During my weekend swing through the state capitol I went to my favorite lunch spot, City Barbeque in Upper Arlington. I'm not going to go too far into the subject of barbeque because, frankly, it could end up being a very long post. Most people have varying degrees of passion about how how much sauce there should be, how long it should cook for, etc. I personally prefer the Carolina BBQ myself, but will eat it if it's from Kansas City, Memphis, Texas or whatever; I just love to try them all.
This is one of the places that was discovered while being broke going to school. I knew I could always get people to go with me because it was cheap, and more importantly very good. Whether it was classamates or coworkers at Scioto CC we could always round up a posse for dinner. My Dad would call it "food that sticks to your ribs". I think this place would be a huge hit on the west side of Cleveland.
Smoked for 14 hours, City runs the gammit whether it's pork, chicken, brisket, turkey, or Texas sausage. If your not a vegetarian, there's something for everyone's taste.
The sauce has a vinegar zing to it that just really agrees with the palatte. This, too, is incorporated in the baked beans (that have sizeable chunks of brisket in it) that are unmatched. I have actually tried a number of recipes to try and recapture the magic and have been very unsuccessful. The sides are the usual BBQ fare. While I can't say that I've had them all, the one's I have had have all been good.
Everyone I've ever taken to this place always walks away happy.
While I don't typically have dessert when I eat here; I have a friend who absolutely loves the banana pudding with 'nilla wafers. After gorging myself on one of the full slab dinners, I tapped out. My buddy Doug decides he's going to get a pint of the banana pudding. I thought there was no way he was going to get all the way through it. As I looked over not only has he polished off the pint, he went back up to the counter and order a quart sized container and finished that as well!
"Did you like it?", I asked.
"Damn dude, that's good stuff."
Good stuff. That pretty much sums it up.
City BBQ is the best pulled pork ever. They have locations in Columbus, Cincinnati, Dayton and Findlay. I have emailed about a location on the west side of Cleveland and the response is "no plans for the Cleveland area". I even included locations from Crocker Park to Avon Commons (including the new JC Penney/Lowe's location). Please if you have ever had City BBQ or want the best pulled pork ever, send them a email to show that the west side of Cleveland would be a great place for a City BBQ.
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