Famous Dave's BBQ

[cinnamonkc]

Went to Famous Dave's BBQ last night. Apparently they have won over 300 awards nationwide.

I had spare ribs and pulled pork, son had brisket.

We went sauceless on all of it since I prefer them dry anyway and they have 5 different sauces to try.

The ribs had a great flavor, and were charred crispy on the outside. Must finish them on the grill or something. I'd like to know what they use for brine on both the ribs and the brisket...

The brisket also had a good flavor but was a little dry without sauce. It also didn't have any smoke ring at all...which I thought was curious...

The pulled pork had great flavor but was REALLY dry.

Most of the sauces were really heavy on the black pepper, except the sweet one. (Even the mustard sauce)
The Rich and Sassy had good flavor and the Devil's Spit was hot but not crazy.

Over all it was good, not great...

 

[coyote]

I have said to others for a long time that most of us can cook better then the places we choose to eat at..and from what I have read from your post's, you are a much better chef then the fast food bbq joints..I am sure they use a lot of liquid smoke seaoning in their food..
I am sure the origanal famous dave's was great like the origanal hooters. but when they franchise out they start to chupa awfull fast..

 

[richtee]

Reputedly, FD's does indeed "smoke" their meat and finish on a char griller. I have not been impressed with the food there. It's not hateful...but on a bad day the stuff I make is better. I'll admit to FD's being EASIER...but.. Eh, if I'm hungry and out and about...I'd eat there I guess.

 

[solar]

Never been or heard of FD's, but we have a couple chains, Sonny's (eh), Fred's (blaah) and Rib City (not bad, no smoke ring). There's a new little BBQ joint that just opened up next to where I get my seafood, I'm going to give them a shot. I will say that when I took my GF's Dad to Sonny's for Father's Day, they had all you can eat Baby Back's and they were really good.


LOL, I live a few minutes from the original Hooter's

 

[desertlites]

don't really care for them myself-sauce is really bad-just closed the best place in Tucson-dept of transportation wanted there property-and after 15 years they chose to close shop-black couple from luzeanna-sure gonna miss them.

 

[cinnamonkc]

Thanks Coyote! And I'm sure you are right about the franchise...
No one is going to show it the love like the original.

I always try to sample different BBQ when I get a chance, but it just makes me love mine more!

 

[meandmytwodogs]

We have quite a few F.D's here in Omaha. It's usually not bad food. BUT a few weeks ago the company I work for had them cater a lunch at the office. I have to say that I was amazingly disapointed with the brisket. The flavor was not too far off but it looked like there was no soul put into it at all. I mean no bark or any type of coloring on the outside of the brisket and no smoke ring at all. My first thought was that it was cooked in a steamer with liquid smoke. It gave me the squirts later too. A few months ago FD had a dry Memphis style rib (limited time special) and I thought they were great! All in all with everything that I've learned here on the SMF, I give them a 6 on a 1-10 scale w/ 10 being great. I would go there again if someone else requested it and there was not time for me to do it myself. I'd prolly order the sweetwater catfish fingers though.
That's my $.02.
Dave

 

[1chaos52]

Manchester NH is not a place known for it's BBQ, but we do have a FD's here. I have yet to have a good meal there. I make so much better food than they do and can come up with a better BBQ sauce on the fly than anything they have. I do like the Devil's Spit BBQ sauce a bit, but I can still do better than that.

We also have a place called KC's Rib Shack. I am not positive, but I think they par-boil their ribs and kill all the flavor in them by doing so. The only good qualities for KC's are the bar, the corn bread, and a sandwich they have there called the Cardiac Sam. People have told me they have gotten better over the years, but I have not been back recently.

The one place that had really good BBQ was a place called Down n Dirty. Real smoked BBQ. Closed down a few years ago after the owner sold it and the new owner did not want to continue.

Anyway, my thought on it is this. Since I now have gotten into smoking and enjoy doing it, why would I want to go to any of these local places to eat when I can make it better (and cheaper) than any of them can. I can understand if you are away from home or trying out a new restaurant to see if they are any good, but generally just stay away from the chains especially. The only chain that I remember to be any good was way back in the mid to late 80's I went to a place in KC Missouri called Zarda's, but I was young back then and did not know what I know now. I would like to try it again someday if it still exists just to see if it really was good.

 

[ron50]

I've tried the one near me twice and both times it was just ok. I think it is really hard for any commercial establishment to produce the same quality as you can at home.

That being said, the one here is always packed. People don't know much else here as there only a few places to get Q.

I am seeing more smokers among the grills here at HD and Lowe's so there is still hope, lol.

 

[flyin'illini]

CinKC -- The FD's near my house is about where you describe. I don't go anymore either kinda like Rich below.

 

[Dutch]

That last time I went to FD's I had the salmon which I think is really good-everyone else in the group had something off of the BBQ side of the menu. My brother's brisket was more fat than meat and Ma said that the ribs were kind of on the tough side and dry.

