Sometimes, you want to enjoy some bbq at home and lick all the meat juice and sauce from your fingers without any other eyes on you. Smokehouse 21's carryout (and delivered right to my front door through Delivered Dish, and I was able to use a free delivery code from a promotion at the time) was exactly what was needed.
I tried to put my order together on my phone on the way home, but couldn't seem to get the ordering to work for the whole order, so I had to wait until I can enter the full order from my computer at home. After confirming it online, I kept looking at the clock in anticipation- it's not often I can enjoy bbq since F is a vegetarian, but he was out of town, and again the free delivery code helped soften the guilty pleasure (usually there is a $6.50 charge- the delivery charge varies depending on the restaurant and distance). I know, how young and modern and urban to get delivery that isn't just pizza or Chinese right? I love city living.
Since it was my first taste of Smokehouse's bbq, I went with the bbq combo plate of half smoked chicken, brisket (Cascade Natural beef), and ribs (Carlton Farms) . Even though it came in a box since it was delivery, I think that at bbq competitions the same "presentation constraint" is given and bbq masters are judged on it, so it's fair game. As you can see, the clear takeout box was arranged cleanly, and seemed bursting with the bbq chicken and ribs. I confess I don't remember if the sauces came inside or outside the box, so I might or might not have edited the original arrangement by putting that sauce in the container (or not).
I only took a few quick photos before getting all 10 fingers dirty and into the bbq, the aroma was irresistably enticing from the moment I opened the bag. Everything smelled wonderful- even Lobo the cat came out of who knows
where in the house (possibly his dog bed upstairs) suddenly to stare at
me, hopeful. The next morning as I came downstairs to go to work, the
scent of bbq still lingered from the combo plate.
My combination plate included 2 sides, and I selected to try out their tart yet tangy braised greens (with plenty of bacon pieces), and macaroni and cheese. I also got an additional side of a quarter pound of their pulled pork (Carlton Farms) so I would get to try four of the seven smoked meats they offer. Left out this time were the in-house made sausage, Lava Lake farms baby back lamb ribs, and Idaho smoked trout in lemon fennel butter.
Of all the things I ate, the mac and cheese was just sad, tasting as old and stiff as you see in the photo and I barely detected any of the supposed bacon in it. I made my own mac and cheese the next day to the creamy cheesiness I wanted to counter the vinegary acid of the braised greens and continue to finish my bbq dinner. I also found the pulled pork overdone, dry and needing the classic bbq sauce to punch it up with flavor- I could barely detect anything from sniffing the meat. On the other hand, the roasted chicken was adequately moist and only needed the teeniest of dips into the Carolina style mustard sauce.
The brisket was as melt in your mouth tender as would be hoped for from smoking it for half a day, and whatever rub they use made it tasty enough to eat without any sauce at all, exactly how good I want my brisket to be. The same was true with the so easy to pull apart from the bone ribs. Both were just good meat (and sourced locally) in its own juices and a bit of smoke and some seasoning and that's it.
Although the chicken and the ribs may have been the stars visually in the box, the brisket was definitely the highlight of the entire Smokehouse 21 experience for me.
