Obey your Ribmaster

A couple months or so ago I noticed that the Ribmasters truck had set up shop in the lot of the Citgo on the 200 block of Cottage Grove Road. I made a mental note to try out their food which remained merely an aspiration until just recently.

At first I tried to catch them at lunchtime when I was working from home but they were never open. And so I tried my luck one day at dinnertime. They were open for business!

Walking up to the truck I saw wisps of smoke rising from the smoker which made me think of Phillip Jeffries in season 3 of Twin Peaks.

 "It's smoky in here."

I ordered rib tips:

And a brisket sandwich with fries.

Oops. I ended up with brisket smothered fries. Well, I just had to build the sandwich myself.

The brisket was average to good, depending on the bite. I liked the rib tips more as they had a really nice smoky taste. I was told that the beans were good while I felt the fries needed more time in the fryer. Brown those puppies up! The biggest gripe was that the rib tips were a bit too salty. Still quite edible for me, though. A big plus for me was that the meat was not drowning in sauce.

I shall definitely try them again. The gentleman said that he was going to try to be open every night for dinner when the weather warmed.

If you get a meal there, look out for the hidden doughnuts.

The Corona Diaries Vol. 81: The Sound of Ice

(late-December 2022)

It was about a week after I got back from Stevens Point green with envy over the snow they had gotten that we down here in Madison experienced our first major snowfall of the season. And so it was off to Acewood Park to enjoy it.

It was right around freezing and so the snow was wet and heavy with big flakes pelting my face and threatening to soak through my hat. I tried to take photographs quickly before my camera and phone became covered in slush.

As I was walking along the path, I saw several birds flying from tree to tree, most way up in the bare canopies. While I took many photographs hoping to see what species they were and perhaps match them to a winter survival scheme that I had read about in Winter World (from last entry), most of them were out of focus or suffered from motion blur.

Except this one.

That’s a mourning dove. Winter survival strategy: unknown. It just seemed content to sit on the branch, snowstorm be damned.

Since I see them a lot, I would guess that they are the kind of bird that eats all day to fatten up in time for bed.

Although it was cloudy and grey out, the Acewood Arch still looked lovely to me.

I walked out behind the cattails on the south side of the park and saw an area in which they were matted down. Perhaps it was the bed of a deer. I followed a ditch out of the wetland which led through a wooded area towards another bit of wetland before ending at a pond. Just before a culvert I spied something odd on a tree. I moved in a little closer to see what it was but I couldn’t make it out. So I made a bee line for the tree. Finally, once my face was inches away from it, I was able to identify what the thing was that had caught my attention.

A trail cam. I presume the city is looking to get a handle on the wildlife that live in the park. Some poor employee of the Parks division is in for a shock when they watch the footage and are confronted by my disheveled, unshaven face in extreme close-up, icicles hanging from my moustache and a perplexed look with eyes squinting as they peer over my glasses.

Farther down the ditch were more cattails.

I made my way back to Acewood pond and stepped out onto the ice. It cracked beneath my feet revealing that a thin layer of it covered frozen mud. I looked out and saw spots on the ice where water was bubbling up.

I continued walking on the frozen surface, not too far from shore, and my footfalls caused 2 types of noises. First was the expected cracking of ice that we are used to hearing when we trudge along sidewalks that our neighbors couldn't be bothered to shovel after the last snowstorm or when we select crushed ice from our refrigerator's icemaker for that refreshing gin & tonic after a hard day at the office.

SCRUNCH!

Second was the sound of cracks radiating out from where my foot had fallen and sounding like tightly strung wires loosed from their moors.

P-YOO!

As this latter sound became more common, I got nervous. To quote Ernest Shackleton, "Well, that just doesn't sound good." Feeling a general sense of apprehension, I figured that I should head back to the shore. I turned and took a couple of strides before

CRACK!

My right leg went through the ice and into the mud up to just above my knee. This was swiftly followed by my left leg plunging through the ice but it didn’t sink quite as deep.

Well crap.

I hope I didn't drop down onto a sleeping turtle.

What was the worst that could happen? I’d call the non-emergency police number and they'd send a fire fighting crew to pull me out after they had finished laughing. But that was only what a small part of me was thinking. The much larger part was convinced that I had become like that guy in Jack London’s “To Build a Fire” and that this was the end of me. My legs would freeze solid and some jogger would find my corpse in the spring and see the evidence of what turtles do when they're pissed off because you stepped on them when they were trying to hibernate.

As it happened, I managed to crawl out fairly easily. I beat a hasty retreat to my car and went home to change and put my clothes in the washer. But it had been a wonderful walk nonetheless.

********

Just about a week ago, nearly 6 months after a tree had fallen and totaled my neighbor's house, a crew was seen out there demolishing it.

