Michael Lippman

The Los Angeles BBQ Festival was held in the parking lot just north of the Santa Monica Pier, this past weekend Sept 13 & 14. 

Day 1

My plan: get there at 11:45 AM.  Wait for the "doors" to open.  Bee-line for LC’s from Kansas City for spare ribs (Kansas City being a barbecue mecca and LC's considered one of the best, I fear long lines here); then head straight to Southside Market and BBQ for the "Elgin sausage" (Elgin, by Texas state legislative decree, is the sausage capital of Texas) and then Bandana’s from St. Louis for their spare ribs; and then out – because all the other booths are from L.A. (Baby Blue in Venice, Gus's in Pasadena, Parise Pit BBQ (caterer??), Mr. Cecil's, Bristol Farms) and I can have them any time.

The reality: walked down to pier with wife’s car keys, already a big line at the fest, had to leave and find my wife, which led to more hassles as we connected with my parents visiting from NY and by the time we ALL got to the festival it was well after 1 PM and the line for LC’s was 3 hours long. 

Yep.  I hung out on the LC's line as my wife did missions to other joints and brought back food.  First: Baby Blue, where I've been a thousand times.  The Baby Blue spare ribs were really really good today, just the right smokiness, just the right firmness versus tenderness and give, delicious thin spicy sauce – and that very distinct pork flavor that shines through when all the elements are right.  L.A. should be very proud.   Next dish my wife delivered to the LC's line—hot Elgin sausage from Southside Market, Elgin, Texas. 

Served on a single piece of white bread, a couple of pickles, a half slice of American cheese.  Also a bit of brisket on the other side of the plate.  Tried the brisket.  It's good, and then really good with the pickle which is spicy and crunchy.  Then the sausage: I pick it up as a sandwich in the white bread and  take a bite: HOLY SH….  Wow.  Revelation.  Spicy but not too hot spicy; texture is genius, somehow a cross between a good snappy hot dog and a crumbly sausage … I dunno quite how to describe it, I'm not a sausage expert, but this sausage in incredible.  And this is unquestionably the greatest use of white bread known to man.  Winner! 

Next my wife delivered the spares rib from Bandana, St Louis, Missouri. 

Blech.  Way too dry and a wrong flavor. 

An hour has passed and we’ve only moved a tenth of the distance to the front of the LC's line, if that.  Got my two year old, my wife, and my parents.  We’re out, I'll come back tomorrow for LC's. 

Terrible cupcakes, decent brownie on the way out.

Day 2

My plan, get there at 11:45 AM.  It ain’t easy, but today I pull it off.  "Doors" open and I bee-line for LC’s from Kansas City. 

4th in line.  Turns out I'm really 6th in line because a couple of VIPs cut in front of me.  Fine.  I still have to wait 10 minutes as I watch the LC's folks chop up some pork into very fine pieces, probably for the baked beans.  Then they finally take a rack of spare ribs out of the smoker.  And cut the ribs. 

They brush some sauce on.  I pay my ten bucks.  Done.  I’ve got my plate of LC's.  They look good.

I don’t want to deal with any lines today, so I go straight to La Parise Pit Barbecue – why?  Because there was a really long line there yesterday, too.  Boom boom, I get my brisket with some sauce and some mac and cheese. 

Now with two plates in my hands I go back to Southside Market and BBQ and get a hot sausage and some brisket and pickles and white bread and I apply some hot sauce. 

Now with three plates, I find a table.  It's only 12:15.  No one’s really here yet, the tables are pretty much empty (in an hour there will barely be a place to sit) … although, wait, a LONG line is already forming at LC’s.  I don’t think LC expected such a crowd and I think they’re movin’ a bit slow back there.  Plus, it’s definitely the most popular booth.  Come on, world class bbq from Kansas City gracing LA with its presence.  There are enough bbq freaks here in LA who get it.  Clearly.

I taste LC’s Kansas City spare rib. 

It’s damn good.  Damn good.  The sauce is thin and tasty and unobtrusive, and the meat is what really rocks.  A little bit charred, a little bit fatty, and the meat in the middle has benefited enormously from however this baby has been cooked.  It’s got an amazing tenderness, even a fattiness, but without being soft at all.  The give is perfect, and the mouthfeel is where you can really tell it’s first rate.  It's got a complexity and a fullness that edges out yesterday's Baby Blue spare rib.  Special and worth coming a second day for.

The brisket from Parise Pit BBQ is not so good, and the sauce is cloyingly sweet.  It’s the first sauce I’ve tasted here that's obnoxious, that just doesn’t jibe with the meat.  Eat one bite.  Over and out.

The hot sausage from Southside Market is once again pure heaven.  Pure sheer tell everyone about it heaven.  See "Day 1".  And by the way, everyone's talking about this sausage here at the festival.  It's making a serious impression.

What else?  Hmmm.  Should we try this bbq chicken from Gus’s in Pasedena?  Why not?  Just ten more bucks and no line yet.  I taste. 

It's not bad in a complete vacuum, but it's totally not in the spirit of bbq as far as I’m concerned.  It tastes more like grilled chicken, and even if it had a somewhat smokey flavor I wouldn’t know it because of all the herbs and spices thrown all over it.  And the mouthfeel was definitely not a great bbq chx mouthfeel.  (Had a great one recently at Dr. Hogley Wogley’s – now that was barbecue chicken.)

What have I not tried?  The barbecue chicken skewers at Bristol Farms.  Bristol Farms?  More chicken?  Pass.  What else have I not tried?  Only one more – Mr. Cecil’s beef ribs.  There was a time I tolerated, even enjoyed these.  I am SO over them. 

I look back to Southside Market.  I could eat another sausage.  Instead I just go over and kvell to the pitmaster, who's way too cool for school.  Whatever.  I'm a dork.  More LC's?  No, the line's already an hour long.  All right.  Cool.  I guess my work here is done.