Restaurant Review - Rolling Bones Premium Pit BBQ

No bones about it Rolling Bones dishes up damn good BBQ downtown

The best barbecue is typically found in a rundown, roadside shack, so Rolling Bones Premium Pit BBQ's spotless retro decor doesn't exactly fit the formula. As I pulled into the small parking lot, the aluminum chairs illuminated the covered patio and it felt as if I was transported to a Technicolor 1955. There's even a drive-thru, which comes in handy cause parking can suck. But skeptics take note: The lot is packed because this sleek pit serves up mouthwatering meats, succulent sauces and divine side dishes quicker than most fast-food joints can take your order.

Peek-a-boo, I see you: The line to order moves quickly, but the heavenly aroma can make waiting torturous. Large, easy-to-read menus are placed above and on the counter for ordering ease. As my order was barked to the open kitchen, I salivated as the cooks whacked apart the ribs with intimidating knives that seemed fit for an invading Mongolian army. They heaped on the pinto beans and fries and barely a minute later, I sat down with my precious clamshell boxes and tore into the goods like a ravenous beast.

Can't beat this meat: The menu covers the smoky spectrum of meat from beef brisket sandwich ($5.25) to half pit-grilled chicken ($6.95) to mesquite smoked ribs ($15 per slab). The sandwiches are chock full of so much meat that two slabs of Texas Toast can't hold it all in. Smarter people fork-and-knife it or buy a couple of extra slices of toast (25 cents each) to make a second sandwich. The chicken is juicy and the skin a delectable crunchy treat. The pink inside the pork ribs indicated that the meat had been properly slow-cooked until a good-without-the-sauce tenderness had been achieved.

My baby's got sauce: Two sauces are offered, mild and hot, and both of which are zesty rather than syrupy sweet like many places. Both sauces are a pleasant, balanced blend of tomato and vinegar that is perhaps the ultimate hybrid of Texas and North Carolina style. The hot has a little more bite than the comparatively sweet mild, but it isn't a fiery, make-your-nose-sweat hot. But the real deal is a combo of the two sauces and they don't skimp either.

Please sir, can I have some more?: Each time I ate at Rolling Bones I had a different accomplice, but a strange thing happened to each: After declaring themselves stuffed, they promptly ordered a second round of a different dish. They'd eat until their bellies ached, the whole time declaring how they just couldn't stop. Yeah, it's that good.