Other than the unrelenting heat in Brisbane summers, another common natural occurrence around this time is the rainy storm season. Brisbane locals would have noted that the rain and storms seem to have really come through lately, and what better is there to have on a cool rainy day than some hearty American fare. Which is exactly what Meatballs and Beef Cheeks, Joe K, RonnieLui and I did last Tuesday after receiving a gracious invitation from Original Dave's Low and Slow BBQ.
Situated along Hardgrave road in West End, it proved a considerable hike from my jail work along Eagle Street, but this was still not enough to balance out the gluttonous self indulgence I was about to find myself partaking in.
Arriving a little earlier than the others, I asked for a table inside, away from the humidity and rain. The shopfront was quite cozy, with half the tables outside, half inside, and a large bar dominating the inside area.
With the dominance of the bar, it was no surprise that there were three drinks menus and one food menu. Speaking to the owner, Dave, we learn that he originated from not America but Canada, specifically Calgary, but the smoker they have was imported straight from Texas.
We got a good look at their large selection of spirits at the bar, notably a considerable amount are of American origin.
I had two drinks that night, first of which was Jim's jungle juice, which contained safari exotic fruit liqueur, peach liqueur, blue curacao and pineapple juice. I found it to be fruity, sweet and very refreshing with strong citrus notes and subtle peachy tones. My second drink was the Patreon XO Cafe Tequila, a favourite of Iron Fist. Compared to other coffee liqueurs I've had in the past, this was definitely more dry and less sweet, and went down very smoothly with ice.
Like with a few of the invited places lately, we let the chef decide what we were going to eat, omakase style ;). First to arrive was the appetisers, Frickles and Wild wings.
The Frickles (deep fried pickles) were well received all around the table. Using Meatball's favourite Vlasic Pickles, a popular American brand, it made for an authentic snack. The batter was light and crispy, almost tempura like. The pickles were crunchy and struck a good balance of salty and sour.
Next we had a plate of Wild Wings, which can come in a selection of flavours. we opted for half and half Buffalo and Salt & Pepper. Both were exceptionally smoky in flavour which permeated deep into the meat of each piece. Between the buffalo and salt and pepper, I found the buffalo more enjoyable as it had the extra zing of spice, that was strong enough but not so much as to overpower the chicken taste.
After a brief interlude, our mains were soon served much to our excitement.
The first platter we shared was the Giant BBQ Beef Short Ribs, which were both Joe and my faovurite of the night. This came with a side of coleslaw, chilli and some cornbread. The beef was very tender and fell off the bone even as we were cutting it up to share. Like the wings, they were deeply infused with a smokey fragrance throughout the meat. The coleslaw was fresh and crunchy with a delicious creamy sauce, whereas the chilli had a good amount of spice and tender beans. I also quite liked the corn bread which was soft and almost cake like with a slight sweetness.
We also had a Three's a Crowd platter to share, containing half rack pork ribs, beef brisket, pulled pork, chicken maryland and Italian sausage as well as some sides of corn bread, it was definitely very impressive. The pork ribs that we had here were definitely on the meatier side of the spectrum compared to some ribs we had previously shared. I quite enjoyed the Italian sausage, which was firmer and had a meatier texture than other local sausages, and I really appreciated how the pulled pork was topped with sauce to give it more flavour throughout. Whilst the brisket also had sauce on it, I found it as well as the pork ribs to have drier meat when compared to the beef ribs.
In addition to the meatier platters, we also had two serves of fries and two serves of mac and cheese. I liked how the fries were fried with skin on, giving it extra texture and extra crunch, but I definitely enjoyed the mac and cheese even more for its comforting and creamy texture.
Rounding off our meal, we shared two slices of pie. The first one I tried was the Pecan Pie. The pie had a reasonably crunchy base, but the highlight was definitely the crunchy pecans mixed within the sweetness of caramelised brown sugar. A favourite for our favourite American Meatballs.
My preferred slice of pie was the classical apple pie. It had a deliciously crumbly biscuit top, with a sharp but sweet apple filling that was lightly seasoned with cinnamon to give a warm sensation. This was of course contrasted (in texture and in temperature( by the scoop of vanilla ice cream on the side making it quite a wonderful dessert.
Taste: 8/10
Value: N/A
Service: 9/10
Environment: 8/10
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