Jim's 'Que Part Deux

As Sarah said in her post, the four of us went out to Jim's Famous BBQ in Chapel Hill. Lars and I beat Sarah and David there by twenty minutes and we occupied our time with some tasty beers (Sam Adams, personal favorites) and crosswords puzzles at the bar.

When we were seated and given our menu, I was struck by the choices. Now, the famous Bullocks has a menu that reads like a Russian novel, but they only have two kinds of 'que, chopped and sliced, and two sauces, one for the ribs and one for the 'que. Jim's offers chopped and pulled 'que and many different sauces, both on its 'que and its ribs. As Sarah suggested, this leads to a lack of focus on the meat for which the dinner suffered.

I had the pulled 'que, which came with Jim's Original Sauce, and ribs, split into the original sauce and dry rub.

As you can see, the sauce was just plopped on top of the 'que--it is not what the 'que was cooked in. This is a problem. First off, despite the fact that Sarah found the pork too dry, I thought the pork was very good. It had good sweet, smoky flavor and I don't mind it dry. However, I do mind having my pig lacquered in sauce. I tried a bit of Sarah's chopped 'que (same meat, vinegar sauce) and was immediately jealous. The pork was good, not perfect, but definitely better than average; it was the sauce that was the problem. By itself, with a little vinegar sauce, this would have been tasty 'que.

The ribs--I didn't find mine to be as fatty as Sarah did, although they were small. But again, I was put off by the sauce. I expected the sauced ribs and the dry rub ribs to be different. Instead, the same four ribs were topped, half with sauce and half with dry rub. In my limited experience with dry rub, it is a method of cooking the meat (no sauce, just spices) rather than a topping added later. It wasn't bad (the dry rub ribs were better than the sauced ribs), it was just odd.

Everyone sigh at how cute Lars and I are...

Jim's also has brisket on the menu, and this was what Lars got. Of the 'que choices, I think the brisket is the best bet. It wasn't dry (a problem some 'que places suffer from) and had a nice smoky, beefy flavor. Normally, I'm a pork girl, but this brisket was much better than the pork. It was also the best brisket we've had in the area.

Onto the rest of the meal. The beans were too sweet for me. The slaw was too mayo-y. The tea was good. The cobbler was really good. That's it to the right, with the ice cream on top. Lars and I shared peach cobbler, ala mode (is there another way to have it?). I wish it hadn't been served in the tall sundae dish, the dessert was a pain to get out, but it was delicious. The ice cream was rich and cool to the sweet-tart hot cobbler. Very tasty and the best part of the meal.

In total, I don't think Jim's lives up to the promise it made on TV. In the commercial, Jim told me that reading was like 'que--addictive. I agree with half of that statement. I find reading addictive and am currently juggling four books. I don't think I will be rushing back to Jim's Famous BBQ anytime soon. However, they did have beer, which automatically raises their rating in my view. If you go, get either the chopped 'que or the brisket and don't forget about the cobbler.

My rating---

--Jennifer