 3. At the risk of ruining our wedding appetite, we hit up Baby Blues for a “snack”. There was a lot we wanted to try so we created our own sampler by getting 3 meats à la carte plus the side car (a sampler of 4 sides).
For the meats, we got chicken, ribs, and brisket. The chicken was my least favorite. Not bad, just not exciting. The ribs were actually very good and probably their specialty. I also really enjoyed the brisket – not too fatty, which means Texans may not be happy, but people from the Southeast will be.
They have 4 hot sauces, but I only tried two: the regular and the sweet. On their own they’re just meh but together they made a great sauce. I didn’t test out their XXX hot bbq sauce, though I hear it’s tasty. I didn’t need anything to overpower my meat. The sauce I most loved was the pepper infused vinegar. This is something that’s big in the Lowcountry (from where I hail), but isn’t so common elsewhere. It should be, though, because it makes all collards that much better. The collards here were good (I liked that they weren’t chopped too small) but even better once topped with the vinegar. The other sides we got were mac and cheese (good), potato salad (very good for something so simple), and dirty rice (good).
I could describe everything as solidly good. Not the best bbq I’ve ever had, but considering I was in LA, I was impressed. Most importantly, they nailed the type of bbq restaurants I know and love: meats and sides. Nothing fancy, with all the usual suspects accounted for. I don’t need any surprises when it comes to bbq.
Peaches to Apples 