Will Round Two Prove Great Brandon BBQ?

Reprise Review – Down To The Bone BBQ, Brandon

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It couldn’t be helped. I had tried to fit in a few other Brandon bbq joints before returning to Down To the Bone, I really did.  I was jonesing for the smoked swine and sauce divine and I needed it bad.

But I was a little scared, to be honest. What if this visit to the Brandon bbq spot wasn’t as good as the first. Would this return prove the first visit a fluke?

Cravings won’t abide the mediocre.

I could forgive a mediocre experience now and then. But what I craved, what I needed tonight was a dinner that was every bit as smoky, tender, savory, sweet, and spicy as that first time. 

No.  I had faith that the owners of Down to the Bone had a passion for their product that would prevent getting a bad batch of bbq.

I had every intention of repeating our inaugural order: one rib sandwich with a side of beans and a chopped pork sandwich with beans and slaw. A direct one to one comparison that would help gauge the consistency.

Then, as I stood gazing at the menu I was overcome by my second brain. I wanted to try the collard greens and I though Christa might like to try the chicken.

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Down to the Bone BBQ
110 S Kings Ave
Brandon, FL 33511
Phone: (813) 653-9903
Hours:
Monday to Thursday – 11:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m.
Friday to Saturday – 11:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m.
downtothebonebbq.com/

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The power of menu suggestion

The Down to the Bone Sampler was only $25.99 and came with a half slab of ribs (a couple more bones than the sandwich), a half chicken, a half pound of chopped pork, and two sides.

I didn’t bother checking the math to see if it was economical; I just bit.

Collards and beans joined the meats with a side of slaw to square the nutritious side of the meal. I closed the order with both spicy and mild sauce on the side.

A line formed behind me as I waited for my meal to be prepared.  I really appreciated the time taken by the one man operation to get my order completed properly rather than rush to get to the next in line.

Driving on the fumes of ‘cue

I’ve never longed for hover cars more than I did on that drive home.

Zig-zagging every side street I knew in Brandon, the smoke and spiced aroma filled the sporty little runabout as I feared running down the wrong road to sweet freedom.

Home, I laid out the foam containers on the counter like a buffet. Everything looked picture perfect and I had to snap a few shots. Christa waited patiently while I did my thing.

How was she able to resist the alluring aroma that had to be reaching her; the sounds of my finger licking sure did, as she was quick to observe. I washed my hands.

“Come and get it before it gets cold.”

Perfect pictures of Brandon bbq

My plate was a canvas with every color of the Down to the Bone palette.

Before I dug in, I double checked the sauces to advise Christa which was mild. That’s when I was reminded that their mild is too hot for her, and their hot is way too hot for her. 

Lucky for her tongue, we had some Sweet Baby Ray’s in the fridge. But honestly, the meats didn’t need sauce. And, for what it’s worth, Down to the Bone’s sauces blow Sweet Baby Ray’s out of the water.

Down to the Bone BBQ satisfies the soul

Every bite of pork was bliss

I find chopped pork to often be less tender than pulled pork (that falls apart on its own). This chopped pork from Down to the Bone was outstandingly tender.

Big hunks were packed with small chunks of glistening beige meat. A few bits of noticeable fat delighted my eyes and my taste buds. Most pieces were the inside meat of the shoulder but tiny bits of bark were tossed throughout.

I tipped the pork from its foam cup onto the lid of a clamshell and my fishes and loaves were doubled. A half pound is a lot of meat when not packed tightly into a cup.

The smoke flavor was mild.

Smoke can’t penetrate far beyond the exterior of meat and a shoulder is a big hunk of meat. Most of the smokiness comes from the outer portion, while the interior is mild porky goodness.

When it’s chopped (or pulled) and tossed together, the smoky bits are blended with the un-smoky bits and you get a nice mellowed affair that has all the flavor of a nice piece of tender pork with the enhancement of the smoky, spice-rubbed exterior.

This is great pork bbq. And certainly the best Brandon bbq we’ve had. The tender meat was seasoned perfectly and needed no sauce. It took every ounce of self-control to not eat it all right then and there.

That is, self- control and the pile of sliced ribs sitting right beside it.

Those ravishing ribs

A half slab of mahogany meat enhanced with speckles of char sliced surgically into individual bones.

The exposed edge of the wide end revealed a thick meaty rib of juicy pork with a deep smoke ring.

A tap on top proved the surface to be firm and crisp, but a push yielded with a spring that meant tender meat lay beneath.

I had dragged this out long enough and lifted a hefty piece to my watering mouth. The entire top pulled free from the bone with almost no effort. I caught it before it tangled in my chin shrub and reunited it with the rest behind my smile.

The pork flavor was met by the bold smoke and the savory results of a well-seasoned rub. Little effort was required to chew it up.

The thinnest of fat layers existed beneath the top shell of meat and served well to bring added moistness and flavor to the experience. But the meat, that thickest layer of meat that encapsulated each bone, was a stout mass of moist and tender heaven that slipped off each bone like removing an oversized glove.

