5/05/2009

'Cueing Up: Baby Blues BBQ West Hollywood


The newly opened Baby Blues BBQ in West Hollywood on Santa Monica Blvd. is in our neighborhood, just a 10 minute walk from home. It's right across from the laundromat, just in case you might want to kill two birds with one stone and have some barbeque while your waiting for the machines to wash and dry your clothes. Make sure you bring plenty of quarters.


I'd been wanting to eat at Baby Blues BBQ ever since it opened in West Hollywood, yet every time I stopped by, there was a huge wait for a table. What a bummer that Baby Blues BBQ does not take reservations. They are open for lunch and dinner from 11 am-11 pm Sunday through Thursday, 11am-11pm Fridays and Saturdays, without closing in between. Win and I finally got to check it out yesterday before 6:00 pm, an off hour, a time (we guessed) when plenty of tables would be available. It was almost empty at that time except for a few people at the bar watching the Lakers game on the flat screen.




Baby Blues BBQ has a great vibe. The hostesses and servers are friendly, young things, with a striking similarity to their logo. Even though Baby Blues BBQ is a new restaurant in West Hollywood, it feels like it's been there forever. There's a mish mash of used tables and chairs that looks like they were picked it up from a thrift store. Empty beer bottles are displayed on a high ledge framing the open kitchen. They must not have needed a big budget for decor. It all works though.


Baby Blues BBQ has a great selection of barbeque and sides to choose from and some great deals too. Win and I started out with Hush Puppies ($6.95), serious high-caloric, comfort food. How can you go wrong with deep fried batter and corn kernels, with honey butter dipping sauce on the side? I could have eaten all six of them that came with the order. I was good though and restrained myself with just one, savoring every morsel.


Next we shared the Big Blue ($24.95), a choice of any three meats with any two fixings. We chose a Beef Rib, Baby Back Ribs, Shrimp, Mac n' Cheese and Blues on the Cob. The BBQ flavor overall was OK, nothing amazing. The perfectly decent, baby back ribs were the best of the three we tasted. The meat fell off the bone. The gargantuan Beef Rib had decent flavor but was quite tough. The shrimp, recommended by our perky server, was tasty yet dry. The cornbread was also dry. Now the Mac n' Cheese, that stuff was addicting. It was cheesy without being saucy, almost dry (in a good way) but moist and fluffy.


There were a few hot sauces on the side, the kind that can make you scream. Win was my taste tester. The XXX Porno with Habanero pepper almost made him cry.


As Frank Sinatra would say "Regrets, I've had a few...", I regret not ordering the pork. I'll have to go back and sample it. The server recommended it. Woulda, coulda, shoulda, next time.


Here's the Mother's Day Menu. If you can stand waiting for a table, Baby Blues BBQ in West Hollywood has a fun vibe that you and/or your Momma might like. And the prices are pretty reasonable.



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Baby Blues BBQ
7953 Santa Monica Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90046
(323) 656-1277

Baby Blues BBQ on Urbanspoon

2 comments:

Win and Alli said...

I love Hush Puppies! There can never be enough places in the city that serves them.

Alli & Win said...

Hola Caco: They are dangerously close to home. Come to think of it, I might try making some homemade ones. Care to be the hush puppy taste tester?