Smoke Shop BBQ Seattle

Meat. I know, it seems like I eat a lot, when, in reality, my everyday does not always include it. Eating out is not an everyday occurrence for me thus what you see on the blog kind of magnifies a misperception. I think because I consider trying new spots something special I usually go all in the best I can when I do go out and most times that is going to include some form of meat. Daily, I veggie more than you’d think. Kind of different than when growing up in the South where some form of beef, pork or chicken was always the centerpiece to all meals including breakfast (cereal with a side of bacon? Sure thing!). After my brief stint back their recently it seems to still be the case.

One of the premiere things about NC eating culture is its barbecue of the whole hog variety. From smoked to roasted to grilled—it’s a thing. We do so love it and will defend its vinegary smoked seasoning to against any other variety. While I still prefer it above others, once I moved out of the area and got over myself, I did begin to appreciate variations on a theme for cooking styles. Though I am still not fully on board with overly sweet sauces, I do enjoy some smoke and hints of spice. Beyond that, the basics of good barbecue are still the same. Tender, juicy, fall off the bone meat cooked just right. From there it comes down to enhancing and not overwhelming the meat with spice, sauce or whatever you want on it.

As noted on this blog over the years I have had my fair share of the stuff no matter what part of the country I reside. In fact, I actually search it out just to see how other folks chow down on their version of “barbecue.” Seattle was no different. Barely a few days in and I was already searching online for who’s got what. I have found a few spots in the city and was finally able to roust of my old from NC, Mr P, who lives her now, to venture out with me and give Wood Shop BBQ a shot. Their tag was Kansas City bbq by way of Texas or something. Not totally off putting but, we’ll see. Plus they were offering up pork, beef and some interesting sides I wanted to try. The menu choices seemed like a good place to start my Seattle bbq meat journey.

Speaking of sides, I am always down for mac and cheese. Here we have smoked jalapeno mac and cheese topped with pulled pork, pickled red onions, and bbq sauce. Okay, the menu says pulled pork which technically it is as they pulled some meat off a slab of pork ribs as opposed to pulled or chopped up belly meat or pig pickin’ kind of thing—I’m only giving them a minor pass on this as there is more to pig than just the ribs. You do get a fair amount of meat and mac and cheese which is nice considering the price. Because it is the smoked rib meat you get some of the charred outside and you can definitely taste the smoke. I will say it was right on the edge of coming off dry (kind of why I brought up the belly meat). Having the wetness of the bbq sauce and cheese sauce did mitigate it—somewhat. The sauce was mid level sweet spicey. It was okay though not something I would normally veer toward. I did like the jalapeno mac and cheese. It was super creamy, cheesy and the peppers was a nice addition. The pickled onions also help break up all the richness of the cheese. Since they sell pork ribs, my suggestion would be to skip the meat topped version of this and just pony up $7 for the regular side dish option as it is a tasty variation of mac and cheese that both of us enjoyed.

This is their Texas-style smoked brisket sandwich topped with bbq sauce and served with pickles and slaw on the side. A heaping pile of meat on a toasted potato bread bun. (One day these places will learn butter up these toasted buns! It helps more than you think!) The brisket was moderately better though, again, it was right on the edge. Definitely tender with good smoke and not overly fatty. Of the two meats I would the brisket over the pork. But not by much.

I was told the slaw was of the vinegar style I am used to from NC but while they told me that, what I got amounted to a pile of shredded cabbage that tasted like it was straight outta the bag they got from their food supplier. I don’t know, maybe they were going for a light touch or I got some that hadn’t been seasoned up yet? Who knows, but it was dry, tasteless and not worth my time. Good thing I didn’t put it on the sandwich cuz’ it would not have helped it, only made it worse. Thank god for those pickles! They were house made and of the slightly sweet variety with generous amounts of dill making for a delightful crunchy bite. Totally worth asking for a side of these.

Here we have the pork ribs. To be honest, had I known the meat on the mac and cheese was this I would have skipped the rack version. Live and learn I guess. As stated above, you want your meat tender, juicy, fall off the bone. Mostly one out of three ain’t bad? It was kind of tender. No real sinewy bits. It didn’t necessarily fall off the bone but you could pull it without too much effort. Though I can’t say it was all that juicy. Sauce was definitely needed here. I mean did like some of the char bits and the smoke flavoring. I did find it funny they put it on two slices of white bread. This is some old school Southern thing as we use the bread to soak up all the tasty meat juices. But since there won’t none of that here they were drier than the ribs. Neither I nor Mr. P were particular fans of the ribs. A shame really as you do get a fair amount of meat here. It was just underwhelming.

But there is always dessert! They had two options and I got them both! The menu said key lime pie and I thought I as actually gonna get a slice which turned out to be more a deconstructed parfait version of it. I let my disappointment go when I got because, oh well, more live and learn. Props at least though as it had the appropriate key lime tang I enjoy and the filling was very creamy with ample crushed bits of graham cracker. It was fine though not what I was really looking for. Mr P however was totally into it. Seems it reminded him of one of his favorite yogurts so I let him have at it.

I moved my taste buds onto to this smoked carrot cake which totally intrigued me when I saw it on the menu. A further inquiry found it was made in house and totally cooked in their smoker. I am so a fan of carrot cake I just couldn’t resist giving this a try, especially after he told me it was topped with cream cheese icing. Sold! One bite in and what can I say—next to the chocolate eruption cake—it was one of the worst desserts I have ever had!

The thin layer of cake was way to dense and sticky and not in a good way. It came off gummy and chewy. And while the idea of smoke sounds interesting it came across as if this was caught in a chimney fire. It tasted burnt without actually being burnt-so kudos for pulling that off? The overabundance of nutmeg didn’t help giving it an unpleasant bitter edge. And the so called cream cheese frosting was an overly sweetened liquidy travesty giving frosting of all kinds a bad name. A shame really as I like the idea of smoked carrot cake but the execution here failed on so many layers I wonder if they even taste tested this before deciding to add to the menu. Or did the chef think, hey let me whip this up and see how it goes? However this came about, they either need to go back to recipe drawing board or, better yet, abandon the idea all together.

Definitely a mixed bag for sure. The mac and cheese and house made pickles were real winners though, since the meat was the whole reason to hit up a place called Wood Shop BBQ, not sure I’ll be venturing back across town for them seeing as how the selections we had fell a little short of what we were hoping for. This place has their fans and thats cool. There are a number other places still to check out to get my tender, juicy, fall off the bone meat fix. And then there was that abomination of a carrot cake. Taking one of my all time favorite desserts and inflicting so much pain on it and my taste buds. That alone I just can’t forgive.