mmm...beef

Last night I finally got to try out Memphis Minnie's BBQ. I was going to see Porgy and Bess with a friend, and she and her boyfriend are big fans of Minnie's, so we decided to get some BBQ before heading to the opera house.

Meats:
- St. Louis style smoked pork ribs: I'm a big fan of pork ribs so I ordered this as one of my two meats for my "two-way combo". They were okay, but I've had better.
- Santa Maria tri-tip steak: My other meat choice; the steak was well-flavored and tender, and I enjoyed dunking bits of it in the "stupid hot" sauce.
- Texas big beef ribs: This was my favorite; I stole at least 1.5 ribs from D's plate. I'm really not used to having beef ribs at all, and the few times I've had it, it's been less than outstanding, so I was skeptical, but the beef ribs at Minnie's are amazing. I'll be getting these next time.
- Texas beef brisket: Again, I've had some dry and tasteless briskets, so I was wary of ordering these, but I should have listened to my friends; the brisket was juicy and flavorful, and I liked it better than the tri-tip.

Sides:
- cornbread: Came with the plate, and was pretty decent; not too dry, had visible bits of corn, and was sweet but not too sweet.
- beans: I chose this as one of my sides, hoping they would be sweet Texas style baked beans, but they weren't. On the bright side there were large chunks of meat interspersed with the beans.
- mac & cheese: My other chosen side, which turned out to be pretty good but nothing to write home about.
- coleslaw: I dislike mayonnaise-y coleslaw, so I was a big fan of Minnie's "tart" coleslaw, which to me tasted most like Japanese pickled vegetables. Yum! I ate nearly half of D's coleslaw.
- fries: These turned out to be shoestring fries seasoned liberally with salt, pepper, and something red, and served in generous portions. I liked these very much (and the trend continued of me liking D's plate better than my own).

Sauces:
- a South Carolina-style mustard sauce: This was my least favorite. I'm only moderately fond of mustard, though.
- a North Carolina-style vinegar sauce: This one tasted okay but very runny and I quickly gave up on it.
- a Texas tomato-based sauce: The best of the three sauces on the table, but still not really necessary since the meats were already well seasoned.
- the aforementioned "stupid hot" sauce: I like spicy food, so even though the tri-tip didn't really need it, I ended up dunking bits of it in this sauce from time to time.

Next time I'll be ordering the beef ribs and probably the beef brisket, unless I decide to try the Memphis sweet smoked pork. I'll definitely be having fries and coleslaw on the side.