by Franklin on October 26, 2011
One in a while, you come across a BBQ spot that that really hits the spot. A good BBQ restaurant is hard to find. Checking my best friend yelp, I found this Blake’s Place, literally off the grid. Located in the industrial parts of Anaheim, they are hard to find. You wouldn’t even think there would be a restaurant within a few blocks from there. But once you get there and try the food, you will be glad you found it.
Walking in, I had a good feeling about this place. Not only did I see the catering trucks outside, there were a few police officers enjoying a meal. You know if the police eat there, it has to be good food.
I read many good things about the Blake’s pulled pork pile. Once it came out, my mouth dropped to the floor. This thing was huge. As they say, You definitely need napkins for this one. The pork was not dry at all. Most pulled pork I tried was overly sauced because the meat was so dry. Blake does the pulled pork right. The cole slaw gave it a nice crunch and the red onion really made every come together. This was one of my favorite pulled pork sandwiches.
We also ordered the rib plate. It included a lot of different cuts so we got to try everything. It included baby back ribs, pork spare ribs, and of course a beef rib. The plate also came with bbq beans, mac and cheese, cole slaw, and garlic bread. The BBQ at Blake’s really is delicious. The meat was so fall off the bone tender and is never dry or burnt. My favorite of course, was the beef rib. Not only was it humongous, it was delicious. Eating it with the mac and cheese and garlic toast was good too. It was a great BBQ meal.
Of course, we ended the meal off with a nice dessert. The banana cream pudding was really good. It wasn’t too sweet and there were nice slices of banana and vanilla cookies inside. Delicious.
This was a cool spot. I would never have came here or found this place if it wasn’t for the internet. Hopefully, someone will read this blog post and find it to be a nice BBQ spot as well. So where is this place? Its near the 91 and 57 around the outskirts of Anaheim. You can Google Blake’s Place. Make sure you keep that map open and GPS on.
by Franklin on July 2, 2011
I really don’t want to like Lucille’s. I mean. It’s a chain. Albeit, it is a west coast chain covering only California, Nevada, and Arizona, but still a chain nonetheless. Even though there are a bunch of these around southern California, I am here to talk about the best one — I am talking about the one in Brea, CA. I’ve been to a couple of other Lucille’s and this one tops them all. The interior is the nicest, and the food tastes best here. I am easily proven right by the lines here, because on any given weekend, you will wait nearly an hour for a table.
When my carnivorous side kicks in, a trip to Lucille’s Smokehouse is a must. 
I usually get the beef ribs. Those things are humongous. There is so much meat and fat on each rib, all covered in sauce — they are so delicious. My always go-to item though, is the rib tips. They have a good smokey flavor and there is not a lot of bone. I come here sometimes during happy hour and the rib tip plate is really cheap. All I need is that and some of their amazing biscuits. Top that off with their “muddy water” (lemonade + iced tea) in the cool glass jar, and I am fully satisfied.
I really do like barbecue sauce, and Lucille’s could possibly have my favorite. They offer 3 different kinds, but I like to stick to the original. It is sweet and has a little tang, but not too much. It just has that familiar sweet and smokey barbecue taste that I like.
Good BBQ always need some tasty sides. My favorites are the garlic mashed potatoes and the the mac n cheese. My all time favorite side though, is the cheese grits. I never really had grits until I tried it here, and it is delicious. It has a strong cheese flavor and the texture is really nice. I’m sure it’s not the best out there, but this is great with the charred meats. By the way, I need to know where to get some really good grits in southern California.
There you have it, the truth. My favorite BBQ comes from a chain. Though that’s not quite true, Lucille’s is definitely one of my go to BBQ joints. The flavor is just right and the atmosphere is really fun. Hands down, this is my favorite chain restaurant I like to dine out. And always, the best one of the them, is at little ol’ Brea.
by Franklin on May 13, 2011
Finding a good barbecue spot is really difficult. Usually, I can hit up Lucille’s and my BBQ fix is pretty much met. But the fact that one can get that BBQ anywhere, it doesn’t become something special. When I walked into Scottie’s, it exuded a BBQ restaurant to its core.
The beef ribs we had were great. Though somewhat burnt (maybe a little too much), the smokey flavor was prevalent throughout the meat. I was impressed with the beef brisket — it was juicy beyond words. It tasted really good with the andouille sausage. My favorite was the pulled pork. Laying on the sauce over the pork, it was very tasty. It had a light smokey flavor and
Every smokehouse barbecue restaurant has to have their sauce. BBQ is nothing without a good sauce. Scottie’s had 4 different kinds to choose from, and surprisingly, they were all distinct and really good. There was the original, smokehouse rub, spicy, and Louisiana. Usually when restaurants have a plethora of different sauces, there is always that one or two that doesn’t taste good — theirs were all amazing.
Along with our meal, we had a bunch of sides. Cornbread, collard greens, mashed potatoes, mac n’ cheese. Name it, we had it. The most memorable? The cowboy mac n’ cheese. This was mac n’ cheese with beans on top. This was interesting and it went really well together.
Above all, the people there were really friendly. Servers always asked us how we were doing, and they even changed the channel to the basketball game we were aching to watch. The food and customer service really made me comfortable here. Good BBQ with the basketball game on, what more can I ask for?
