Celebration of Mastication

BBs Lawnside seemed like just the place the get a great KC BBQ experience--located near a questionable section of town, it had outside picnic tables, a full gravel parking lot, and Oh!--a big sign with a pig smoking a cigar--it's Gotta be good!  A lively group inside created a buzz of anticipation as we perused the menu.  Photos of Blue's Greats papered the walls; it didn't seem quite clean inside and the floor--was it wood or concrete?--I couldn't tell, but I wasn't going to set anything but my sandal clad feet down there.  All this just added to the authenticity.  I ordered the ribs and got a side with the $12.95 short end and chose beans.  Normally, I'm all about the french fries in a BBQ joint; but I've been watching my calories and don't really like beans that much so thought it was the best choice for me that night.
My plate came with 6 beautiful looking ribs with a thick sauce on top, a plastic cup of beans and thick- sliced dill pickles.  My first bite of the rib was a bit disappointing as I pulled at the dry, chewy meat, but I liked the sauce.  I tasted the beans, and thought I could discern a smokey pepper taste and found a chunk of what I think was pablano pepper in the beans.  As I suspected, I didn't care for them much, but certainly it was a good try and I could imagine they might be popular.  I went back to pulling off the rib meat with my teeth and spent many minutes chewing, chewing, chewing.  When I was nearly worn out from the effort, I went ahead and swallowed the meat chased by gulps of water.  The ribs became slightly more juicy as they moved through to the larger bones, but I still was busy chewing, chewing, chewing.  I turned back to the beans wolfed them down to satiate my hunger.  To be fair, I had a bite of pork and a bite of burnt ends which were juicy and fairly flavorful.  But the vibe of  diversity and excitement by now just seemed loud, chaotic, sticky and disappointing.  A $4.00 cover charge collected an hour before the Blues begins made my dinner $17.00.  I took home the leftovers, though, cuz Mr. Ref will eat anything.  (I wonder what the guy in the kilt thought?)
Rating 2