public service announcement: take the cake's carolina bbq sandwich

i'm a twitter deadbeat and hardly ever go on there, but fyi @geekjames posts the take the cake lunch specials on his twitter page daily. he also posts them on facebook, which i am much better at, so i see them every day and get super hungry and sad i don't work in northside.

(aside: someone emailed me recently to ask if i was on twitter and i forgot to respond. yes readers, i am... you can find me at @getinmahbelly. but i hardly ever go on there and only occasionally post stuff from my cell phone and totally forget to check the internet page so i pretty much never respond to people, not to be rude but just because i forget. also i pretty much never tweet about food so if that's what you're hoping for you may be disappointed.)

anyway so james got me all riled up today with his facebook posts. observe:

Eastern NC pulled pork for @TaketheCakeCafe's menu tomorrow smells wonderful as we enter hour 8 of smoking. #pulledporkgoodness

Yesterday at 3:50pm

Eastern NC pulled pork BBQ still slow cooking, going on 14 hours, looking and smelling pretty perfect. An hour or two & I can start pullin'.

Yesterday at 9:33pm

It is done! Fifteen hours later, 30 pounds of smoked Eastern NC-style pulled pork BBQ is cooling before it gets pulled for @TaketheCakeCafe

Yesterday at 11:13pm

BBQ on the menu @TaketheCakeCafe: A family pulled pork recipe from Eastern NC, it's vinegar & peppers-based unlike the usual. Served w slaw.

4 hours ago

Take the Cake's amazing fresh menu for today: • Curry Summer Pea Soup, • Spinach Feta Pie, • Tomato/Red Pepper/Cheddar Quiche, • Sticky Chicken w Peach Salsa & Asparagus, • Eastern NC BBQ & Slaw, w Pickled Cucumbers & Cantaloupe, • Flatbread w Sausage/Onion/Green Pepper/Fresh Mozzarella/Rapini, • Summer Berry Salad w Goat Cheese/Spiced Nuts, and gelato with your dessert?

2 hours ago

as if that was not enough for me to suffer through, i also saw this post on pfoody about how he is so entranced by james's bbq. i already have very little ability to fend off temptation anyway and that set me over the edge. so when eric came around asking what we were doing for lunch, i announced that we were getting our asses in the car and driving to northside. eric was game.

well we get there at 12:30 and they are already out of bbq! but i did not panic, they said james was on his way with more. eric and i settled in at the counter and i began giving the serious hungry eye to everyone within sight. i was getting a bbq sandwich dammit if i had to wait all day.

finally james arrived and we celebrated. the pork was everything i hoped for. juicy, meaty, tender, flavorful. the slaw was awesome. my one tiny complaint is that the bun came from a bag, but i'm guessing that has to do with volume... they probably could not get enough fresh rolls to handle the mass piles of bbq.

before

as we chowed down, james came over to chat and also introduced me to pfoody himself, who was there for the sandwich. "hi, i'm liz," i said. pfoody gave me a confused look. "i'm get in mah belly," i told him. "oh i know who you are," he said." i love saying that. the best is when someone says, "who are you?" and i say, "get in mah belly!" anyway.

after

so the bbq was amazing as you can see. we loved it. we ordered treats to take back to the office (a red velvet cupcake, a coconut cupcake, and a macaroon) and headed back downtown. now my belly is full but i can't concentrate because all i am thinking about is pork.

so here is your psa: there are still 11 lbs. of pulled pork left for lunch tomorrow. get there when they open (11 am?) and you should be able to get some. this pork is not to be missed.

(photos courtesy of eric)

jim dandy's family bbq

despite the fact that i just blogged about it yesterday, emma's birthday was at the end of april and i hadn't seen her in a while as of last week. so we decided to meet up for dinner tonight. emma suggested jim dandy's family bbq, a place that her mom had been raving about. of course i am always up for a new restaurant adventure so i was happy to check it out.

the license plate is "BBQ RESQ"

jim dandy's is right off exit 15 on 75, so it's a bit of a hike for me and probably many of you. but let me tell you it is damn worth it. jim dandy (well let's just pretend that's his name since i don't really know for sure) believes in smoking meats, and not just any old smoking. straight up hardwood smoking. no gas, not even any charcoal. just smoke.

i didn't even tell her to pose like that. now that's a good friend!

the food was... well... smoky. but it was delicious. i had to try everything so i got the half slab of baby back ribs with a quarter chicken (dark meat) and then sweet talked jim dandy (i think it was him anyway) into giving me a free sample of the pulled pork. emma got the half slab of baby backs and aaron got the pulled chicken sandwich.

