Hi Jeff! Great to see ya!

Gosh- you're in a pickle! What to do?

I guess one must first ask themselves if they think the owner/chef would be open to a suggestion from someone who they might not think of as as knowledgable as they are. I mean- certainly the operators think of themselves as folks w/ a mighty-fine recipe and method, or else they likely wouldn't have opened their joint.

If many other places in your neck o' the woods offer only mediochre BBQ, it'd be interesting to know how they feel their's differs from all the others. Hmmm... I think you might just be in on of those damned if ya do- damned if ya don't situations.

One could always try sending an anonymous note-card explaining things exactly as you explain here. That way- they're not "confronted" and don't run the risk of losing credibility, or having to back-pedal or save face. AND if they take your compliments and advice to heart and DO make change- then you'll benefit from BBQ that's gone from pretty okay- to REALLY GOOD and you haven't hurt any feelings or put your own neck out there and exposed yourself at all.

These are some great suggestions! Hmm for some reason I wasn't notified by email of responses.

Iconic, I hear you, but there is a demand for BBQ here, there have been numerous failed attempts here to deliver, but these people here do a lot of it right. They have a great place, they have a great kitchen, smoker, and dinning areas. All of their food is homemade and the ingredients seem to be fresh.

Their ribs they advertise that you do not even need teeth to eat them (seriously they do), yet I find myself needing a knife to get the meat off. They do not offer BB ribs.. umm huh? The chicken is always dry as a bone. Their brisket is OUTSTANDING. Their pulled pork is mundane. Part of me just wants to bbq a few things and drop it off hot with a note and leave, but I think that is just... To quote Dwight Yokum in Sling Blade: "assholish"...

I also think some of their problems is that they do much of their cooking in their outdoor grill/smoker. It gets below 0 all the time here and they are originally from California. They haven't quite mastered cold weather bbq yet me thinks.

Well, thanks for all your input!

Great movie, Jafo! And that's a great quote- one I myself plan to use more often, too!

Hopefully we will get to hear from you a little more often, and hey...Let us know how the BBQ joint does! Good BBQ is hard to beat:p

Sigh... The place went out of business. Smoker was repossessed, and they had to close up shop.. I knew I should have said something lol..