I've had my heart set on BBQ for a few weeks now. Got a decent fill at Chili's on Sunday with my mother--she was feeling a little under the weather, but she ate light (a half rack of ribs instead of a full rack). But you know, Chili's just wasn't able to do it for me the way good BBQ is supposed to. Scratching the tip of my craving for some soul food, it couldn't get down in there deep to put out the fire. Seems I needed some real BBQ to quench that inner craving.
Enter the BBQ King. Located at Figueroa and Cesar Chavez, just north of Downtown and west of Olvera St. where the Avenida turns into Sunset. This place is a definite line item in the sheet of Good BBQ joints in LA.
I knew the place was at the very least decent when I saw a number of black folk role through--c'mon, black people know their BBQ! After some perusing of the mouth-watering menu of greens, mac' n cheese, french fries, tri-tip sandwiches, and potato salad, I decided to purchase the Lunch sampler at 5:30pm. The staff didn't mind that lunchtime had passed. This place was obviously a giver like a real BBQ joint should be. All signs good so far.
With a soda, two sides, a corn bread, and a mixture of beef ribs, links, chicken, and tri-tip, the cost seemed pricey at a little over $14, but reasonable. (I hadn't eaten all day. This combines the cost of lunch and dinner, right?) And hey, what better food can fill up a hungry man's stomach than the filling comfort of some good ole BBQ?
So imagine my surprise when they called my order and it came in one tiny little foil-wrapped basket, my sides of potato salad and mac' n cheese in a container most joints would use to give you ranch on the side for your salad. I should have realized that I ordered the wrong thing when plate after plate of tri-tip sandwich blew by me, french fries flailing away, clinging for dear life on the bending plate like a mound of college students on some Magic Mountain ride. Damn! I paid $14 for this!
These ribs better be made of a golden ticket! I'm saying "the King" better blast through the wall like a pitcher of Kool-aid and promise me some tasty food--"OH YEAH!". But after taking a few bites, I must say the food was pretty damn flavorful. The people at King's definitely know what they're doing in the taste department. Although King might be a bit of stretch, I'd say that maybe, just maybe, this joint is related to royalty.
The ribs were better-than-decent in size and made the basket of meager portions feel somewhat filling. I later realized that I was missing a link and thought to myself that this basket might be a "true sampler" had I received the link in addition--maybe it was forgotten, maybe some redemption for the King is at hand. If the ribs are this tasty, wonder how the links are!
I walked up to the counter and told the cook I ordered the sampler and how it was missing a link. He said that they were out of links and that's why he gave me two beef ribs. "Oh" I said. Seems I was mistaken--two beef ribs weren't part of your typical sampler plate and the cook had not forgotten to add the link like I thought.
That might explain why one of my beef ribs was meaty and robust in flavor, while the other one I can only guess came from Fiona Apple or had been drying on the floor for most of the day when the cook decided to add it to my plate as an afterthought. Thanks for the kind gesture, homie! (Humor, it gets us by when we feel shorted).
The sauce was by far the most delicious part of the meal; and you can't have authentic BBQ without a kick-ass BBQ sauce. A rich sauce, served at the perfect temperature, it wasn't burn-the-roof-of-your-mouth hot, nor was it boring-at-room-temperature cold. It was flavorful and ended up all over the place. I was smelling the stuff in my fingernails all night long, and burping up little gassy reminders in Yoga just two hours later. Some of the ingredients include vinegar, mustard, and lemon juice (some of my favorites) so if you don't like these, you might abhor the sauce. The potato salad was forgettable. The mac' n cheese was pretty tasty, akin to some good home-cooked soul food, but the portion was so small I'm not sure it can really fall in the category of "home-cooked" or "soul food." And the cornbread? I've had better at most truck stops in the SGV.
All in all, I'm definitely going back to visit the King whenever I feel the need for some BBQ and I'm in the Downtown area. Only next time I'll give the tri-tip sandwich a shot and fill up on the french fries like everyone else. Extra BBQ sauce, please!
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