Taste of Lincoln

I gave Pat’s BBQ (14th and Superior) a try tonight after seeing the review in the Lincoln Journal Star last week.  It also doesn’t hurt that I live on that side of town, so it was an impuse stop on my way home from work tonight.  I heard an ad for their Buffalo Wings on ESPN 1480 so I stopped in just to get that as an appitizer.  When I got home, my family was in need of a night out, so we returned to the same place to get a full dinner.

Instead of getting separate meals, we opted for the sharing route.  I got the two meat platter (with Pulled Pork and Chicken).  My wife got the special, which was a Philly Cheese steak and a side.  The kids split the corn dog meal.

The Good:

• Everything chicken.  Although they were not able to beat out Brewsky’s, they are a great tasting wing.  They could have had a bit more spice, but there was nothing wrong with the mild.
• Also, the chicken in my two meat combo was cooked perfectly.  As part of a KCBS judging procedure, I tasted the skin to get a true taste of the seasoning.
• The service was slow and a little confused by the menu, but they were very sincere in making sure we had a good experience.

Constructive Criticism:

• The pulled pork was not up to par.  It was extremely salty and mushy.  When we judge competition BBQ, mushy pork is an indication of overcooking.
• I try not to rate side dishes, but my fries were stone cold and my wife’s were burning hot.  I’m sure that will be fixed.

Overall, I really really wanted this to be excellent.  It was good, but it may be one of those times where over time it will find it’s groove.  I’m just glad we have a local option on the north side.  I will be back, and to me that is a great indication of a winner.

On the recommendation of a few friends we tried the new Southwest Pit BBQ on Friday night. This is in the infamous location over the new O Street bridge on Sun Valley Blvd. They kept a lot of the menu from “The Restaurant”, but added a few BBQ items on the back menu. I was surprised to only see a few BBQ options; Full Slab, Half Slab or Sandwich of either Pork or Brisket. I tried to make things difficult and I wanted the sandwich with half pork and half beef. I assume it was one of the owners that was around and our waitress got approval for this. Here is my assessment.

The Good:

• The meat was of great quality. I would definately get the pork again. It was cooked well and I had little to no fat in any of my pieces. The brisket was good as well, but I have to give it up for the pork this time.
• The side items were fantastic! I try to just stick with reviewing the meats, but in this case, I had a hard time choosing. I had one of my daughters broasted fries and they were great.
• The happy hour beer prices. $1 draws of Miller Light, enough said.

Constructive Criticism:

• The Sauce. True Kansas City BBQ Society Rules state that the entry cannot have sauce that “pools” in the container. The reason is, they want you to judge the meat, not the sauce. In this case though, it would be difficult to have the sauce not pool. It was a little watery for my tastes and it didn’t add much flavor to the well cooked meat. I didn’t ask, but there really only seemed to be that one choice.
• Expand the BBQ Menu. Ribs are great, but that’s a lot of food (a.ka. money) for me to spend on a dinner. I’d love to see what they could do with chicken.

Overall I wish them well in this location. They had reasonable prices and I’ll be back for happy hour if that continues. They also seemed to have a lot of lunch specials that I want to try.

Similar to a lot of fans, I got the e-mail from the Roost (14th and O Street) to give their noodle bowls a try.  Last Friday a fellow Roost fan and I headed over to give it a try.

Being a huge Buffalo Wing connoisseur, I was attracted to the Crazy Mac.  Basically it was Mac-and-Cheese with a touch of Buffalo Wing sauce.

The Good: Everything about the bowl.  I added chicken and it was one of the better lunches I’ve had in a long time downtown.  What I liked best was the perfect amount of Buffalo Wing sauce.  The proportions must have taken some time to master, because you could easily kill this with too much wing sauce.  It really felt like it was more of a homemade Mac-and-Cheese.

The Bad: Without the coupon, it would have been a really expensive lunch.  I used to pride myself on my sub $5 downtown lunch list.  Along with everything else, I’ve had to bump that up to my sub $6 lunch list.  The bowl starts at $4.95.  But in my opinion, you have to have chicken if you are at The Roost.  So that adds a dollar something more.  I try to not get a drink, but if you did, this would be almost a $10 meal.

Truth is, I’ll be back for the Crazy Mac.  I’d like to see a combo or something that makes it feel like a “deal”.

Yes…. I know that grocery stores carry food to make dinners but the new Hy-Vee on 50^th and O Street is one of the best places to get a take out dinners.  You can choose from Chinese, Italian, salad bar and the best one (in my opinion) is the sandwich bar.  You are able to choose from 4 different kids of sandwiches (Subs and Ciabatta’s) to name a couple.  You then get to create your sandwich with up to 3 different meats, 2 different cheeses, and then all of the fixings.  I had a Ciabtta with Salami, provolone and dill pickles.  The bread was so fresh and soft, it really made the sandwich.  The sandwich was under $4.00 and can be paired with chips, cookie, soup and a drink to make a combo meal. 

With all of the sandwich shops in town, it is nice to have another option to add to the mix.