For reasons unknown, they left a couple of walls standing which it seems they’re going to keep. Which means he is rebuilding.

I didn't realize he had no basement. A small house, no basement yet it was still probably worth $250,000 in this market.

********

Food! Having bought that rhubarb BBQ sauce in Stevens Point, I decided to make ribs. I began by whipping up a dry rub.

I made these in the oven so they got the rub and were then lovingly placed in a baking dish along with some beer and cooked low & slow until tender. I then sauced half of them and let them sit under the broiler for a short while to caramelize/get crispy. They didn’t turn out half bad. The sauce was good. It had a nice tartness and tanginess to it and wasn’t like eating corn syrup. But my dry rub needs work. I want to work on it so it's less chili powdery and more, um, something else. Maybe lean on the paprika and garlic & onion powder a bit more.

My Frau made macaroni & cheese with pimentos to go along with the ribs and we had one of those bagged salads made of shredded broccoli. So it was a kinda sorta healthy dinner.

I also recently cooked some artichoke spinach chicken which the Frau had found the recipe for. Here are the ingredients. Well, most of those are. Lemon curd - those jars with the gingham lids that look like they were processed by a French grandmother - was not an ingredient. Neither were those 2 cans of cat food.

We’ve got chicken breasts, cream cheese, lots of garlic, artichoke hearts, spinach (not shown), sour cream, chicken broth, salt, pepper, and red pepper flakes. Did I mention garlic?

My Frau will stand for no less than twice the garlic called for by a recipe. I don't know how she developed this garlic addiction. It's gone from simply having multiple heads of the stuff on hand at all times to buying a ceramic garlic roaster and, most recently, a tube of minced garlic that I think was 50% off at the Dollar Store. I pray it doesn't go any further lest she commission garlic artwork or some such thing.

This recipe is all done in one pan which makes clean up easier. It turned out well.

Back in October, I read about a new restaurant that had opened just north of us called La Pollera Colombiana which specializes in Columbian roasted chicken. I immediately thought to myself, “Ooh! I have no idea what makes roasted chicken Colombian but we’ve got to try that place out.”

Well, October came and went without us going. November did the same. Then in the middle of this month it hit me, this craving for roasted chicken. I felt like a junkie climbing up a wall unable to get his fix. So one evening, I jumped in my car and drove there.

While a few Columbian touches were to be had, the interior wasn’t radically different from its predecessor, Om (Indian) Fusion.

But it had a warm and cozy feel to it on a blustery late fall evening. I let things get out of control and ended up ordering too much food so we had plenty of leftovers.

We had roasted chicken – delicious! – grilled skirt steak (also delicious) along with grilled potatoes, fried plantains, beans, and rice (delectable, tasty, yummy, and tastilicious). It was a fine, hearty meal that really hit the spot. I had been quite hungry and just kind of gobbled it down not really trying to discern the flavors. And so I look forward to a return visit so I can try to figure out what seasonings were used on the chicken and just what makes it Columbian style.

********

In the middle of the month we got a big storm that covered the ground in a new layer of pristine white. It was gorgeous outside.

As you can see, whatever the survival strategy of the neighborhood birds was, chowing down at our backyard feeder in the wake of the storm was not it.

After work the next day, I went for a walk around the neighborhood. One of the great benefits of working from home is to be able to logoff, put on my boots, and immediately be outside on a stroll.

Not too cold out and just lovely.

I walked by this one house and noticed the tree out front still had berries on it.

“Ooh! I know this one!”

Winter World had a section on winter berries. They weren’t holly but rather something cranberries. I couldn’t remember the name and so looked it up when I got home. Highbush cranberries. Now, in the tree in the backyard of the house next door to this one I spied a flock of hungry birds who were getting impatient with the human.

When I walked down the street just a little bit farther, they all swooped down at once and started chowing down on the berries.

I thought they were house sparrows but the beak of that one on the right coming in for a landing looks too narrow to be a sparrow. Hmm…

I dropped something off at the library and circled back to Starkweather Creek. The path to the railroad tracks looked inviting.

The creek was rather serene.

A bunch of birds were all in a tizzy on the other side of the bridge.

Now those look like house sparrows. Males have that white chest with the black stripe below the neck.

I went home to cook dinner and warm up. But I would be out in the snow and cold again the next day on a walk led by a tree expert.

********

Bonus photo. This is a picture of how a friend of mine spent his winter solstice way up north. I am green with envy again!

 

 

(Bang your head to the postlude.)

That BBQ Joint: First Impression

That BBQ Joint opened on Willy Street last week so I stopped in after work to sample the smoky comestibles. The place was empty but the garbage cans were full. The decor was rather utilitarian. There were a few small tables with stools against the windows but that's about it. Take away is the order of the day.



