KC BBQ Company10863 Magnolia Blvd
North Hollywood
818-754-0030
Today was a good and bad day. Bad in that I found out the Swinging Door BBQ is now closed. But about two miles away a new BBQ place opened up. I'm sure glad KC BBQ Company is now opened.
KC is the BBQ capitol of the US. They BBQ anything and everything, over hickory.
KC BBQ Company was opened up by a guy who lived in KC and learned to BBQ from some of the best pitmasters around. In KC there is debate about which BBQ restaurant is better, Gates or some other guy. Gates kicks ass, trust me.
Anyways since we're not in KC, but snobby LA, KC BBQ Company has to cater their business to their customers. So that means no spare ribs, only baby backs. The half order of baby backs, $14.06, were sooo good. Now as readers of The New Diner know, I think spare ribs are yuppie, white suburban food. I hate it. But I will eat it. These ribs were so moist, tender and flavorful. TThey had a nice bark and good amount of meat on them. The BBQ sauce was a mild tasting sauce. Not too sweet and not hot. I think just right for the ribs. But I just couldn't help thinking how great spare ribs would be from KC BBQ Company.
Some people may not know the difference between ribs. There are usually three kinds of ribs. Spare ribs and baby back ribs are PORK ribs from a pig. St. Louis ribs are spare ribs, with the top part cut off. Baby back ribs are cut from the top of the rib cage on a pig. They are close to the loin, which is the best cut on a pig. Baby back ribs are more expensive and easier to BBQ.
Spare ribs are taken from the belly side of the ribcage. They are bigger, have more fat, and are tougher than baby backs. But spare ribs in the hands of a great pitmaster, can be BBQ'd to be tender, not fat, and better tasting than baby backs. It takes a skilled pitmaster to make great spare ribs. Anybody can make a good rack of baby back ribs.
Beef ribs are from a cow. Beef ribs are bigger, since cows are bigger than pigs. If done correctly beef ribs are tasty.
There is nothing fancy about KC BBQ Company. The red and white checkered table clothes are clean but fading. They fake log cabin wood planel is always a welcoming site. But really what gives a damn.
Service was poor. When I got there somebody else had just finished ordering, so I walk up to the counter and the guy behind the counter, walks away and cleans off a table. He couldn't wait five minutes, after I order, to clean the table? When he gets back, he talks my order and things are fine. But I don't think it's good customer service when somebody walks away from a paying customer.
Dispite the poor service, I would go back because the ribs were great. I will try the beef ribs because the table next to me ordered some beef ribs and they looked so good.
Update March 14, 2009
WOW what a change. First the KC BBQ Co has been fixed up. New coat of paint, the bar, which is attached to KC BBQ Co is opening tomorrow and has a great selection of beers.
I got the burnt ends sandwich, $8.99. Burnt ends are brisket. When pitmasters smoke brisket, the ends always get burnt. Pitmaster cut off those ends, when the brisket is done, chop them up and serves them.
This was really the first time I've ever had burnt ends and they were great. The ends had a wonderful smoked flavor. Very good stuff. The BBQ sauce did not overpower the flavor, many times the meat is drowned in BBQ sauce and the smoked flavor is ruined. But this is a very good example of burnt ends. Remember KC BBQ means a sweeter sauce, though some places have made a spicer version.
Service was also much better. I walked in and was greeted. I told the guy that I had a group of about 12 people. He saved an entire section of seats for us, even though the group wasn't scheduled to arrive until 30 minutes later.