a moment of silence for aaron, fastidious kosher keeper and poor deprived pork abstinent soul. and jews don't even have heaven as payoff.

for sides, i got baked beans and bread pudding. emma got collard greens and macaroni and cheese. aaron got applesauce and saratoga chips. we all got cornbread.

the spread. yes, there are starving children in china and we ate like this.

the pulled pork was absolutely delicious. juicy, flavorful, smoky but not too smoky, and just fatty enough to give it that porktasticness to which all pulled pork aspires. yum. the ribs were good, but not as good as sam's in my opinion. emma however loved the ribs and was sucking bits of meat off of them even after she finished. they were very smoky, i think a little too smoky for me, but it depends on what you like. maybe i am just not used to eating smoked meats.

i didn't try the pulled chicken because aaron inhaled it too fast so i am assuming it was good. the chicken quarter was good, nice and juicy and smoky (of course) but it didn't blow me away. the pulled pork was by far my favorite.

we all pretty much had a consensus on the sides:

• excellent: collard greens, bread pudding, cornbread
  
• good: baked beans, macaroni and cheese, saratoga chips
• fair: applesauce (aaron said it tasted "kind of canned")
  
• poor: none

jim dandy (if that was him) told us that the red beans and rice are a very popular side. none of us was really feeling it but i would try it the next time i am there. jim dandy said to avoid the coleslaw. we appreciated his honesty.

henry was not pleased that he was eating slop while we pigged out on fine swine

there are 2 kinds of bbq sauce... mild and hot. we all had hot and forgot to try the mild. it was dark, sweet, and spicy. i could actually have done hotter but i think it is a good hot for most people.

you order your food at the counter and then sit down. it feels like you're inside a log cabin. jim dandy told us that he had been open for four years, which may explain why those of us living closer to downtown have never heard of it. there is a huge smoker out front, and some seating out near the smoker (but it smells super smoky out there so it's not for everyone).

extreme close up, just in case you are not already salivating

prices were fair i thought. for my ribs, chicken, two sides, and cornbread (and free pulled pork sample), i paid $18. i have enough food left over for another meal so that was fine for me. however, to be fair, i am a bbq glutton and could actually have eaten it all. i just decided to stop so i could have lunch tomorrow. aaron and emma's meals were cheaper, i think around $12.

head out to jim dandy's if you are a fan of smoked meats. you will not be disappointed.

the best ribs in cincinnati based on what i ate at taste

1. city barbeque (delicious and second only to sam the cooking guy's ribs)
2. montgomery inn (good texture and juicy but i think the sauce is too sweet and bland)
3. pit to plate (tough, dry, not enough sauce)

i have a bone to pick (get it? bone to pick? ribs? hahaha. sorry.) with pit to plate because the guy was like "the ribs can be hit or miss but they are really good today." ok a) your ribs should not be hit or miss and b) if this was a hit, i don't want to try a miss.

i also tried the "best damn dish" which was arloi dee's chicken lettuce wraps. readers, this is not the best damn dish in cincinnati. it's not even close. pf chang's serves much better lettuce wraps. and there are so many other better things to eat in this city. i will cut them a little slack since i am sure the food at taste is not as good as what is served in the restaurant but still the sauce was just peanutty and boring. no spice, no flavors other than peanut, blah.

and that is all i ate at taste. i am poor so i ate before i went so i would not spend a lot of money. feel free to leave comments about all the delicious food i missed out on.

the most amazing fucking ribs ever

readers, i have died and gone to rib heaven. what is the secret, you ask? well i will tell you. i have discovered my new food guru... sam the cooking guy. i was introduced to sam by avani, who heard about him from her friend christina who lives in san diego. sam is on local san diego tv helping people to navigate their kitchens to culinary bliss.

sam is awesome because he is just like whatever. the dude sets up a video camera in his kitchen, opens his fridge, and makes something out of whatever is in there. meanwhile kids and dogs run in and out of the kitchen, shit is freezer burned, he substitutes like mad, and all his recipes have a very minimal number of ingredients and require no skills.

