Montrealers are used to sloppy saucy BBQ, think of Scores, Baton Rouge, Bar-B-Barns and the undisputed king of Montreal BBQ, Le Boucan. Everything is steeped in sauce and something gets lost.\n\nBut there are many states in the US that are known for smoked BBQ and they all have their approaches. Sauce, dry, tangy, vinegary, sweet, cidery. \n\nBlackstrap BBQ goes dry... don't stop reading please.\n\nThe beauty of dry is that the flavour never gets buried under sauce. You get to experience the flavour in their rub, taste the porc or beef. DRY IS GOOD.\n\nPlus they gots sauce, a spicy one and a sweet one, where you can control your saucing.\n\nThey have the classics. Ribs, Pulled Pork, Brisket, Collard Greens, Slaw, Beans and some other more modern BBQ goodies. I can't properly identify what's in their rub yet but it is tasty beyond measure. The bark is creates on the meat, whether it's the ribs, the pulled pork or the brisket is like pure candy. The ribs are meaty, tasty and NOT fall off the bone. Yes, yes I know, but having more chew to it is better. The taste is pure pork goodness. Combined with the rub bark... makes you want to believe in gods. Same for the beef brisket, which has a thick layer of fat that after the smoking progress simply melts in your mouth along with the crumbling meat, without overwhelming you with fatty taste and it is seriously one of the best brisket I've had.\n\nThe pulled pork disappointed me a little - perhaps it's the batch - and seemed to be lacking the fat that makes pulled pork so freakishly delicious. The whole point of using the Boston butt is because of the flavour and the fat. The pulled pork I had was on the dry side, not sauce-less-dry, but dry of fat. Hopefully it was just the batch.\n\nThe beans, also a disappointment, but I'll blame my finickiness about beans on that. The smoke was overwhelming and the beans rather firm, the dreaded bean-bullets. I prefer slow cooked to perfection beans and by slow cooked I mean about 8 hours of cooking. Their fries are really good, surprisingly since American style French-fries are usually dry, crispy bits of tasteless potato disaster. But they have found a tasty middle ground here. The cole slaw is unpalatable, much to much vinegar or cider in the dressing and despite my adoration of cole slaw I can easily overlook that because of the following...\n\nDEEP\n\nFRIED\n\nMAC\n\nN'\n\nCHEESE\n\nSeriously, I could rave about their smoked meats, but the deep fried Mac n' Cheese is insanely delicious. I expected some Mac n' Cheese because, it's the southern side of choice. But to have little balls of Mac n' Cheese battered and fried, is pure heaven. Pinch of salt, melted cheese in the middle... crazy stuff, crazy stuff.\n\nThe decor, the good service, the proximity to my home, all make for BBQ goodness and joy. Only 2 tables, the rest if the seating are stools to a bar. The open kitchen allows you to grok at the food being prepared and talk with the cooks/owners. They have take-out also. I suspect that once the work out the kinks, things will only get better. I sincerely hope the restaurant is popular with Verdunites because I want it to stay open for a long time which at the same time is a bad thing... I'm gonna eat there to often.
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