If you ask anyone who comes from the South, there seems to be an unwritten law which states that it is physically impossible to make good BBQ anywhere outside of the Southern United States. To put it mildly, they seem to regard any BBQ created outside of that geographic area to be irredeemably terrible. Not that it stops people from trying, of course. For our next food truck, we’ll take a look at one truck trying to bring BBQ to South Lake Union.
The Basics:
- Food Truck: Raney Brothers BBQ
- Cuisine: BBQ
- Website: none
- Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/RaneyBrosBBQ
- Twitter: @RBBBQnet
- Yelp: 3.5 stars, 12 reviews
- Location: Corner of Boren and Republican
- Day: Wednesdays and Fridays
- Payment Methods: Cash, cards
- Sales Tax included in menu prices: Yes
Food Ordered:
- The Dude (pulled pork sandwich with Cajun meatloaf): $8
- Fries: $1.50
- Total (with tip:) $10.50
Speed:
- Time to order and pay: About 1 minute
- Time to receive food after ordering: 2 1/2 minutes
This is one of the handful of trucks that parks in front of the building I work in, although until now I haven’t had a chance to actually try it out. As you might guess from the name of the truck (and the potentially traitorous pigs depicted on the side,) this truck serves barbeque, mostly in the form of sandwiches. In addition to the ones you see on the menu below, they also serve “The Dude”, a presumably pop culture-inspired sandwich that combines the pulled pork with the Cajun meatloaf found in the Cajun grinder on the regular menu, and adds cheese, grilled onions and the red cabbage slaw you see on the sides portion of the menu to the mix. Since it seems to be the “signature” item on the menu (to the point that it gets its own special little menu board) and it wasn’t any more expensive than anything else I went for that, and added a side of fries to the order. Once again I went just a little over my $10 limit once the tip was added, but that’s not a big deal. Once again I got there a bit before the lunch rush, and once again I was in and out quickly. At this point, it’s looking like the over 30 minute wait is more the exception than the rule, although there are other trucks (which I have not reviewed for this project) that have been prone to long waits in the middle of the lunch hour.
Given the fact that we are getting this particular BBQ from a truck in the middle of Seattle and not some old shack out in the woods of Carolina, I set my expectations accordingly. And although I wouldn’t characterize this as being anything too special, it is reasonably competent BBQ with a good, slightly spicy sauce added. The smoke flavor of the pulled pork is quite subtle, and it can easily get lost among the other ingredients in the sandwich if you let it. It’s also kind of hard to tell what exactly makes the Cajun meatloaf Cajun. Aside from these, the sandwich contains some type of cheese (I’m guessing Provolone, but it gets kind of vague with all the other stuff in there), grilled onions and cabbage slaw (something I’m still getting used to as a sandwich ingredient, but I think I’ve gotten the Tatstrami from Tat’s Deli over in Pioneer Square often enough that it’s not too unusual anymore) and the obligatory sauce which was reasonably thick and sweet, with a subtle hint of spice that kicks in a few seconds after you take a bite. I’m told there’s also a hotter variant of the sauce, but the menu offers no indication of this, so I wasn’t aware of it when I ordered. The fries are pretty run-of-the-mill, aside from being seasoned with both salt and pepper, which helps them to stand out just a little bit from the usual fast food fries.
All in all, I can’t really find anything to complain about here, but I don’t think I was really blown away by anything later. Even so, this is definitely the type of thing I could go for on occasion, and the fact that it’s parked right in front of my building is good for some bonus points as well. I’m sure I’ll be back at some point.
The Sledgehammer - Version 2.0 