"sure liz," you say, "we have heard of 30 minute meals and all that, but that stuff is not actually that good of food." and therein, dear readers, lies the difference. at easter avani brought over this sweet "finger bread" she called it made with a recipe from sam the cooking guy. what she did was bust open a few cans of poppin' fresh, throw on some raisins and pecans, douse it in cinnamon and sugar, bake it, and then dump 2 sticks of melted butter on top. nothing special? you are wrong. it was one of the best fucking desserts of my life. i am sorry, i cannot stop saying fuck. that is how good sam's recipes are.

sell your soul good finger bread (unfortunately the recipe is not online)

i was already pretty sold on sam based on the online clips avani had showed me, but this finger bread convinced me completely that he is a culinary genius. everything is quick and easy and cheap and damn good.

a week or so after easter, avani told me that she had made sam the cooking guy's ribs for liberal foodie and her husband. the husband, who considers himself a rib connoisseur, proclaimed them "some of the best ribs i have ever had." i am a rib freak so knew i had to try this recipe. before tonight, i had never made ribs before, mainly because i was intimidated. wait that's not true, once i got some precooked and presauced from trader joe's and put them in the oven for a half hour but that doesn't really count.

anyway, i love them and making them at home is so much cheaper than eating them out but i just was scared. i wanted them to be fall off the bone tender and crazy flavorful and i knew if i made less than stellar ribs at home, i would be so disappointed that i might never try to make them again. friends had given me recipes before but nothing had really wowed me enough to get over my fears and try it.

today was the day, and it was all thanks to sam the cooking guy. i got the urge to grill at work and i knew it was my time. i headed to the grocery store and picked up some baby backs and sauce on my way home and set to work. two hours later, i was eating one of the most delicious meals i have ever made.

you simply cannot argue with this

i am going to list sam's recipe below, but as usual i had to mess around with it (specifically, the sauce). with the ribs i also made:

• my red cabbage slaw (with the recipe slightly altered to include fresh pineapple chunks and a few tablespoons of seasoned rice wine vinegar and less lemon juice)
• the hungry mouse's fiery chili lime rice (with the recipe altered to include no chipotle pepper, jasmine instead of basmati rice, and extra cilantro, and also i made it in my rice cooker instead of on the stove)

this meal was amazing. i kept saying "oh my god yum" as i ate. i sat outside (i eat all my meals outside lately) and my upstairs neighbor stuck her head out and laughed at me for being so enraptured over my food. and the best part is that i made so much food that now i have lunch for the rest of the week. yay!

sam the cooking guy's sticky sweet ribs (recipe and how-to video here)

• 2 racks pork back ribs, about 4 pounds
• 1 1/2 cups barbeque sauce, plain
• 1/4 cup pancake syrup
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 4 tablespoons white vinegar
  

1. Mix sauce, syrup and brown sugar, set aside
2. Preheat oven to 400 degrees
3. Place ribs in their racks (I just mean do not cut them) in a large baking/casserole dish
4. Pour vinegar into dish with ribs and cover tightly with aluminum foil
5. Bake about 90 minutes or until very tender
6. Remove from oven and carefully lift off tin foil - watch out for steam
7. The ribs are now fully cooked and just need to be 'sauced' finished'
8. Heat bbq to medium and place ribs meat side down without sauce - but you can baste the back with the sauce
9. Cook until they start to develop grill marks, and turn over - now baste the top
10. You could stop here after they grill a bit on this side, or you could baste them a bit more and then give them a couple more minutes meat side down - that's what I do
11. Give 'em one extra baste them after they've been removed, but just before you serve them

as i said, and as you guys know by now, i literally cannot make a new recipe without playing around with it. i didn't believe sam that the ribs could be that good with a sauce of only bbq sauce, pancake syrup, and brown sugar, so i added a few things and it turned out delicious. however, after having eaten the ribs, i now have total confidence in sam and i can say honestly that i think his sauce would probably have been excellent on its own.

liz's rib lickin' good bbq sauce

whisk all of the following together:

• 1.5 c. sweet bbq sauce (my favorites are bone suckin' sauce and shum daddy's bbq sauce)
• 1/4 c. light brown sugar
• 1/4 c. pure maple syrup
• 2 T. soy sauce (i prefer tamari)
  
• 1 T. hot sauce (my favorite is melinda's xxxtra hot sauce)
• 1 T. grated fresh ginger or s&b prepared ginger paste in a tube which you can find at asian grocery stores (i am totally addicted to this)
  
• a few shakes each of garlic powder, chili flakes, and lawry's seasoning salt

dinner of champions

this meal was absolutely wonderful. i felt sorry not only for the hungry children in china but for all people everywhere who were not sitting in my backyard dining with me tonight (which would be everyone). anyone who has not eaten the meal i had for dinner has not lived. i was in food heaven, and i owe it all to sam the cooking guy. sam, you are awesome!

