PJ'S FULL MOON BBQ VALLEY AVE - 11/11/2010
Joy and I wound up at PJ's Full Moon BBQ as a consolation dinner after we drove to Sabor Latino only to find that they didn't open for dinner until 5pm so we were looking for another place to chow down at. The place was almost empty of customers with only one other couple being there when we went in, but it was only 4:30 in the afternoon too. We've been there once before and we remembered the food to be good so we were happy to try it again. I love the Football decor with your choice of sitting on either the AL, AU or Sanford sides. We sat at the Number 12 Joe Willie Namath table after ordering. I got the Baby Back Rib Plate with BBQ Baked beans and collard greens and a sweet tea. Joy got the BBQ plate with the BBQ Baked Beans and the Chow-Chow (their own homemade relish). For there not to be anyone there much it took a long time for us to get our food considering what we ordered. I mean the ribs are not "cooked to order" and neither is the BBQ that Joy got and everything else should have been just scoop it out of a pot so I don't know what the problem was there.
When the food arrived it did indeed look scrumptious, but, like they say, never judge a book by it's cover. My BBQ Baked Beans were absolutely delicious, and my collards had a great taste, but I've never been served collards with pieces of stems larger than my thumb before, and there were a lot of them too. And then on the second bite of my collards, I crunched down on a damn bone. Bones would be the word for the meals for me tonight. When I made it to my Baby Back Ribs, the first bite resulted in me having to spit most of it out because it was full of little shards of bone. It was if they had used a meat cleaver to chop through the ribs even though they had been cleanly sawn. Once I got past the bone fragments at the end of the bone, although it had a good (not great...) flavor and was fairly tender the way a well cooked rib should be, the meat was very dry. They had slathered a ton of BBQ sauce over the ribs I think either in hopes it would add a little moisture or dimply to cover up the died out rack of ribs. Either way, it didn't work well.
Now Joy's BBQ Plate was very good, to me. She said her meat was also a little on the dry side but compared to my ribs, hers was very moist. The house BBQ sauce that our meats were drenched in was very good, a little tangy but not overly spicy and had no "burn" whatsoever. Now some of you actually like pouring liquid lava down your throats, I however, do not. Matter of fact, if it burns, it's not for me. Now I may be overly sensitive, and I know that and try to adjust my opinion accordingly, but DAMN,, when I dip a chip in the house salsa and I instantly have snot running out of my nose, tears streaming down my cheeks and the overwhelming urge to go suck on a fire hydrant, well whatever may have followed is totally wasted on me cause I won't be able to taste a thing for a week. Not to mention the horrors that await in my little "private room" a few hours (hopefully) later. But some of you like that, I don't. To me, "heat" is a sensation, not a taste. I have other things much higher on my list when I need a "sensation" that we just won't get into here.
PJ's Full Moon BBQ has something unique on their menu that was served with Joy's BBQ plate. It's Chow-Chow. Now I've dispensed Dog Chow, Horse Chow and even Pig Chow, straight out the bag, but Chow-Chow, a little odd to me. I didn't actually try it, but it looked like their own relish concoction and Joy said it was quite good. Some things I think just need to be left for the imagination. The sweet tea was good, but a little overly sweet for my taste but sweet tea changes from day to day and person to person so the next time we go I may be in love with it, who knows?
All in all,, here's the score:
Baby Back Ribs $$$ only 3 out of 10 Ka-chings
BBQ Baked Beans $$$$$$ 6 out of 10 Ka-chiings
Collards $$$ 3 out of 10 Ka-chings
BBQ Sauce $$$$$ 5 out of 10 Ka-chings
Sweet Tea $$$ 3 out of 10 Ka-chingys
***************************************************
KELLY'S SPORTS BAR AND GRILL - LAKEVIEW 1-13-11:
After having quite a few folks recommend Kelly's for lunch, Joy and I decided today was the day. Not really knowing what to expect, we hit the place about 1:30pm and got parking within spitting distance of the front door. All the outside table were still "snowed over" from Snowpocalypse 2011 and the temperature was right at freezing anyway, so outside seating was not even a remote thought in our minds. We quickly got inside and were allowed to seat ourselves so we went as far away from the front door as we could. We we greeted by a very pleasant server, and handed our menu's. Well... it looks like all Kelly's does is a "meat & 3" type of deal and Joy didn't see anything on today's lineup that interested her. We both got yummy Sweet Tea (not Milo's mind you, but still pretty yummy), and when our server returned I asked her if they had something other than the M+3, like sandwiches or hamburgers? She very politely and very slowly (so I wouldn't look any more stupid than I was at the moment) turned the menu over to reveal "the other side" of the menu. Yes, yes they do have food beside M+3 fare.
Joy ordered the fried oysters and some sides, and I stuck with the M+3 and got the ham, pinto beans and collard greens. We fired up the iPad and was looking at the other eatery's that adorn the Lakeview District. Rags, Nana Funks, The Barking Kudoo, Innesfree, Moe's BBQ and a few more are all very popular Southside night time haunts. Bad news on the oysters, they were out, so Joy kicked it DOWN a notch to the Chicken Fingers, grilled yellow squash. Service was quick, food was hot, yummy and tender. I even found a waitress I knew while I was there. Joy winced a little at the prices but I thought they were pretty much in line with any other place in the area.
The decor was a bit dated and worn, but then I would imagine nobody really cares about that but me anyway. And if it's 2am and your drunk off your ass, would you even notice? I doubt it. Quaint, comfortable, it even came complete with a table of cackling War Eagle Wimmin at the table behind us. As we finished our food and headed back to the Jeep, we couldn't help but stare at the now empty hole in the sky where the infamous Jaycee's Haunted House once stood. Sold out from under the local Jaycee's Chapter by the Parent Charter, it was soon demolished, Along with the memories of ghosts and goblins, it too made the final plunge to a gravesite at the local landfill. And right next door, another old time BHM Eatery had also fallen victim to the economic times with the recent closing of the Golden Rule BBQ. Formerly Jim-N-Nick's Lakeview, Golden Rule took over the space and used it as a test bed for the Golden Rule Cafe concept. Considering, the recent sell off of the Golden Rule assets, I'd say the experiment was a failure.
Back to Kelly's... Without an exhaustive breakdown, let me sum it up by saying the entire lunch experience at Kelly's was just about middle of the road. Wasn't that bad, but it wasn't that good either. BUT WAIT... They have Kelly's Memphis Style RIB NIGHT every Tuesday at 6pm! So, as Arnold has said more than once... "I'll be back!" Maybe this time it'll be to dark for me to see.
******************************************************
Next...
No comments:
Post a Comment