Big Bad Wolf BBQ

Big Bad Wolf BBQ
5713 Harford Road
Lauraville, Baltimore
410-444-6422
bigbadwolfbarbeque.com
barbecue
Cost: $$
Reservations: Take-out
Date of meal: Friday, September 18, 2007
National Price-Quality Frontier: Inside It
Baltimore Price-Quality Frontier: On It

Lauraville has two take-out barbecue joints; it seems obvious to compare them. These are Big Bad Wolf Barbeque (reviewed here) and Alabama BBQ Company. Both on Harford, Big Bad Wolf BBQ is a mile or so north of Alabama BBQ Company. Both are designed for take-out but eating in would be a lot more pleasant at Alabama. Big Bad Wolf is much less attractive, and has only a counter (right up against the serving area) and no tables. This might be OK if you are going alone but doesn't work if you want to eat with someone and talk to them. If you plan to eat in, go to Alabama (or even better go down to Rub in Federal Hill). If you are doing take-out (which is what both Alabama and Big Bad Wolf are set up for), decor and tables don't really matter.

Service was friendly, competent, and fast. They answered questions about what came with what and were happy to give me lots of sauces.

Big Bad Wolf is substantially cheaper. A half rack of ribs (multiple sauces included) is $8 at Big Bad Wolf and $11 (not including sauce, which adds $1.50 for one sauce). A full rack is $15 at Big Bad Wolf and $20+sauce cost at Alabama. I thought quality was similar or even slightly better at Big Bad Wolf, so Alabama seems inferior for take-out ribs.

More details about the ribs. I ordered a half-rack of pork ribs and a half rack of beef ribs (both $8). There are 6-8 sauce options. Servers were friendly and helpful. They were happy to give me as many sauces as I wanted in any (presumably within reason, but it didn't come up) quantity. Pork ribs were dry-rubbed with spices that added great flavor and were visible on the ribs. Pork ribs were a little dry relative to Rub, but about as dry as at Alabama. Beef ribs were cut across the bone like short ribs not between bones. I thought these were juicy and flavorful. (I can't compare as didn't try the beef ribs at Alabama, mostly because Alabama was rather expensive and I saw no easy way to try both pork and beef without spending $25). Ribs were served with corn bread which was not really worth the calories (but also thrown in free). I enjoyed both the Kansas City sweet and spicy sauces, though neither blew my mind.

While not the best ribs on the planet, Big Bad Wolf serves up pretty good ribs at an appealing price. If I was in the neighborhood and wanted take-out ribs, I would go to Big Bad Wolf over Alabama. If I was willing to pay a bit more and wanted to sit down, Rub provides a better product at a higher price.

Alabama BBQ Co.

Alabama BBQ Company
4311 Harford Road
Lauraville, Baltimore
410-254-1440
alabamabbqcompany.com
barbecue
Cost: $$
Reservations: Not Needed
Date of meal: Friday, September 14, 2007
National Price-Quality Frontier: Inside It
Baltimore Price-Quality Frontier: Inside It


Alabama BBQ Company is a barbecue joint designed for take-out. There are a couple of tables and a little counter. The environment is actually quite pleasant, with bright colors and tasteful furniture; there are a few free weekly magazines to read. While it is certainly possible to eat here if you want to, the tables mostly serve as a place to wait for your meal.

I ordered the rib dinner ($13 for 6 ribs plus two sides and barbecue sauce) and onion strings ($3). (To my eye, this is on the expensive side for a take-out rib joint, so I was expecting stellar ribs.) The very nice and well-intentioned woman at the counter told me that my order would take a minute as the onion strings had to be fried; the ribs were ready. They then forgot about the onion strings, did a few other things, and assembled my ribs a few minutes later. They then told me my meal (excluding onion strings) was ready. Starting the onion strings late wasn't a big deal, but it did take a bit of extra time. I mention it mostly because there seemed to be a mix-up on another customer's order while I was waiting, yet another customer's bill told to pay the wrong amount (clearly an innocent mix-up), and also because I read a comment on another website which mentioned this problem also. I don't think it is an anomaly.

I chose the mild sauce for the onion strings and the raspberry glaze for the ribs. The former was solid but the latter was particularly good. Unfortunately, neither the ribs nor the onion strings lived up to their sauces. The ribs were fine and completely edible, but they were also dry (dry-rubbed also, but I mean not juicy or moist) and didn't fall off the bone. The onion strings hadn't been mixed up properly prior to frying and therefore much of the batter hadn't cooked. The onion strings that had been cooked properly were fine but nothing special, but half of them were inedible, uncooked batter.