linnae's super easy, super awesome ribs

linnae and tom invited me over this weekend and served some of the most delicious ribs i have had in a long time. i keep thinking about those damn ribs. they were so tasty and fall off the bone tender. they are haunting me in both my waking and sleeping hours. i think i may have dreamed about them last night... mmmmmmmmmm...

i harassed linnae and told her she had to send me the recipe so i could post it on here. i did not want to deprive you, my treasured readers, of this culinary awesomeness. so here you go:

The ribs are super easy. Just put a can (or so, depending on the size of your dish) of beer and whatever cut of ribs you prefer into a covered baking dish after you've seasoned them with whatever spices you like (I use garlic powder, onion powder, and Seasoning Salt) and then generously coated them with barbecue sauce. Then bake them for 3 to 3.5 hours at 275-300. That's it!

i actually have never made ribs before because i love ribs so much and i have always been totally intimidated by the thought of turning them into dry, chewy, tasteless blah. also, there are so many good restaurant ribs out there in cincinnati. why risk ruining a good thing on my own? but i can't wait to try making these at home. i think baking plus beer is the key here. another cooking puzzle solved!

update: linnae recommends baby back ribs.

mr. pig

you guys all know by now that bbq is one of my major loves in life. i cannot get by without ribs, pulled pork, brisket, etc. today i happened to be down at findlay market and finally made it to mr. pig, which has been on my list pretty much since i moved to cincinnati. for some reason though every time i go to findlay market, i like just had brunch or something so i am not up for a giant plate of smoked meat. but today was my day.

mr. pig is one of those places that you just know is going to be good. all they have is a few giant smokers that look like they are made out of oil drums or something and a counter. it's all fenced in behind what looks like jail bars. you walk up to the counter and pick what you want off the handwritten piece of cardboard.

i really respect mr. pig because when i walked up to the counter and ordered my half slab, the guy asked me, "what kind of bbq sauce do you want?" "what are my choices?" i asked. "mild, medium, and hot," he said. "what do you recommend?" i asked. "hot, definitely hot," he said.

ok. this is awesome. i love spicy food and here is a man who is not afraid to recommend it. i can't tell you how many times i have been to restaurants, mostly thai actually, and ask for something spicy and they take one look at me and think to themselves "her punk ass can't handle spicy" and try to talk me out of it. the mr. pig guy did not even blink. in fact, after i ordered hot, he said, "you know, we also have extra hot..." i didn't want to push my luck or risk intestinal distress so i stuck with hot.

i then wandered over to an empty table, spread out my pile of ribs, white bread, and napkins, and dug in. it was delicious. the ribs were smoky and tender. they were just slightly too salty in my opinion, but the vinegary sauce totally tempered that. the sauce was almost like a hot sauce rather than a bbq sauce, but it had a really good flavor. it wasn't that spicy at first but it built up on your tongue. but at no point was it too spicy.

this is totally embarrasing but i could only make it through 3 of my 6 ribs. that is how huge they were. i was starving when i started and literally could not eat anymore. i was so full that i could not even make my planned stop at the waffle guy. it was a ridiculous amount of food. i was going to save the leftovers, but i ended up hanging out and reading for a while in the sun and just enjoying the atmosphere and after a couple hours i decided i probably shouldn't try to save the ribs until tomorrow or my stomach was definitely going to revolt.

big thumbs up for mr. pig. walt's bbq is still my personal favorite for ribs in cincinnati, but it's definitely a serious contender. there was a line and the service was super slow but that is what you expect when you are going to a place where literally all they care about is giving you good food. and you get to sit outside and settle in for some awesome people watching at findlay market.

montgomery inn

for those non-cincinnati readers out there, i should tell you that montgomery inn is a cincinnati food legend. cincinnatians are obsessed with three foods: montgomery inn ribs, graeter's ice cream (overrated), and skyline chili (yummy). they also like goetta which is a haggis-like meatparts-n-oats food item which i actually find quite delicious.

people in cincinnati will tell you that montgomery inn has the best ribs you will ever try. i was skeptical about this because i am a fan of smoked or barbecued ribs, which are delicious and tender and flavorful on their own, and i also prefer vinegar-based bbq sauces, and montgomery inn's is tomato-based. so i was not really that excited about montgomery inn and i did not feel like spending my money on going there.

well my office was having a retirement lunch for one of my coworkers on fri and that is where she wanted to have her meal. so i finally tried the legendary ribs. i'm sorry cincinnati, but i just don't see what all the fuss is about. their website says "world's greatest ribs." my ass. sadly, i would probably even prefer chili's ribs or somewhere like that over montgomery inn.

