Famous Dave's BBQ for Family Dinner

We have almost always enjoyed our visits to Famous Dave's BBQ in Vista, CA. Tonight was no exception.

My brother-in-law Eric is in town and staying with us for a few days. After a day working in the yard we were treated to dinner out with mom and dad. We had all been to Dave's before, but it was Eric's first time. So we decided to go for it!

We had the...

ALL-AMERICAN FEAST
A full slab of St. Louis-Style Spareribs, a whole Country-Roasted Chicken, 1/2 lb. of either Texas Beef Brisket or Georgia Chopped Pork, Creamy Coleslaw, Famous Fries, Wilbur Beans, six pieces of Fresh Sweet Corn (farm fresh when available) and four Corn Bread Muffins. Served family-style for 4-6 people.

Wow. That is a lot of food!



Mom had her usual pulled pork plate (we did the brisket on the trashcan lid, oh ya, it is served on a trashcan lid!) - so that left four of us to work on a meal that can feed six or more. We did OK, but we still left with three takeout boxes!

You have to give it to Dave's, they have a wide selection to pick from, and it is consistantly good. We never hesitate to go there because of worries about the food.

If you haven't been to a Famous Dave's BBQ, I recommend you get to one and see what you have been missing!

May 27, 2007 (date of the smoking)--

So my wife Jen keeps telling her folks how good my smoked ribs are. So one day they decided to come up and find out for themselves. Now the pressure was on!

So why not try something totally new just to raise the possibility of totally screwing it all up!
We pulled a full chicken from the freezer that had been in there way too long, and added that to the list. Plus the ole standby pork ribs, and fresh salmon. Decided to do the salmon on the BBQ since the little smoker didn't have enough room for all this meat. No vegetarians here!

First step, prep the meat. So I pulled out the ribs and cleaned them up.

Not as many as I often do. This package was from a different store, but that proved to be OK because I didn't have much extra room!

Next comes the rub...I often use too much, so tried to use a light hand here. Used some untraditional stuff for pork. Santa Maria tri-tip spices, and a new rub from Costco - yup, the Seafood Rub. (as a side note - this seasoning is fantastic in hamburger - we get organic hamburger, put a ton of this seafood seasoning in it and BBQ patties - man, it is great. Better than homemade meatloaf and a lot easier!)

Used some standard chicken seasoning inside and out on the bird.

Next it's time to fire up the coals (wood chips already soaking - I always forget that step!)

Lay on the meat and sit back with a beer and wait.......

Here's the chicken. Man, this was yummy.

The pork ribs - just can't seem to go wrong here.
Meat just falling off the bone, great taste. My father-in-law actually gave me a fantastic restaurant style review the next day. And restaurant would have been proud with his review!

Add the salmon which came off the BBQ hot, moist and cooked just right.
We ended up skipping all the sides we had planned. After some chips and guacamole, then seeing all this fine looking meat, everyone wanted to save room for the real reason we all got together!

So I still feel like I'm not really sure what I am doing with this whole smoking gig (this is about my third or forth go at it) - but I seem to be doing OK for a guy that feels like he is blowing it!