To sum up,

• I liked: the decor (for a take-out joint), the sauces, and the friendliness of the service.
• I was so-so on: the ribs
• I didn't like: the onion strings, order-taking and payment, the cost

Alabama BBQ Company is too expensive for how good it is. Definitely not on the National or Baltimore price-quality frontier. (There is another BBQ joint up the street that I haven't been to yet, so Alabama BBQ may not even be the best option for take-out ribs in Lauraville. I'll let you know once I've tried them both.) While on the opposite side of town, Rub provides better ribs and better service at only a slightly higher price in an environment where you can more comfortably sit if you want to.

Update (9/19): Having been to both Alabama and Big Bad Wolf one mile up Harford, Big Bad Wolf provides an equally good product with more efficient service at substantially lower prices.

Rub BBQ

Rub BBQ
1843 Light St.
Federal Hill, Baltimore
barbecue
410-244-5667
www.rubbbq.com
Cost: $$
Reservations: varies
Date of meal: September 3, 2007 (6pm)
National Price-Quality Frontier: Inside It
Baltimore Price-Quality Frontier: On It

I sat at the bar at Rub for dinner on Labor Day. Rub is a bar and restaurant, where the restaurant tables surround the bar. When I was there it was fairly empty, but you could imagine the bar fills up on weekend nights. The decor is Texas barbecue meets sports bar (I counted three flat-screen TVs in a pretty small space), though its cleaner and more put together than this might suggest. To give an example, "napkins" are paper towels available on rolls at the tables, but the stands that hold these towels were chosen carefully with a horseshoe pattern that evokes the Texas cowboy thing. At the same time, there is the sleek and slightly industrial feel of a factory or warehouse conversion, which I suspect it was. There is an outdoor patio in the front, though this is not particularly scenic. It is worth noting that the location is a half-dozen blocks south of the Federal Hill action. To my eye, being on a non-commercial street gives makes it a bit less of a scene than other bars to the North. You wouldn't stumble into Rub from the bar next door (because there isn't one) but you would plan to meet a group of friends there.

Rub has roughly a dozen beers on tap (including two with the Rub brand) as well as margaritas and the usual full bar. I ordered their ribs ($13 for a half rack, $22 for a full rack, both with choice of two sides). Ribs were tender and fell right off the bones. They weren't dried out, and all of me (except my arteries, which are still angry with me) enjoyed the fatty goodness. Given the name of the place, I was surprised to find the ribs flavor not as intense as it could have been. It really needed barbecue sauce, which I wasn't necessarily expecting given, again, the name.

This brings me to my main beef (pork?) with the place, which I suspect will not happen to you. No one asked me what kind of barbecue sauce I wanted and didn't bring me any. I wasn't confident enough that there should be any (again, given the name) to ask; I didn't want to feel like an idiot for asking for sauce and being told "we have our special rub which is meant to take the place of barbecue sauce." (Everyone was very nice and not snooty, so this concern was probably unfounded.) I didn't realize I should have asked for (or better yet, been offered) barbecue sauce until I got home and found it on the menu. Please note that the ribs are a bit bland without barbecue sauce; the rub is too subtle to take the place of barbecue sauce.

Sauce mishap aside, service was great. The bartender was friendly and helpful. She recommended the cream spinach, which was solid but a bit of a disappointment given how much she talked it up. The mac-and-cheese was OK but also bland and not interesting. I regret not getting the sweet-potato fries, which the bartender recommended along with the cream spinach.

I liked the food at Rub quite a bit; I didn't absolutely fall in love with it. While I suspect I'll find a hole-in-the-wall joint with slightly better ribs, it will be tough to beat the combination of quality ribs with a fun, up-beat bar environment. This would be a great place to go with a group of 20-something friends for ribs and beer.

Update (9/6):
The whole sauce situation was helpfully cleared up for me by Xani at Black Coffee and a Donut. She sent me this picture from her recent visit (thanks Xani!):
The barbecue sauce was in front of me the whole time. This useful carriage was at the bar and on the tables; it was just turned away from me so I didn't know the back side (shown front here) had sauces. Arghh. Clearly I've been in the ivory tower too long because:

1. I don't get the real world well enough to spot basic necessities when they are right in front of me; and,
2. I know this enough to be afraid to ask for fear of tipping others off to my cluelessness.