the ribs on their own were dry, bland, and overcooked. the ribs were smothered in sauce, and it was very sweet and tomatoey, not spicy or complex at all. i was not really disappointed, since they were exactly what i expected, but i have just had many better ribs. the sides were also boring. i had a baked sweet potato (yummy with cinnamon butter on top but nothing out of the ordinary and honestly, can you really mess up a sweet potato?), saratoga chips (which are thick cut potato chips that cincinnatians dip in bbq sauce and i just don't really like them), salad (iceberg literally drowning in dressing), and rolls (some were good and fresh and herbed, others were completely stale and gross).

service was a little hit or miss since we were a group of 82. they did their best though i think.

i don't think i would go back. i am a pretty big rib fanatic, and i think there are much better places to eat ribs in this city (such as pit to plate and walt's). however, this meal was free and got me out of the office for 2 hours so i was happy.

hot west side restaurant tips

these tips are extremely hot! so hot, in fact, that i have not even had a chance to try them yet.

1. darou salam restaurant on colerain ave just before you get on 74 bills itself as african food of unspecified origin. i saw it while on my way to mt. airy forest (which you have to check out if you haven't b/c it is awesome for hiking) over the weekend. it is just a tiny little place and was closed at the time. i have high hopes, although who knows exactly what they serve. i tried to look it up online and couldn't find anything... this place is probably totally under the radar of the typical non-african cincinnati resident. don't get fooled by listings for darou salam store, which is in northside. that may also be awesome but does not serve food (that i know of).

2. best west international cuisine, which serves jamaican food. i had read a review in cin weekly a long time ago (it is no longer online) and i have been dying to go. i can never convince people to actually go since they don't serve alcohol. finally celia said she and adam would go with me but i might have to cancel on them. dammit, i need me some patties and coco bread!

3. walt's bbq. actually i have been to this one. best ribs EVER. you do not need bbq sauce they are soooo good. i am not kidding you. walt's looks montgomery inn in the eye, laughs, and then steals its lunch money. actually i have no idea since i have never been to montgomery inn. however i kind of refuse to go there on principle since everyone says their sauce is what makes the ribs, and to me that means you serve shitty ribs.

come on friends, let's get over our fears of the west side and go eat some delicious food!

dinosaur bbq

dinosaur bbq (646 w. 131st st, btw broadway and 12th ave, in manhattan) tonight... mmm... but my belly still hurts. k has been hunting for good bbq for her bday and dinosaur came recommended by alex and by citysearch geeks. we finally made it there after pulling our heads out of our asses after realizing that the 1 and the 2/3 do, in fact, split off, and hiking for a half hour through the rain from the 2/3 stop at 125th.

anyway, we got there finally and were happy:


although we had to wait a bit for our reservation, we didn't mind b/c the beer selection was excellent (we recommend the sweet action ale). the atmosphere of the restaurant was big (for manhattan), crowded, and very log-cabinish.

the appetizer came like 5 minutes after we ordered it, yummy fried green tomatoes. they were very crispy and delicious, not soggy or greasy at all, and came w/ a yummy spicy ranch dipping sauce. but honestly who can argue w/ anything that is fried and comes w/ ranch dipping sauce? these could have been fried green cow patties for all we cared:


the food also came very quickly after we ordered it, which was after our appetizer arrived. everything was hot but they must just have it all ready to go. unfortunately they were out of pulled pork... boo. next time bring your own pig for the slaughter i guess. k and i got ribs with baked beans and collard greens:


denise and becca got the rib and chicken combo. they had good things to say about the chicken. pictured here is denise's meal w/ macaroni and cheese and cole slaw:


the food was good but not amazing. but it was the best bbq i've had in NY. the beans were pretty good but for some reason i actually like busch's beans from a can better, i wasn't crazy about the fennel taste that they had to them at dinosaur. the collard greens were disappointing b/c they were vegetarian (note to self: read menu) so no bacony deliciousness. the ribs were meaty and delicious, but could have been juicier and more tender. that's a personal preference thing though, a lot of people like chewier ribs i think than i do (i like them falling off the bone).

bbq sauce was excellent, a good balance of tangy and salty and sweet, but wouldn't be a favorite of the vinegar-based fan club.

i made it this far until my stomach was about to explode:


at that point it was time for me to reflect on the life and times of the dinosaur by embodying that most dinosaurish of mammals (?), the wooly mammoth:


was i alone as a child in getting hungry every time the flintstones came on and fred got that huge rack of dinosaur ribs at the drive-in? if not, fear not intrepid NYer, dinosaur bbq is here to feed your craving.