I had suggested that we try a new steak place that had opened up but was voted down so that's how we ended up at FD's. The Manager was making the rounds of the tables talking to the guests and made his way to our table. When he saw that I had the salmon and everyone else had 'que he asked me why I didn't have the 'que. Well being in a gumpy mood and being known to speak my mind, I told the Manager that I really didn't like the quality of the que and I can and do make better que at home. While the Manager was trying to come up with some rebuttal, my brother points to me and said "Yeah-his stuff is way better that this".

Well the Manager walked off and must of went to his office cuz we didn't see him the rest of the time that we were there. I figured he must of said something to our waiter cuz he stopped bringing us drink refills and only came to the table to toss the check on the table and walk off. We had to find an other waiter just to pay the bill.

Haven't been back since and sure don't plan to anytime soon. 'sides I found a little Que joint not far from daughter's house that has dang good ribs butts and brisket and they all had a nice smoke ring-I just can't recall the name of the place-Rib City . . .Rib Junction . . .I don't know but it's some GREAT que. I fact I told the guy running the place-If I don't feel like making my own que, I'll come to his place instead.

 

[geek with fire]

Without creating a new thread, I went to Famous Dave's down at the landing in Branson Missouri last night. I went there not expecting too much, simply because I don't think chain franchised Q can be done. Here are my comments:

First, the main reason we went there is that my Mom has a severe reaction to smoke; make's her sicker than a dog. She had eaten there before and didn't get sick. That prepared me for the fact that there wasn't going to be smoke.....I was right. However, I will say that the ribs were cooked well. They were tender but not mushy, and had a tug to the meat. As mentioned before, they have a pretty good crust on them, which is nice.

The sauces were hit and miss. The devil's spit was more like puppy drool. I think they thought if they put in another cup of cracked black pepper to an already bland sauce, they were doing something. I tried all of them and wasn't really impressed with most. I did think the sweet and tangy was the best, but I like a sweet sauce.

The brisket, which my wife ordered, was actually pretty good. It had a good wood smoke flavor (which is different than just smoke flavor). While, as most chain joints do, they don't reintroduce the juices back in the meat, it wasn't dry by any means. Not what I would cook for myself, but still had a good flavor. My wife really liked it, but she would prefer brisket cooked in foil in the oven (I know, 'til death do you part), which I'm guessing is how the majority of the stuff is cooked in this joint.

All in all a decent experience; Had most of our family and we had a good time. As with most chains, most of us can beat them. But keeping in mind a comment my good friend Rich mentioned some time ago: my Q is decent, but could I do it all day 6-7 days a week at high volume; probably not. It was also nice to sit and talk with my family while eating Q, instead of tending the pits.

Geek' Rating: 5.5/10 (Better than average, but not showing off)

 

[supervman]

Funny you say that.
The original one was in Hayward Wisc.
A SUPER DIVE.
Great food too.
Then he built a big new place and it's a real hit.
He goes public with stock and franchises out, BUT he kept the one in Hayward and it wasn't part of the stock deal. Hmmm.

Been to the spots in Minneapolis and not as good as Hayward ESPECIALLY the old shack he used to have.

 

[teeotee]

Super v .... we get up the cities on a regular basis. How far is the original place from ... say Hell (or mall depending on your gender) of America ?

 

[travcoman45]

Ate at the one in Owatanna MN, always heard they was real good, well it joins the ranks a rib crib an such, mediorge at best. Ribs were tough, tons a sauce that was mostly catchup an sugar.

Guess I'll just keep makin Q at home. When we eat out I'll have a burger or a steak ifin somebody elese's looks decent in the joint.

Makin it hard ta eat out!

 

[supervman]

Original place is a mere 130 miles North East of Mpls.
One way.
They even tore that shack down and his new place up there is like the Mall of America. HUGE, all kinds of stuff hangin on the walls. Poor baffeling so it's LOUD. Nice spot and the foods decent, but I'd go to Rudolph's or Market BBQ in the cities.

 

[smoking gun]

FD's isn't too bad for a franchise. If we're out with a large group we'll go there or Smokey Bones sometimes. Been to Tony Roma's a few times and the ribs were good but only because of the sauce. The meat by itself didn't have any real flavor. I guess they boil n bake/grill em. There is a small restaraunt about a mile from me named Juicy's. The Juicy man (as he's called in his ads) always has a fire going and a HUGE pile of hickory, applewood and some other woods in dry storage behind the store. He makes great brisket and pulled pork both of which i eat without sauce and monday night is all you can eat ribs. They have great homemade sides and desserts and while the prices are high it is worth it if you know good Q. I don't know if they have a website or not. It's a pretty small place but they do stay busy and the lunch crowd is usually out the door waiting in line. That being said I'm just a rookie smoker but I'd put my ribs and pulled pork in as being just as good but I haven't done a brisket to pulling temp and thats how they do it. Mine is extremely good sliced but with a little less bark. They do chicken as well but it's usually a little dry and requires a bit of sauce for me. I'm lucky to have them close if I don't feel like cooking.

I did find a link......

http://www.jucysbar-b-q.com/