The newest BBQ place in Fat City...Shotgun (inside Bottom Line) <didn't like>

Today a friend of mine who I sometimes go to lunch with called me up and asked me to come try a new BBQ place in Fat City. Having tried, and really enjoyed Smoking Buddha BBquiex I decided to see if this place can survive in what I'm sure TulaneLSU would rightfully dub the 'BBQ capitol of Metaire'. Seriously though, in the last month two new BBQ places opened in this area and Saucy's is fairly new as well. I have yet to try Saucy's but IMO Smoking Buddha is easily metro top 3.

Well I keep mentioning smoking Buddha, because that's where I wanted to go, but they were closed for a private catering gig.

So anyway... We go to The Bottom Line Bar, which is a small dive across the street (Division) from Barnes and Nobles and board favorite Applebees*. Go inside and its a typical dive setting, empty except for the bartender, the cook, and a couple consisting of an old biker and a forty-something TPT in pajama pants.

The menu itself looked impressive, containing both the cheapest local BBQ menu item;($5.50) called "The Dog Bowl" which consisted of one side and one meat served together in a bowl. In addition to the areas most expensive combo plate ($17.99 +$4 to add ribs) which IMO is high considering the same dish is $15.99 at The Joint with ribs. While we were deciding about the meat, the cook came out and said the brisket was the best item.. He bragged about the cook times, and how fresh it was. Saying "I just cooked it yesterday and sliced it today", this should have been a red-flag. I mean I know I love BooKoo BBQ and they do the same as far as smoking then re-selling a couple of days later, but why was he slicing it before it was ready to be served?

Anyway I settle on the Brisket with two sides and choose Mac and cheese and Beans. Now I didn't read about the beans first, but to me beans are like salsa in a mexican restaurant. If they can't do something as simple as that really good, then more than likely everything else will be crap. Now if I had read the menu I would have seen that these were red beans, with smoked meat and molasses. :Captain Picard Facepalm: At least I should have tried the Potato salad.

Go ahead, it's Tuesday at least half of y'all had red beans yesterday, go ahead and pour some mollases in them and mix with some heavily smoked meat and let me know how it taste...






So anyway food comes, I get past the shock of the BBQ place making very nontraditional beans. The brisket was soft and had that "set it and forget it" taste. Like it had been forgotten about overnight in the smoker. It was very overcooked, and funnier still, it was chipped into smaller pieces and smothered in BBQ sauce. Now that is fine for pulled pork, but with Brisket I expect to be the one who controls the sauciness.

So Brisket, was just really bad, like I have never had it that bad even at Luther's worst day. Then the Mac and cheese, I figured 'Andouille Mac and Cheese' should at least be good... WRONG.


Actually the mac and cheese was good if it wouldn't have had bread dust on it. The cook/chef/owner decided to put breadcrumbs on top, which just absorbed all that grease and became gritty and sand like in your mouth. It would have worked well if he had just used stove-top stuffing, or crumbled croutons, but he used the breadcrumbs you would buy to bread something to fry in. It was just bad.

The only saving grace, was the corn grits I tried from my friend's plate. They were good, but again its just grits with canned corn, Creamed corn, and cheese.. not really a hard culinary item.

When I saw the smoker outside was cold, I should have turned back.

This was easily the worst BBQ I have had probably ever. This place will not last in that area, but then again they are a bar first, and open all night so maybe they will survive on that. But its on my never go back to list.