Barbecue is good for us.

Well, there’s a pig pickin’ (pig roast?) in the works in East Bay. And by in the works I mean, dear god, how will we ever find the time to plan this thing? But the basic gist of it is this –

1. One whole pig.
2. All day smoking.
3. Pork bliss.

My friend MJ, another North Carolinian, and I cooked up this idea a few weeks back, and others are interested. So we’re hoping to make it happen sometime in late April, and to invite as many people as the pig will allow. We’ll do pot luck, drink a keg of beer, and definitely have a BBQ sauce contest. 1st prize? All the cracklins you can eat (and not throw up).

In the small amount of Googling I’ve done on this so far, I’ve been disappointed with the lack of information available for someone planning an event like this. So I thought I’d document the practicalities along the way, and collect comments and suggestions from the interested BBQ community.

1st Problem: Location

This is not a simple question. There are two primary constraining factors: 1. a pig will feed lots of folks, so the venue must accommodate lots of folks. 2. A pig requires some special apparatus to cook, be it a large grill or a fire pit.

Given these constraints, we’ve tossed around a few options:

• My backyard: Pros: We could construct a proper pit to line with coals. We’d have access to the kitchen, fridge, bathroom, etc., which would make things much easier. Cons: Small space would be crowded, especially when we make room for the pit. Would the smoking smell disturb the neighbors?
• A Tilden Park Picnic Area: Pros: A ton of space for many people, frisbees and footballs, kegs, cars. Beautiful scenery. Cons: We probably couldn’t make a pit at the picnic area, so we’d have to find another way. Rent some kind of crazy grill trailer? Build our own giant grill pan, rent a UHaul to get it up there? We’d have to pack everything in with us in coolers, etc. No bathrooms.
• Rose Park: Pros: Closer than Tilden. MJ has been to a pig roast there before, so we know it’s doable. Cons: Same as Tilden, with less space, probably.

Anyway, if anyone has any suggestions, ideas, or resources, fire away. I’d love to do the Tilden Park thing, but the problem of figuring out how to roast the pig up there is big. Can we rent a grill trailer? Where? Can we make one ourselves? Who knows how to weld?

More info. as it comes.

Comments (6)

Looney’s is a relative new-comer to the East Bay BBQ scene, opening less than six month ago in a colorful building at the corner of Bancroft & Oxford.

The Nutshell

Overall, I’d say that Looney’s could be a good happy hour spot, especially given its proximity to the Berkeley campus and the giant projection TV that dominates one wall. The BBQ is mediocre, and the sides disappointing. But they have a good beer selection, great hush puppies, and wallet-friendly prices.

The Food

The pork spare ribs I had were mediocre at best. They were quite smoky, which was good, but not tender enough. They may have needed more time in the smoker, but I also think the quality of the meat was slightly below average. The sauce at Looney’s, which they call ‘Texas Barbeque Sauce’ style, is a strange fruity mess. And there’s nothing Texas about it. It’s more like a chutney than anything else in both taste and texture. The flavor isn’t bad, but rather than complementing the meat it overpowers with a mix of acid and fruit. The sauce on Andrew’s pulled pork sandwich was different.

[Andrew adds: It wasn't quite the classic North Carolina vinegar sauce, but Looney's clearly understands, at least, that it isn't supposed to be the thick ketchup-based sauce that you find on other types of BBQ. This is the third time I've had their pulled pork, though, and it's not consistent. It has ranged from reasonably authentic, with a thin, tangy vinegar sauce on tender pork, to mediocre, with a greasy reddish sauce. This time, it was somewhere in between. That said, it's rare to see North Carolina-style pulled pork at all in the Bay Area, so if you've got a craving and don't have eight hours to smoke a butt yourself, Looney's is one of your only choices.]

We tried three sides — BBQ beans, whipped sweet potatoes, and spicy slaw. All three were disappointing, underwhelming, under-seasoned. The BBQ beans were downright gross. The slaw had promise, but aside from a hint of spice it was so bland.

Not all was lost, though. The highlight of the meal was the hush puppies, which I highly recommend. Andrew’s had ‘em a couple of times, and this time they were great — good corn flavor, nice coarse meal, well seasoned and spiced. They were ridiculously crispy, right on that fine line where nutty fried goodness threatens to turn to bitter blackened ass. Another 5 seconds in the fryer and they’d have been lost. [Andrew adds: Amen. Best hush puppies I've encountered in the Bay Area. Nontraditional bits of peppers or something in them, but it works.]

Service, etc.

Our service was quite good, though it wasn’t crowded at all when we were there. Looney’s is a nice place to sit, and is decorated in sports bar style. Anyway, Looney’s will surely feed the campus crowd just fine, but it’s nothing to write home about. I’d go there for a pitcher of beer and some hush puppies during football season, but for ribs I’m going elsewhere.

Comments (6)

The New York Times has a sassy little article on the best barbecue in New York City:

“[The chicken] we got was gigantic, insanely moist and tremblingly tender, and it quickly proved to be the most compelling meat on the table, although it faced serious competition from a super-smoky slab of brisket so tender that I’m sure it would have shredded itself if I had stared at it long enough.”

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