The Swinging Door BBQ11018 Van Owen
North Hollywood
818-763-8996
The Swinging Door is a new BBQ place that has many of the idiots at Chowhounds debating about what real BBQ is. Well Swinging Door is real BBQ. They smoke the meat right in front of the restaurant. You can smell smoke a mile away. I guess The Swinging Door was having issues with running out of meat, especially beef ribs when they first opened. Well beef ribs are not on the menu anymore. But I'm sure the idiots on Chowhounds will find something else to cry about.
I ordered the Basket of Ribs with one side for $9.50. The ribs are listed as ala carte but the Swinging Door is nice enough to give you a free side order, I ordered Mac and cheese.
I loved the ribs. They were nice and tender. Had a great smoke flavor, look at the smoke ring in the picture of the ribs. They are great. The BBQ sauce is a light, sweet tomato based sauce that was OK. But the ribs are the best ribs I've had at a BBQ in the Valley. The mac and cheese isn't anything special but when the ribs are great, who cares?
The service is great. Friendly and helpful. They even allowed me to sample their links, brisket, and chicken breast while I was waiting. I saw them slicing the tri tip and it looked sooo good, next time I am order the two meat combo and get the ribs and tri tip. The link was good, mild and not too spicy. The brisket was nice and tender and the couple slices I had there was no fat. The chicken was a little overcooked but I liked the flavor and would order it again.
I think I found my favorite BBQ place in the Valley. Great service and great food is a combo that can't be beat.
