Critic's Review
Out with the old and in with the new; Old Florida Bar-B-Q (they later tacked on Jimmy Riffle) is closed and a new chain BBQ has opened. Mission is a fast growing chain with 23 locations from Maryland to Florida; they opened their first location on 9/11/11 with a patriotic theme.
Parked on the side of the road as you approach is their signature Smoker Truck; they've built smokers onto Military 1/2 ton cargo trucks.
Inside it's your typical cookie cutter chain restaurant; it reminds me of VooDoo BBQ with a military theme.
They sell ribs by the "bone", so my plan was to get 2 spare ribs, 2 baby backs and to make it a combo to get a side and a drink. Unfortunately that's not allowed. You can order 5 bones of baby back and make it a combo, but even if you buy 3 of each they won't let you do it. The compromise was to give me "2 Meat" Sampler, of which ribs aren't even a choice on the menu. All of this is simply because the POS doesn't have a button for what I wanted.
I could have gone for some brunswich stew, but nothing like that here. I got the Mac and Cheese (hoping that they smoke it) and an iced tea. They give you a big cup and you get whatever you want; it's all the same price. They have fresh lemon out. Typical fast food/QSR set up.
I thought about eating in, but decided to take out. I had to stop at Costco across the street, and I wanted to get back before 4pm. Pretty cookie-cutter dining room. Better than Jenkins.
When I got home I opened it up. Not a very impressive haul for $11.65.
I wasn't sure what was in the foil. They show it to you before they put it in the bag; I initially thought it might be a sweet potato. No such luck.
Wrapping the cornbread in foil is a new think. Is that the most important thing to keep hot in the container? The spare ribs were pretty disappoint. Small, skinny bones. They must use baby pigs here or something.
I tasted everything and the ribs were pretty tasty albeit room temperature. The mac and cheese wasn't smoked which was disappointing. I decided I wanted to heat everything up so I wrapped up the ribs and put them in the oven for 15 minutes.
I took their "Sweet Texas" BBQ sauce, and it was lousy. I had some Stubbs Original in the fridge, which was much better. The ribs were quite good; Not dried out, tender. Not very smokey. They didn't remind me of the ribs you get at Jenkins or the roadside shacks. And there wasn't very much food. This is barely enough for lunch.
Conclusion
The trend towards old time BBQ places closing and chains like VooDoo and Mission opening means that we can expect higher prices, smaller portions and ribs that aren't all that great. This is more like fast food; not bad fast food, but not as good as the old time places where you got a load of great food for a good price. Even the old-time places are charging a lot now.
I never ate BBQ back in NY, mainly because the BBQ up there is like this stuff. It's really not all that interesting to me.
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