The bones practically jumped out of the meat. A twist and pull of each rib bone would leave me with a pile of perfect pork to eat with ease, but where’s the fun in that?

Bones make handy tools to bring the meat to mouth and pace the event. Otherwise, I could gobble it all up in seconds. This isn’t a race. This is rhapsody and I was all in for extending the movement as long as I could.

The moist and tender chicken

I helped myself to a thigh of chicken, leaving the white meat for m’lady. I’d guess this was a broiler/fryer sized bird providing a good shareable half.

The meat was soft, very tender, and moist. I also suspect they brined it, on account of how flavorful the smoke was and tender the meat, yet how moist it remained.

The meat had a distinct chicken taste with the smoke almost permeated throughout on the thinner pieces of meat. Each piece held its shape and didn’t fall apart when lifted, but at the bite, the meat came free from the bone with little resistance.

The skin was soft, of course, from being in a foam box for twenty minutes. Texture aside, it was very flavorful from a well-seasoned rub and having been rendered nicely in the smoker.

I considered crisping it up under the broiler but feared I’d forget it and burn it up while under this euphoric food high.

The unnecessary but totally tasty sauces

The mild sauce had a similar flavor to the hot sauce but with less heat and less sweet.

That sweet and spicy hot sauce is the perfect compliment to the smoked meats, whether pork or chicken.

It wasn’t so hot that it overwhelmed the senses and made tasting the nuanced meats impossible. Rather, it boosted the flavors of spice, smoke, and meat with hints of chili pepper, and vinegar with a sweetness whose source I cannot put a finger on. It’s not exactly molasses, but there is a caramel note.

I would not be surprised to learn it is Coke or Dr. Pepper/Pibb based, though it’s not precisely those tastes. This wasn’t our first Brandon bbq experience that featured those flavors, either. 

Reducing or braising in cola is a southern tradition, after all.

The sides were no mere afterthought

For the first time in our Brandon bbq experience, the sides were outstanding.

Baked Beans

Those same soda pop flavors are found in the beans as well, which were so much more than the last beans we had at Down to the Bone. These were sweeter and had more spice structure—clove, allspice, and the like.

They were tender and approaching breakdown into that pasty texture like sweet potato souffle. I liked the beans we had the first time, though I recall them being mediocre. These were so much better, that I can’t believe they are from the same place.

Maybe the previous batch was a one-off. Maybe my memory was bad.

These beans tasted like Christmas.

Collard Greens

I forked out a heap of collards and filled my cheeks.

Salty. One might say too salty, but I found them pleasingly so. It helped cut through the sweet beans and sauce and elevated them above a standard forgettable side.

Unlike many collards I’ve had at other joints, these were not an afterthought, not something thrown together just for the sake of having them to offer—an obligation.

These collards were an endeavor, simmered long until tender, but not rendered into compost. A fatty hunk of smoked meat, possibly hock, was included. It lent its flavor to the broth and really hit the spot (you know the one).

Together with the beans and a mass of chopped pork, the flavors harmonized and the saltiness was soothed.

Coleslaw

The slaw was damn near the best we’ve had in Florida.

This region seems to abhor celery seed and Down To the Bone doesn’t use it either, but this recipe was creamy, sweet and tangy with the perfect ratio of dressing to cabbage and included shredded carrot and red cabbage for color and flavor.

The cabbage was a small dice–bigger than a coarse chop or pulse in the food processor, smaller than a rough chop on the cutting board.

It was a cool compliment to the hot and spicy sauce and to the sweet and aromatic beans.

If I had a bun, I’d try a Carolina sandwich with the slaw and pork with the hot sauce. I can not imagine it being less than fantastic.

The straight dope on Down to the Bone

This was hands down the best barbecue meal we’ve yet had in Florida, let alone Brandon.

The meats were tender and moist. They had been smoked; there was no question. This was no oven-braise-and-sauce operation and that rolling smoker in the rear wasn’t for show.

Down To the Bone is legit, made-with-love, delicious bbq. This second time proves them to be consistent. One more visit like this one and I’m giving them five stars.

And in the end…

After the second helping of Down to the Bone BBQ, when the meal is done…

…when you’ve eaten your fill and can’t fit another morsel of meaty smoky swine and bird…

…when one more bean would pop a button, one more green would make you a glutton…

…when the foam cups are capped and the clamshells are snapped shut and all the leftovers are placed on the fridge shelves…

…you shift back on the recliner and reflect on the marvelous meal and that’s when you realize you forgot to wash your hands.

But you don’t. You can’t. It’d be a sin to wash that heavenly aroma off your skin. To lose the ability to run your nostril over your nails and relive that experience from only moments ago. You’re not ready to say goodbye.

The belly may be full, but the nose has no limits, no finite capacity. Just one more inhale of that divinely delicious, spicy, aromatic, smoky perfume of prime Brandon bbq.

 

Thanks for reading!