Chow The Best BBQ in Seattle
posted by on August 14 at 12:57 PM
…just might be in Olympia.
On way to Eugene for a wedding this past weekend, a friend and I cruised through the capitol hoping to find a lunch spot. Miraculously, we discovered South Bay Dickersons Slow & Low BBQ. There I ate the best ribs I’ve had in the Pacific Northwest.
Small and unassuming, in a run-down shopping center at 4th and Cherry, this place gave the immediate impression of “real deal.” Their menu was promising—good prices on pulled pork, brisket, chicken, game hen, salmon, and pork ribs, plus fresh brewed iced and sweet teas and fresh-squeezed lemonade and strawberry lemonade. The interior featured two roll-up garage doors, rolled up and screened in, sunshine pouring through onto early afternoon diners. Best of all was a guy playing acoustic guitar in the corner of the restaurant, unobtrusively strumming and singing “I Will Survive” while we ordered.
My friend’s pulled pork sandwich—moist, saucy, smoky. My mixed meat sausage—oily, tender, smoky. My sides—corn-pocked corn bread; creamy, crunchy cole slaw; and jalapeno-spiced mac n cheese—just right. My ulna-sized pork rib—PERFECT. The rib meat held the smoke better than the pulled pork or sausage, mild but persistent through a spice rub and South Bay’s tomatoey BBQ sauce. Every nick and strand of meat came off the bone—often the result of par-boiling the meat before smoking. I asked the young guy behind the counter and he assured me they don’t par-boil; 24 hours slow cooking over local apple and cherry woods yeild that supremely tender meat, as well as that sublimely smoky flavor.
What a find. We left very satisfied. Twice, actually—we stopped in again yesterday on our way back north to revisit the scene of the crime. I went berserk and ordered a whole slab of ribs—seen below, $22 dollars for about 15 bones—that I’m having cold for dinner tonight. I can’t wait.
Its still damn impossible to find a place with NC BBQ in this area. Everything is smothered in a red tomato glop.
best bbq in seattle is two places:
* R & L home of the good
19th & yesler-ish - damnfine brisket, saucy, but incredibly complex flavors
* Roy's
downtown columbia city
georgia gold features a wonderful mustard-based sauce over pulled pork and they have some damnfine slaw too
I'll investigate southbay next time I'm in Oly
Why cann't you find a good dry rub in Seattle? It is all that nasty ass red shit around here????
Peco's Pit on 1st, accross the street from Starbuck's HQ.
I'm with Monkey, that place is great. The best pulled pork sandwich in town, though, is at the Hole-In-The-Wall, on James between 1st and 2nd in Pioneer Square. Also good is a little place across from the Federal building who's name escapes me. Everything there is good.
But all in all, Seattle needs more BBQ. No, Seattle deserves more BBQ.
Olympia? Fuck that.
The best in the city: Pecos Pit on 1st. Ask for "Gorilla" if you want more than normal. Always get the beans.
what are jonathan zwickel's credentials as a bbq enthusiast? is he southern or midwestern?
i've been burned sooooo many times by locals recommending various bbq places and they all fail miserably...
the key to great bbq isn't the fucking sauce; it's the quality of the meat and how it was BBQ'D!! NO ONE around here seems to get that! and that Pecos place on First Ave is o.k., but as a former resident of Kansas City, I have to tell you, it's not that great...
my question to Mr Zwickel is, can you smell the bbq at least 50 feet before walking in the place? if you can't, then it's not good bbq...
@7. ive been a student of the pit since college, when my roommates and i actually constructed one in our backyard. we had smoking parties regularly.
i lived in south florida for 18 months a couple years back. there were four AWESOME bbq joints within five miles of my apartment--one carolina style, two deep south style, and one that was purely "florida" style, which is somewhere between vinegar/mustard and buffalo wing sauce.
the sauce mostly designates locale, and youre right, michael strangeways--of course its all about the meat. which is why i went to such length in describing that revelation of a rib at dickersons. 24 hours of smoking on apple and cherry, big, meaty ribs, smoky but not bitter or overwhelming...
those guys really do it right.
the other places ive tried in seattle--longhorn, down near pioneer square, and the catered pulled pork at block party--were good but not as good as dickersons. i also stopped at a place in snoqualmie a couple weekends ago--real hole in the wall, and well smoked, but not as redolent as dickersons.
Oh, man. The Steel Pig for me all the way. That's the best BBQ I've ever had by anyone. Sadly, their Aurora location closed, but they're still open on Roy. Amazing sauce. AMAZING.
Can you smell it 50 feet away? Well, depends on which direction you're in. See, Fish Tale Brewery is a block away south and it's yeasty stench is the usual aroma for the area. But on a good day, and from the right direction, yes, yes you can.
Also, 'run down shopping center'? Uh, it's just that the Safeway moved out last month and there's been no time to get a replacement in yet - the whole several block area is looking great compared to five years ago. Oly is slow in that regard. Give us a year. But Capitol Playhouse is across the street, Peppers just renovated the old Bread & Roses building, and all the businesses around are doing well. One empty Safeway does not 'run down' make.
the steel pig? is that that place in lower queen anne just off mercer? if it is, that place is AWFUL!
rev moon, you need to taste some REAL bbq; i suggest on your next vacation head to kansas city, ok, arkansas, texas, memphis...real bbq places...
oh, thanks jonathan; sounds like you have some real bbq cred...wink...
next time i'm down oly way, i'll try this place..
come on michael--youre implying that you cant find good sushi outside japan or tacos outside mexico. people travel and they bring the cuisine of their cultures with them. finding good bbq is not about where you live, though that certainly helps. its more about having a nose for it, as well as an unrelenting desire.
JZ,
glad to see that your 18 months in the heart of bbq country(florida?) left you with the belief that it mainly comes down to the sauce. that is only half of the equation. try to find pulled pork in texas or brisket in north carolina.
What people need to understand is all ribs are good, Southbay's is just better!
oh yeah! before you start talking about how much better all of the other bbq places are, you should take the drive to Oly!
I agree. It's about the meat and time in the smoke. Too many joints try to make the quick buck by baking in an oven and smothering in sauce or if your lucky it might spend a short time in an inferior smoker. I've been eating at SBD's for a couple of years now, and I've seen the three BBQs he uses. Two of which are Klose pits. IMO they are the best pits on the market. Anyways, most people aren't willing to spend the time to make good BBQ. Face it who wants to stay up all day and night and keep tabs on the pit and then work all day at a restaurant. Not many. But they pull it off at SBD's. Food's great and if you want different sauces you just got to ask.
You've got to love BBQ. It's the only style of cooking where everyone has an opinion.
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