Last Saturday, while my folks where in town, we decided it would be a good time to head to Phoenix and try out one of the BBQ joints we do not have up here...besides I had a few Thermapens to deliver!!!
First off the reason we chose Famous Daves. For those that where not at the holiday party I won a gift certificate for a feast for two from Famous Daves in the raffle. We figured with would be the perfect time to try them out and use the certificate!!! It would be much easier to try out a new place if the meal was going to be free!!!
Having eaten my share of BBQ and never having been very impressed with "restaurant Q" I really did not set my expectations very high but as soon as we pulled into the parking lot, you could smell the sweet smell of real smoke. I started to get excited!!
Now I have no idea what kind of smokers they use but you sure could smell them...in a good way.
When we walked in you could tell they were busy but not that busy...I guess it helps if you go during a home game, wild card weekend.
The hostess sat us quickly and took our drink orders, she told us our waiter would be right over and he was. He asked us if this was out first time and we said yes so he squirted out some of each of the kinds of sauce on a plate and gave us a quick run down of each. This was a very nice touch and a foreshadowing of what was to come.
Using the certificate we got the feast for two and decided to also get the feast for 4. We had 4 adults and 3 children with us...we hoped this would be enough food...
When the food arrived on the trash can lids, yes upside down trashcan lids, it all looked AWESOME!!! We could not wait to dig in. The first thing I grabbed was a chicken leg. I have not practiced chicken very much so it is a mostly mysterious meat for me. I wanted to try it first because it looked really good...better then some comp chicken I have sampled
and it did not disappoint. I was impressed. Second up was the ribs...wow these were also really good, good flavor and not falling off the bone
but coming off clean with a slight bite and pull, I was amazed!!! Nice smoke flavor without being overpowering. The brisket was next it was sliced very thin but it was flavorful and tender. The only meat I did not care for was the chopped pork. It was chopped very small and was a tad dry, the flavor was ok, much better than most other BBQ restaurants, but not my favorite. The corn bread was moist and tasted like corn not cardboard, my dad who loves good corn bread said it was very good. The beans were good and the coleslaw had a slight hint of horseradish which was a welcome surprise. Most restaurant coleslaw is little more then watered down mayonnaise.
It was all very good and probably the best BBQ I have eaten in a restaurant! We will with out a doubt go back. Oh and out waiter was awesome, helpful but not pushy, attentive but not always in your face. Probably the best waiter I have had in awhile. Speaking of waiter's I noticed they seemed to have a lot of people on staff, I guess they were expecting a busy night after the football game.
There are a few other places I want to try in Phoenix, Big City, Kinsfolks and a few others but they are all going to have to be very, very good to beat out Famous Daves for the top spot! Bring on the BBQ crawl!!!
