Generally The Lovely Rebecca and I wait until the Brouhaha has died down before dining at the NBT (Next Big Thing)...Having said that, we found ourselves downtown running errands on Saturday and sporting a 2 month old Jones for some good BBQ we decided to give the new Doc Crowes a try.
Before getting into anything, let me mention what I was hoping to find...That being an urban BBQ oasis along the lines of Blue Smoke BBQ in Manhattan. A place where when friends and family came to town you could say "Hey...Check THIS out". In other words, I really-REALLY wanted to like this place. Unfortunately Doc Crowes (so far) only fills half the bill. On the positive side, the restaurant has every appearance of being professionally ran, the service we enjoyed was top notch (I believe our servers name was was Sephora...but I'm a little hard of hearing and may be wrong) and I'm even "down" with the East Meets West - Sushi Bar meets BBQ Joint motiff/decor. On the negative side, the BBQ was <huge painful sigh> amongst the worst restaurant BBQ I've had...Anywhere. (NOTE: We dined at 4pm...No "we were slammed" explanations accepted)
On the off chance that someone "in the know" will read this, let me just say that BBQ is a passion of mine. Along with pizza and Global Geo-Politics, BBQ is one of the few things where I consider myself knowledgeable. My lovely bride and I have cooked it competitively in four states (MN State Champion - Ribs in 2006), We are certified judges and have judged numerous competitions. I've even planned vacations around the proximity to outstanding BBQ joints (my wife didn't know that until now...but I guess THAT cat is now out of the bag). So with that introduction made, allow me to "score" our meal..."competition style" (appearance, taste and texture/tenderness on a 1 to 9 scale).
Baby Back Ribs: The ribs come without sauce (and I'm OK with that) and seasoned ("rubbed") with a "secret" concoction of spices. I ordered the half rack. The ribs arrived with the appearance of something that had been parboiled and finished in an oven. Very pale, extremely lightly seasoned and not particularly appetizing. The next thing I noticed was that the membrane on the back of the ribs had not been removed prior to cooking...a fundamental error that prevents seasoning from penetrating the meat to any real degree...In this case, that might not have been a bad thing because the membrane was the only thing holding the rack together. These ribs were so grossly overcooked that they gave "falling off the bone" a whole new meaning. The flavor was positively pedestrian...virtually no "smokiness" to the meat and quite bland due to the lack of aggressive seasoning.
Score: Appearance 4, Taste 4, Tenderness/Texture 3 (Yes, you can get BBQ too tender)
Brisket: Note, the management was quite accommodating when I requested a half order of Brisket be combined with a half order of Pulled Pork...Much obliged for that. The brisket was served as a "slab" of brisket as opposed to the slices I was expecting (and as is the generally accepted serving practice). This in conjunction with it being moderately undercooked resulted in an extremely tough piece of beef. The toughness was further exacerbated by the fact that the meat was sliced with the grain as opposed to across the grain...a fundamental mistake (think flank steak cut with the grain and you get the picture). The flavor was -ok-...at best. The "beef" side of the profile came out well but (again) there was virtually no taste of seasoning or true BBQ "smokiness".
Score: Appearance 4, Taste 5, Tenderness/Texture 3
Pulled Pork: Not the worst scoring of the three...but right up there with the ribs in terms of being disappointing. The appearance was -ok- although there was (again) no sign that any significant amount of smoke had touched the meat...No "diversity" (in other words a mixture of "Mr. Brown and Ms White")...just a big pile of white meat. The flavor was about one notch north of an oven cooked, unseasoned pork chop...and dry...REALLY dry...almost as if I was eating overcooked tenderloin and not moist succulent shoulder.
Score: Appearance 5, Taste 4, Texture/Tenderness 4
Scoring complete...To improve on an already EXCELLENT concept, my suggestion would be to contact and/or consult Mr Mike Mills, probably THE best BBQ restaurantuer in the country; Owner of 17th Street BBQ (Best Ribs in the U.S. - Bon Appetite) and a partner in the previously mentioned Blue Smoke BBQ. Mike can be reached through: http://www.17thstreetbarbecue.com/ContactUs.htm
...Ya like that ?....I picked it out 
