The Grand Unified Theory of BBQ - Dinosaur BBQ

I love BBQ. I mean really love it. To this end, I have created my version of the perfect BBQ meal. To that end, I am going to try all of the BBQ places in the greater Tri-City area. According to Urban Spoon, there are thirty eight of them. (That number may be not as accurate as I believed before. I think there may be a handful more of them.)

My original plan for this project was to eat at all of them over the course of a five day weekend, but...my body is far too old for that much meat and sauce in such a short period of time.

So, instead of five days, I am going to try to hit all of them over the rest of the summer.

Here is what it is going to about:

BBQ Joint: Dinosaur BBQ at 377 River Street in Troy
Date of Visit: July 7th

The Food:
Pulled Pork Slider
Brisket Slider
Cole Slaw
Mac & Cheese

My server was Holly (who was behind the bar) and she was great. She was helpful and she adjusted my order for me to save me money without asking me to do it, which was kind of awesome.

The meal was decent. My first issue was when Holly brought me my plate, she warned me that it was "Very hot". Why is this an issue? Well, there was cold slaw on the plate. Hot plate plus cold slaw does not an auspicious start make.

So, I started on the slaw, because it is supposed to be cold, crisp and refreshing. It was...decent. I mean it was tasty, but it was not the paradigm of slaw that it should have been. Maybe I was off base by expecting something transcendental from cole slaw, which is a working class summer salad that has taken on more importance as of late, and while the ingredients were obviously fresh and it was well put together, it had not quite jelled yet.

The Mac and Cheese was decent as well. Not great, nothing to write home about but...it was good. If I had a complaint about it, the black pepper flavor dominated and not in the way that I generally enjoy. There was a pleasant bite to it, but it lingered on the back of the tongue for an extra nanosecond longer than it had to be.

But...most people don't go to BBQ for the sides (most people, I know...I love the sides)...so for the meat.

The brisket was amazing, and easily the best thing that I had during the meal. It is moist and tender (which is really tough to pull off) while being flavorful. It was lightly sauced (almost perfectly so) and I am willing to go back again just for the brisket.

The pulled pork...not so much. It was tasty, but dry and the sauce was inconsistent. I know it was between shifts. I went after lunch but before dinner and maybe it did not happen the way it was supposed to. I need to try it again to ensure that this was not a one-off problem because I have a couple of friends who swear by the Dinosaur's pulled pork.

The pickles were great though.

With the meal, I had a diet soft drink (I asked for Diet Coke, but I was served a Diet Pepsi according the the receipt) and an Erie Brewing Company Railbender Ale.

The score:
Using a ten point scale, I am going to give this visit a 7.75. It was going to be a 6.75 but Holly's exceptional service bumped up the meal by a full point.

Cost (Without Gratuity): $19.02