Recently my wife and I had occasion to visit famous Daves in our area and I have to say…It was one of the best BBQ lunches I have had in a long time. The newly renovated block buster off Lagemodier is now the Famous Daves expansion into Winterpeg from the states, and I have to say…it kind of snuck in silently. I have not seen much in the way of advertising and it does not seem to match up with our Canadian way of thinking. We are not normally heavy meat eaters up north, we tend to make meat a PART of our meal, not the focus…and dare I say it….WHOLE MEAL. But to be frank, it was an experience I would soon look forward to repeating.
First off the waitress was funny, had a killer personality and was a great representative of what a server/host should be. The whole set up with the different bbq sauces was fantastic and fun and the meal, well I will get to that.
The Chips they bring you at the start of your meal was about my only “not great” experience. They were set up to try the different dipping sauces and they were okay for that, but bland as hell and a tad over cooked and the powdery stuff they threw on them was kind of nasty.
That aside the sauces were fantastic, from a sweet but smoky number to something that probably would have ate the lining of my stomach it was so hot! They had so many and brought them to the table in a basket for us to use if we wanted. And we used a lot of them, I even made the mistake of using the super killer hot one and it tasted great…I think…my mouth kind of went numb for a minute but it still had a nice taste…till the heat kicked in. That was however my fault and entertained my wife for the rest of the lunch.
We ordered two lunch “taster” platters, I had the wings and Ribs and my wife had the chopped pork and Brisket. We shared around and also got a few sides, the potato salad, corn on the cob, beans and coleslaw. The Ribs were surprisingly my favorite. They were big ass meaty ribs and kind of fell off the bone. My wife had to wrestle the last one away they were so good. Normally when I get a Rib platter they have this kind of “frozen fresh” look to them and they are doused in some slimy cover up sauce, these however were cooked perfectly and unlike the “mostly bone” counterparts they were wrapped in some very juicy meat and the sauce was perfect.
The Wings were excellent as well and looked like they were touched in the sauce and not dropped into a bucket of the stuff after they were cooked. I mean I used to say you cannot screw up chicken wins, now I say you SHOULD not screw up chicken wins and Dave’s did their best to make sure that the four or five you get will make you come back for more. They were juicy to and the sauce they used for mine was not the hot one, I asked for the tangy one and it worked perfectly.
The copped pork was the only meat that I would say was not so good that you had to say “ummmm” when eating. It was good, but I have had similar pork dishes at other places. The sauce was great and the meet was juicy, but the meat lacked that Smokey flavor that I was expecting. I have been told by others that they loved the chopped pork and it was great, I am “chopping” this experience with the pork up to an off day for the cooks on the chopped pork. But its still worth the money and it was still passable, just not a home run like the ribs and brisket!
Speaking of the brisket….I am normally a steak guy, and on occasion a roast guy…little did I know I would soon become a Brisket guy! The Brisket was juicy, sauce was perfect and the whole thing was smoked or cooked so well that you simply had to bite into it and it melted in your mouth…this was a “ummmm” moment for me…or as my buddy Mel say “numb nomb nomb” moment. My wife and I had four strips to split between us, which does not sound like much but they were a half inch thick each and a hand long! Excellent meat and I can not say enough good things about it.
The sides were fantastic too. The potato salad was good, not something that made my wife say “Damn I need that recipe” but good, the coleslaw was passable for sure and not doused in the cream sauce that always kills it. But the high lights of our meal were the corn and beans. The corn, as I am a corn guy, was perfect…if not a tad small. Two pieces of corn on the cob were gone in seconds and I was thankful that the meat in my belly was filling me up so I was not looking for more. I tried the beans, even though I am not a brown bean guy, and to be frank…my wife is lucky she has the look on her side and just flashed the “Stay away from my beans” look…which if you have never seen one is the same as the “I may have to kill you and hide the body look” she normally gives me.
The whole experience was ALMOST topped off with a desert that when passing the booth looked so good we were sad we had to go…and by go I mean that even my wifes buffet pants were not happy with our indulgence. The food was excellent and we have sent family to this joint since and I rave about the food…being 2/3 carnivore I loved the meat especially.
Oh, almost forgot, the corn bread muffins….my wife’s eyes rolled as she bit into one like she just had a bite of something holy! The whole experience, again, Awesome. I always suggest this for a night out with a friend or family, but not really the upscale joint my single friends would take a date…just the right kind of food for a husband and wife to get down and enjoy some good BBQ!
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