It has been way too long since I have posted in this blog...I am sharing a review of a local Philadelphia Restaurant that I have visited three times while staying over night for my new job. This place is fun and sensational. The time was made perfect by the dialogue I had with the owner, who came out to see how I liked their BBQ. He did not know - I am sure - that he was in for QUITE A RANT. But, that is what he got.
The Restaurant is the Q BBQ + Tequila
and it is on Chestnut Street just at 2nd.
This
restaurant not only taunts your taste buds, but it is in a quiet spot in Olde Town. Once you enter the door you
get the sense that you have come home. With all of the dark, rich wood of
an upscale Boston Irish Pub, this place sets you at ease the minute you cross
the threshold.
The staff are
prompt to tend to your every need and sensitive to know enough to leave you
alone when you take an important call. You can ask for specific and
personal nuances with your meal and you get exactly what you want with no
attitude...only attentiveness.
Once the BBQ
arrives that will be the focus of the rest of the evening. You will try -
and fail - to figure out the intricacies of each layer of flavoring. Go
ahead; see if you can figure out the base, the smoke, the rub, the finish.
It is tough.
What I will tell
you is that from the first bite until you hit the pillow you will drift in and
out of being able to identify the fancy of the flavors you experienced at Q
BBQ. And still you won't really know, only get faint suggestions of
flavor and hints of taste.
You want a real
treat? Ask to talk with Tom Stewart - one of the owners. See if you
can drag out of him any piece of what it is that sets his style apart from
others. You won't stand a chance. Like a good son of North Carolina he hides his secrets behind the
mystery and manners of Southern life and Southern ways. His momma should
be proud...slaw and BBQ recipes still intact. He won't even share where
he buys his fare to fix it all up.
I put a challenge
to him that I know he will engage: "Give us something with bourbon and
plums in the base; bourbon and prunes.". He can go wild on the rub and
smoke, but let's start with bourbon and plums. I know he can do it.
Head out to this
place and just relish the food, try to decipher the flavors, and get all jacked
up on culinary layering. It is a great place, with great people, and
great food...you need to let food be a mystery every once in a while.
This here is a good place to do that.