I purchased a rack of ribs, which came with garlic bread, and some vinegar coleslaw. In addition, I brought home some of their regular BBQ sauce. The ribs were tender but not falling off the bone. When you rip off the meat, you can see the smoke ring. Curiously enough, the rib tips were still attached which methinks disqualifies them as St. Louis-style. They had a wonderful smoky flavor. The sauce, which came on the side, was tomato-based and had a nice sweet-tangy balance.

The garlic bread was fine while the coleslaw was a bit too sweet for me. I prefer slaw in a vinegar-based dressing to emphasize the tartness of the vinegar. Sugar shouldn't neutralize the vinegar, just take the edge off.

As I was getting the bill settled, a gentleman came in and took his place in line behind me. We chatted briefly and he noted that this was his second go-round of the day. Earlier he had tried out the pork shoulder and was so smitten that he had returned to try the ribs.

So far, so good for That BBQ Joint. Hopefully the neighborhood embraces them, although I was not present during any breast-feeding so we shall see. Personally, I still give Papa Bear's sauce an edge, but TBBQJ has the advantage of being closer to home. As a bonus, TBBQJ doesn't have a stupid, sexist drink menu like it's nearest competitor.

That BBQ Joint Opens Tomorrow

That BBQ Joint was supposed to have opened last week on the 1st but the new opening date is apparently tomorrow. A friend of mine, who travels to St. Louis to eat BBQ, stopped there on the 1st and discovered that they were not yet open for business due to ventilation issues but was given some samples. His thoughts:

The pork? "Scrumptious." He enjoyed the brisket too: "...best brisket I've had north of the Mason-Dixon." The ribs were "very good" and an "excellent example of St Louis rib."

That BBQ Joint is at 1511 Williamson Street, the former home of Batch Bakery and Pavlov's Pizza. (R.I.P.)

Blair Street Brew & BBQ (And a Question About Kids Menus)

The Dulcinea and I went to Blair Street Brew & BBQ yesterday. I was keen on trying it out after discussing BBQ with some friends of mine who are aficionados of smoked meat, i.e. – they will drive hundreds of miles to investigate a city's BBQ scene. One friend said of Blair Street:

I gave his ribs and sides a try I liked them better than Brickhouse BBQ. The potato salad was ok, the coleslaw was bland and the beans were mediocre.

Perhaps "better than Brickhouse" will become Madison's new BBQ slogan. Despite the less than ringing endorsement, we went anyway.

I had the pork shoulder sandwich and The D went with the beef brisket. She had cole slaw and I kartoffelsalat. It's true. The slaw was bland and the kartoffelsalat was OK. Actually, I think there's a good kartoffelsalat in there but it's too salty. Also, the kartoffeln are drowning in the mayo-based dressing but this isn't a problem to my taste. Just cut down the salt.

The pork shoulder was tender and flavorful, though not particularly smoky. The sauce there was also good. I appreciated that the sweetness was restrained and it had a good tanginess. It had that Heinz 57 approach which I think of as being a mix of celery, onion, and garlic powders along with mustard and tomato paste. To my palate, it accentuated the meat instead of overpowering it. I also appreciated that the sandwich did not come with any sauce on it and that I was allowed to tweak it myself.

For her part, The D found there to be too much salt in her meal and wished that there were more onion strings on her sandwich. Unlike mine, hers was open-faced.

A few other notes: the chocolate malt was tasty but the whipped cream turned out to be fake. We're in Wisconsin – no simulacra of dairy products. Portion sizes, however, were just right. The owner, Nick Sierzant, was there. He was affable and came across as a down-to-earth, honest fellow. At some point Sierzant will start brewing on premises. The menu promised a pale ale, a pilsner, and a bock. Lastly, the beer menu contained a lame sexist joke. Domestics like Bud, Coors, and Miller were under the WNBA category while craft brews were in NBA. I can understand making fun of crappy beer but why the need to demean women?

A question occurred to me as I was scanning the menu. The kids menu contained "Chicken Fingaires", which I take to be chicken fingers/strips, a pizza of one sort or another, and a couple other items. This is very common but I don't recall this being the case when I was a kid. At what point did a menu for children move from being smaller portions of other items on the menu to being almost exclusively generic garbage? Or is my memory just faulty? It's sad that, at a BBQ joint, children are presented with options that have absolutely nothing to do with BBQ. Smoky Jon's is the same way. Look at the Essen Haus' kids menu. It's McDonald's, essentially. No smaller portions of schnitzel or any such thing. It's like the restaurant is saying, "We have all this fine food for you. Your kids, however, can eat crap."

So when will Madison get Detroit-style pizza?

