Audio By Carbonatix
An antique jukebox spins old-time country, rock, and blues at SoBe Bar-B-Q, a bare-bones 50-seat restaurant that opened a few months back on Washington Avenue. Proprietor Paul Orofino, who used to own Serendipity nightclub in Coconut Grove, tries to keep the party spirit going here not just by providing nifty tunes but also by offering alluring promotions like Saturday’s “After the Beach Barbecue Blast”: free beer and wine from 4:00 to 7:00 p.m. (with purchase of food). Such festivities are fine and dandy, but from the grease houses of Kansas City to the rib joints of Memphis, it’s the chow that counts, and SoBe Bar-B-Q’s slow-cooked fare can best be defined as stick to the ribs — as in you should stick to the ribs because they’re the best thing on the menu.
Especially the baby-backs, which are the pork ribs closest to the backbone — meatier and less fatty than spareribs. First they get hickory-smoked for four hours, then slow-cooked a few hours more, or until the meat becomes so tender that, as the ultimate rib-compliment goes, it “falls off the bones.” Like all barbecued items here, the ribs come smothered in a brick-red tomato-based sauce with the sweet taste, mildly spicy after-kick, and ketchup consistency of bottled brands; my taste buds yearned for more tang and smoke.
“You Don’t Need Teeth to Eat Our Meat” is SoBe Bar-B-Q’s motto, and while that may be true of the ribs, I wouldn’t want to witness some poor soul try to gum his way through the brisket. It’s a difficult enough task to chew the thin, leathery strips of meat even with a relatively strong set of incisors — not that surprising, as brisket comes from the toughest part of the steer and is usually the most difficult cut to successfully smoke. Like I said, I’d stick to the ribs, which is exactly what our personable (and efficient) waiter had suggested in the first place.
Chicken and pork are the other two offerings — though a burger, Reuben sandwich, and spinach salad also are available for those with little respect for the protocol of ordering correctly in barbecue joints. The pulled pork sandwich (that North Carolina treat), featuring a hamburger bun plumped with meat more tender and tasteful than the brisket, and a juicy half-chicken imbued with mildly smoky flavor were both pretty good. Still, I’d stick to the ribs.
Sandwiches are $5.75, and platters run from $6.95 (a quarter-chicken) to $16.95 (a full rack of baby-backs). A bowl of coarsely cut homemade coleslaw and warm squares of moist, buttery cornbread greet you at the table regardless of what you order, while platters include any two of the following sides: baked beans, collard greens, black eyed peas, baked sweet potato, roasted corn on the cob, thick steak fries, and — the big hit at our table — garlic-coated yuca fries. That’s a fair deal for a satisfying meal. Particularly if you stick to the ribs.
