Rolling Bones BBQ- The Review

Last night, we found ourselves downtown at destination #2 of Meat Week ’08: Rolling Bones Premium Pit BBQ. Squeezed in amongst historic homes and unidentifiable small business on a not-yet-gentrified stretch of Edgewood Ave., Rolling Bones is housed in what appears to be an old gas station (much like Taqueria del Sol’s Decatur outpost). By the time the 20 or so Meat Weekers had piled in, we’d taken not only the best seats, but every seat in the joint.

I’d like to say up front that, if this were a proper restaurant review, I would have tried several more of the meats and sides. However, this reviewer had to cough up her own cash to enjoy said BBQ, so this write-up is just a small taste of what Rolling Bones has to offer.

I started with a quarter, white meat chicken (in the mild sauce), fries and pinto beans. The chicken was a study in tenderness clichés: falling off the bone, sliceable with a plastic fork, so moist and juicy I could have mistaken it for a chicken sponge cake (ew). The skin was cooked to a perfect crisp and, despite the whole portion swimming in a sweet, smoky sauce, held up admirably to the very last bite, with not a trace of sogginess. The fries were pretty standard (I would have enjoyed the option of smothering them in cheese), but the beans were a big winner. The broth around them held little flecks of pork and was thick and rich enough to call the dish a stew. I also sampled a few slices of the brisket, which were comparably tender but also had a lot more charring around the edges than the chicken. I love char, but if it’s not for you, consider yourself warned. The collard greens were swimming in good, salty broth, but needed some vinegar to liven things up.

A fellow Meat Weeker was generous enough to let me sample from his mammoth plate of riblets, which were a little on the fatty side, but full of the same addictively smoky flavor as the brisket. The only real loser was the potato salad, with a blend of undercooked spud chunks and tiny bits of onion and celery in a thin, overly mustard-y dressing.

On the whole (hog), our visit to Rolling Bones was great success, major event! Once the Meat Week haze has passed, you can bet you’ll find me exiting the drive through (did I not mention that all of this can be yours—to go!?), sauce dripping down my chin as I nibble a few furtive, juicy bites on the way home.