I Ate More Than a Bite at JB's Eat-A-Bite

Over the weekend The Dulcinea and I had lunch at JB's Eat-A-Bite BBQ. We were both so hungry that we were overwhelmed by the menu as everything sounded tasty. In the end, we decided to go with BBQ. She had the rib tips while I had the straight-up ribs.



Fries and coleslaw came with each. The former were done well – light and crispy. The slaw was good too. While it could have used some celery powder or seed, it wasn't sweet, which I greatly appreciated. The ribs were served lukewarm but I didn't mind too much. The meat was cooked perfectly. It came off the bone easily but didn't fall off. The sauce was excellent. If most BBQ sauces are tomato-based and sweet like catsup, this stuff was more akin to Heinz 57. I think it was mustard based. There was a hint of sweetness but it was mostly savory. The smoke flavor was also great. It tasted heartier and woodier than the other BBQ joints in town. I wonder if he uses a different kind of wood.

We, and by this I mean The Dulcinea, ordered okra and greens too.



The okra was fantastic. No deep frying here and also no mucilage. Instead you got tasty bites of that earthy goodness that somehow retained a bit of firmness. The greens were quite serviceable but I like mine with more fatback or bacon. A corn bread muffin came with the dinners as well. Again, not overly sweet, which gets high marks in my book, but it was dry.

The eponymous JB is James Brown, the friendly proprietor of the place. He was on hand and chatted us up. He also gave us free samples of the okra and the red beans & rice. He introduced the latter by noting that it was his mother's recipe and that she served it to Louis Armstrong. True or not, I can't say but I can say that it was excellent. In fact, I'd never had red beans & rice quite like it. It was more soupy – like gumbo – than the versions I've had which are thicker and more gravy-like. It had small chunks of chicken and slices of very small diameter sausage. Thyme was prominent. It left a very slight burn; a bit of tingling on the tongue really. Very, very good stuff. As I overheard JB tell another customer, the food is not spicy hot as Creole doesn't mean hot.

While we were too full for dessert, there were four kinds of cake, one of which was "Better Than Sex". It looked to be a dark chocolate cake with white frosting.

Next time The D is keen on trying the chicken livers while I want to give the Italian beef sandwich a go. Mr. Brown is apparently from Louisiana originally but lived in Chicago as well. This accounts for the presence of the Italian beef, Maxwell Street Polish, and whatnot on the menu.



Speaking of Italian beef, I noticed last week at Falbo Bros. now offers one and I just had to try it. It was actually pretty tasty. Unfortunately, they toasted the bun, melted cheese on it, and put the gravy on the side instead of dipping the sandwich in it.

New BBQ on South Side (New to me, anyway)

On my way back into Madison today I stopped for gas at the 7-Eleven at Park and Buick. With my gas pumping I noticed JB's Eat-A-Bite BBQ tucked next to the mini-mall housing the 7-Eleven. They advertise "Authentic Louisiana Home Cookin'". The menu is a real hodge-podge with BBQ, Cajun, and Chicago sitting along side generic staples like hamburgers and hot wings. The BBQ is self-evident while the Cajun aspect is represented by catfish, red beans & rice, jambalaya, shrimp etouffee, frog legs, and "Alligator Bites". I like frog legs and, while I have had alligator sausage, it was nothing special to my palate. On the Chicago side there Italian beef (a tentative joy on my part), Italian sausage, Maxwell Street Polish sausage, and a Maxwell Street pork chop. There are also Southern sides such as okra and greens.

Anyone tried this place yet? (I'm looking at you, JM and Nichole.)

While I'm on the subject of food, I'd like to mention El Patron in Fort Atkinson. It's my new lunch spot when I have to travel east for work. Their lunch menu is cheap and their lunch specials are a steal. Today I had a grilled chicken breast topped with about 5 pounds of grilled onions, rice, salad, and tortillas for $6.50. And this included chips and salsa for starters. There's nothing nouveau or fusiony here, just plain comfort food. At least that's my impression from the meals I've had. Strangely, they give you ranch dressing along with the salsa that comes with your chips and they have this weird predilection for putting a white sauce on various burritos but these can be avoided. Back on the plus side, they have red and green habanero sauce at the table. I have only been there after the lunch hour so my experience with the service is limited but has been great. The food is served quickly and the staff are friendly. I can always look forward to the gentleman asking, "More iced tea, amigo?"

Lastly, go get some pan de fiesta from El Bolillo. The stuff is heaven. Fluffy, yet with substance, it has sesame seed and a light glaze along with raisins tucked into its folds. I get mine at Super Tienda Latina along with the tamales there on Saturdays. Perfect gaming chow for trying to solve The Skinsaw Murders.