Pat's Barbecue

I was in Utah recently to visit Sam and my mother. With my Triple D book in hand (Diner's, Drive-ins and Dives) I found time to drop by Pat's Barbecue, located at 155 W. Commonwealth Ave in Salt Lake (801-484-5963). Unless you have a GPS with you, you'll probably need the phone number. It is not an easy place to find. It is near where the 21st South offramp of the I-15 freeway is located, on a side-street off West Temple, in an industrial area that looks nothing like a restaurant location.

I was blown away by how much space they had. You walk into this large building and side rooms are everywhere. Someone eventually pointed me to the back into a cavernous space full of wood picnic tables. It was 3:00 p.m. and only a few other people were there. I could see out onto a covered patio with lots of other picnic tables and the waiter told me of another room I couldn't see that could hold 70 or 80 people. It is obvious that this place can pack them in. I was glad to be there at an off hour.

I ordered a combo plate that came with pulled pork, pork ribs, brisket and corn bread. It comes on a paper plate and plastic utensils are located in a bucket on the table, as are several different types of vinegar and barbeque sauce. The corn bread was cold and was not particularly moist or sweet. I asked for some butter and honey to help it out, but it was not worth the calories.

The brisket was also a disappointment. I got too large slices, but it was dry, very little fat and a little cold. I tried doctoring it with various barbeque and vinegar sauces and none of them worked for me. The best sauce was probably the spicy mustard, but it just didn't work on any of the meat. The two types of barbeque sauce were very sweet (mild and hot). They were too sweet for me. I much prefer the tangy barbeque sauce that we've had in Memphis.

I did enjoy the pulled pork. It came in a pool of some kind of liquid that kept it moist and it had a nice smoky taste. The spicy vinegar sauce was perfect on it. The pork ribs were nice and meaty. They were smoked nice and pink. The ribs themselves were a little dry and none of the barbecue sauce worked for me on them. The head of the ribs, where more fat is located, were very good. They were moist and full of the smoky flavor. These ribs were much more meaty than those I had at Baby Blues B.B.Q. in Venice the week before.

Just to round out the experience, I ordered a chicken thigh. It was cooked perfectly. It was moist, fatty and had a nice pink to it. The problem was, I didn't really love the outer coating or any of the barbeque sauces on it.

Finally, I ordered the jambalaya as my one side. It appeared to be pulled pork and sausage in a red tomato sauce on a bed of rice. It was okay. I've had it much better. Overall, it was a disappointment. I'm beginning to question whether I'm a barbeque person. But then I think back to Corky's, the Commisary, B.B. King's and Le Rendesvouz in Memphis where I had some good barbeque. I really like the Memphis barbeque sauce and the dry rub. I think if Pat's had a Memphis type tangy barbeque sauce I could really love it. But it doesn't, so I have other alternatives that will be higher on my list when I visit Salt Lake.