BBQ King

What better way is there to finish up a trip to downtown Los Angeles than with some BBQ? My first inclination was to take my wife Cutty and my niece Missy over to the Spring Street Smokehouse, but it seems they're closed on Sunday. Fortunately, I had a plan B that wasn't too far away. A quick right turn on Cesar Chavez Ave. and a few blocks up the street turns into Sunset. Go a little further to Figueroa St. and there's the BBQ King restaurant. I had driven by BBQ King after leaving Dodger Stadium once and wanted to stop by ever since. It was as though the moons were aligned.

Parking is a little tight, but it's downtown L.A. and this place looks pretty popular among the locals. Once parked, we gazed upon all of the barrel smokers on the side of the restaurant. I was in heaven and ready to eat. We ordered, or at least tried to order. The cashier was very nice but couldn't seem to get our order right. After about five minutes of going back and forth, we believed we had things straightened out. Many people rave about their burgers — they were actually featured on one of Bobby Flay's shows on the Food Network. Imagine that. But when I'm craving BBQ, a burger just won't do. I ordered the BBQ rib dinner, sauce on the side, with a side of BBQ beans and coleslaw. Cutty had the hotlink (Pete's link on the menu) sandwich combo, which included fries and a drink. Missy ordered the smoked chicken BBQ dinner with two sides of greens. She really likes greens. To finish off the order — strawberry sodas all around and a couple of apple cobblers.

The dinners came and those ribs looked so delicious — minus any apparent smoke ring. There I was, with a boatload of ribs in front of me. I'm lucky I got any pictures off at all. Then I took a bite, or should I say tried to take a bite. These BBQ spareribs were very tough and chewy without much BBQ or smoke flavor. Not what I was expecting at all. The sauce, on the other hand, was terrific. It had a great BBQ flavor that blended the sweet and the spice. It worked well with all of the dishes at the table. It helped the flavor of those ribs tremendously, but all the BBQ sauce in the world wasn't going to make them tender.

BBQ beans are one of my favorite sides, and these were no exception. Good and satisfying — the beans were the first dish to be entirely consumed. The coleslaw on the other hand was pretty darn soggy. They served the meals with a sweet little cornbread muffin that turned out to be pretty good. I split mine with Missy so she could add it to her greens. That girl loves greens.

Missy's BBQ chicken came covered in sauce. Probably a good thing, because she was complaining that the chicken meat was a little dry. She wasn't impressed but worked her way through her meal saying, "Hunger is the best seasoning." I tasted her chicken and found that indeed it was dry, but it had more smoke flavor than my ribs did. "Hey, these greens are pretty good," Missy said. She offered me a taste and I agreed with her. Pretty tasty.

Cutty's hotlink was swimming in a pool of BBQ sauce on the bun. But, as we found out later, it was very delicious. They had two choices on the link, beef or chicken. She chose the chicken. Her order came with french fries which she didn't care for — they were of the thick and slightly greasy variety. She's more of a McDonald's french fry type of girl. I, on the other hand, loved the fries. Great flavor and slightly greasy — what else could you ask for?

Halfway through dinner we realized they hadn't brought our apple cobblers. We had to go back up and request them. No problem. The flavor was good, but the consistency was soupy and the crust was a little soggy — or as Missy said, "Where is the crust?"

The people were nice and the restaurant was unique, which also included a car wash next door, just in case you wanted to go cruising after dinner. And they have a great view of downtown Los Angeles. The hamburgers might be the way to go here, which is what they're famous for. Or you can go with the hot link. I wouldn't recommend the spareribs or the coleslaw. If you've been here or decide to go, I'd love to hear about your experience.

**The Original Texas BBQ King**
867 W. Sunset Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90012
213-437-0885
Mon-Sat 6AM-10PM, Sun 6AM-8PM