Phat Matt’s BBQ
Saturdays, 9 am to 2 pm
Grand Lake Farmer’s Market
Oakland, CA
Sundays, 9 am to 1 pm
NewPark Mall Farmer’s Market
Newark, CA
Phat Matt’s BBQ is a catering and farmer’s market operation that serves brisket, tri-tip, pulled pork, and hot links fresh from their mobile smoking rig. I’ve had their pulled pork twice now. Usually they drench the pork in a thick, dark sauce more appropriate for brisket or ribs, but this time, when I asked, they told me that the pork already has a light vinegar sauce on it, so I ordered my pulled pork sandwich sans the incorrect sauce. (Amusingly, the guy plating the meat was in such a groove that he had to make the sandwich three times before he managed not to squirt the extra sauce on top, it was so automatic for him.)
It was a good move: their pork was tender, moist, and tasty. It had a good deal of smoke flavor, but my taste buds and the bags of charcoal I saw sitting around the smoker led me to believe that they are probably not smoking with hickory as is traditional for pork shoulders in North Carolina. (UPDATE: I guessed wrong! They do smoke with hardwood. See below.) Smoking with charcoal alone does impart flavor, but it’s harsher and less sweet than what you get from a good hardwood. When Judd and I smoke, we use a mix of charcoal (to sustain the fire) and hardwood chunks soaked in water (so they smolder nicely instead of catching fire).
Nonetheless, with the addition of a little of my homemade eastern Carolina-style vinegar sauce, my pulled pork sandwich turned into the closest thing to the real North Carolina deal that I’ve found in the Bay Area. Maybe next time I can talk them into selling it that way all the time — in the meantime, try picking up some pork from Phat Matt’s and adding your own vinegar sauce. The recipes from The Lexington Collection will steer you right. I use Dennis Rogers’ version, scaled down because I don’t go through a gallon of sauce as quickly as you might imagine.
UPDATE: Charlotte, one of the owners of Phat Matt’s, reports that they do slow-smoke their pulled pork and brisket offsite over various hardwoods and that the charcoal I saw is for grilling other meats. Also, they will provide more of their Lexington-style vinegar sauce upon request, which is great news for lovers of NC-style ‘cue. See her comment below for more details. Thanks, Charlotte!
Comments (2)
Since I am one of the owner’s of this business I would like to clarify a couple of things. We have a wood burning rotisserie smoker that we use to cook the pulled pork and brisket as these meats are labors of love and require anywhere from 8 hours to 18 hours to cook low and slow. We use a variety of woods to smoke our meats depending on what we are cooking, but no charcoal is used in the smoking process.
The bags of charcoal that you noticed are to cook the tri-tip, chicken, links and hot dogs that we serve. We reheat the brisket, pulled pork and ribs on-site.
Just one more thing, the vinegar sauce used in the pulled pork is a version of Lexington sauce (my own) and should you want more of this on your sandwich or a side of it, we will gladly provide it to you. I would love to be able to serve the pulled pork sandwich in the traditional fashion (with the vinegar slaw on top of the pork) but we’ve found more people here in California do not care for coleslaw. Thanks for the great review
Great News Phat Matt’s BBQ has a restaurant located at 3415 Telegraph Ave. in Oakland, CA 94609. I loved it all hope you do too!!! Check out the website http://www.phatmattsbbq.com/
Congratulations Charlotte and Matt