Well, we had reservations at Icarus last night, which was closed due to flooding, so we decided to still go out, but to...Blue Ribbon BBQ instead. Impressions the second time around: Good, but not as mind-bendingly great as the first time. This go-round, the ribs were a bit more ordinary...Fattier, tougher -- like they'd rushed them to the plate. The pickles seemed a bit less well-pickled, too. On the upside of things, the pulled pork was still excellent, and the sides were solid, again. One of my guests had the burnt ends, which she proclaimed to be "really, really yummy". Hopefully Icarus will be back soon -- I'd hope its not another "Elephant Walk" situation (question: Why does it seem that there's so many below-ground restaurants in Boston, anyway?) -- but I just wanted to note that Blue Ribbon seems to be able to hold its own, even on a bad night. If the next trip to B.R. results in the awesomely good ribs that I had the first time, I think I'll have an official Boston area dive of choice; time will tell.
Boston, MA
Blue Ribbon BBQ Redux
Donald M. wrote: > Well, we had reservations at Icarus last night, which was closed due to > flooding, so we decided to still go out, but to...Blue Ribbon BBQ instead. A _slightly_ different culinary experience... > > Impressions the second time around: > Good, but not as mind-bendingly great as the first time. This go-round, > the ribs were a bit more ordinary...Fattier, tougher -- like they'd rushed > them to the plate. The pickles seemed a bit less well-pickled, too. > > On the upside of things, the pulled pork was still excellent, and the > sides were solid, again. One of my guests had the burnt ends, which she > proclaimed to be "really, really yummy". > This mirrors my own experience with Blue Ribbon ribs--sometimes amazing, other times just ordinary. I've gone often enough to begin to see a pattern develop: best on weeknights, worst on Friday and Saturday nights, good in mid-afternoon, not as good when they have just opened for the day. My guess is that they may get too much business on weekends, and can't keep up with the demands, so the ribs get hurried. And just after they open, you might also get ribs that have been hurried a bit. Of course, I have no documentation for this, and I've had good ribs at "bad" times once or twice. I've never had a bad rib on a Tuesday or Wednesday (though my sample size isn't that high). I should mention that all my comments refer to the Newton branch, as I've never been to the Arlington one. The other BBQ items don't seem to show as much variation as the ribs, so my new strategy is to order ribs only at slow times, and order other things if I'm there on a weekend evening.