Last Night
Last Night: Boar's Nest Barbecue, the Muppet Movie
Last night, I checked out a tiny, new-ish barbecue spot in Ballard called the Boar's Nest (because everything old is new again).
My verdict: Not perfect, but (for Seattle, whose barbecue I grade on a fairly generous curve) not bad. The brisket was beautifully smoked, with an impressive quarter-inch smoke ring just below the slightly charred exterior. The smoke ring, for those unacquainted with barbecued brisket, is a narrow pink band between the outside of the brisket and the well-done interior; Texas barbecue aficionados get obsessive about their smoke rings, with many claiming a large smoke ring is the key indicator of meat properly cooked low and slow.
The brisket came unadorned, and of the three sauce options on the table, I vastly preferred the South Carolina version---a tangy, fiery, mustard-based sauce (here's a pretty faithful recipe). Second place went to the North Carolina sauce, a thin, orangey, vinegar-based sauce, which added tartness to the brisket without drowning out its smoky flavor. My least favorite? The "Texas" option, a spicy tomato-based sauce that lost major points because of a strong, bizarre aftertaste I can only compare to burned dirt.
Every meat dish at the Boar's Nest comes either as a sandwich or plain with sides. Ours included a slightly dry, unspectacular cornbread (which earned bonus points for not relying on excess sweetener, Cracker Barrel-style); an equally unspectacular, but totally inoffensive, sweet mayo-based coleslaw (note to "down-home" chefs everywhere: Please cut the cabbage for your coleslaw into digestible chunks; your diners are not rabbits); a too-small container of baked beans that tasted like home, in a good way (I'm originally from Mississippi); a generous serving of thick hand-cut French fries that would put most nearby pubs to shame; and, finally, a pile of pank0-breaded fried pickle slices that were easily the best (piquant, just-cooked, and perfectly crunchy from the fryer) I've ever had.
For the best barbecue and sides I've found in Seattle, I'll stick to Uncle Mike's in White Center. But the next time I'm in downtown Ballard, I'll definitely consider a stop at the Boar's Nest, where I'm dying to try the beef ribs ($15 for a half-rack with sauce and two sides)---with South Carolina sauce, please.
Oh, and the Muppet Movie? It was fine---one bonus point for the great joke Cee-Lo joke, and a million demerits for the fact that of dozens and dozens of Muppets, there were exactly two ladies (and one with a speaking role).
My verdict: Not perfect, but (for Seattle, whose barbecue I grade on a fairly generous curve) not bad. The brisket was beautifully smoked, with an impressive quarter-inch smoke ring just below the slightly charred exterior. The smoke ring, for those unacquainted with barbecued brisket, is a narrow pink band between the outside of the brisket and the well-done interior; Texas barbecue aficionados get obsessive about their smoke rings, with many claiming a large smoke ring is the key indicator of meat properly cooked low and slow.
The brisket came unadorned, and of the three sauce options on the table, I vastly preferred the South Carolina version---a tangy, fiery, mustard-based sauce (here's a pretty faithful recipe). Second place went to the North Carolina sauce, a thin, orangey, vinegar-based sauce, which added tartness to the brisket without drowning out its smoky flavor. My least favorite? The "Texas" option, a spicy tomato-based sauce that lost major points because of a strong, bizarre aftertaste I can only compare to burned dirt.
Every meat dish at the Boar's Nest comes either as a sandwich or plain with sides. Ours included a slightly dry, unspectacular cornbread (which earned bonus points for not relying on excess sweetener, Cracker Barrel-style); an equally unspectacular, but totally inoffensive, sweet mayo-based coleslaw (note to "down-home" chefs everywhere: Please cut the cabbage for your coleslaw into digestible chunks; your diners are not rabbits); a too-small container of baked beans that tasted like home, in a good way (I'm originally from Mississippi); a generous serving of thick hand-cut French fries that would put most nearby pubs to shame; and, finally, a pile of pank0-breaded fried pickle slices that were easily the best (piquant, just-cooked, and perfectly crunchy from the fryer) I've ever had.
For the best barbecue and sides I've found in Seattle, I'll stick to Uncle Mike's in White Center. But the next time I'm in downtown Ballard, I'll definitely consider a stop at the Boar's Nest, where I'm dying to try the beef ribs ($15 for a half-rack with sauce and two sides)---with South Carolina sauce, please.
Oh, and the Muppet Movie? It was fine---one bonus point for the great joke Cee-Lo joke, and a million demerits for the fact that of dozens and dozens of Muppets, there were exactly two ladies (and one with a speaking role).
