Anthony’s Ranch
Over our break, we made the food pilgrimage to Saikung. I would love to visit more but we don’t go because of the distance. Since time isn’t an issue over our break, we made it there twice. The first time, we went specially for Anthony’s Ranch.
I’m part Seattleite and Washington state, and perhaps the entire Pacific Northwest, is not known for good BBQ but still there were pockets of good barbie to be found if you knew where to look. I’ve been deprived of good barbie since coming back five years ago, because I tell you, I haven’t had anything decent in the last five years. Tony Romas is about the best available.
I had high hopes when Time Out gave Anthony’s five stars, praising it to high heaven for its ribs and brisket, and so I made a trip to Saikung on our must-do list this time.
We sat down around 1ish on boxing day and there wasn’t much of a crowd. The sole server (could have been Anthony himself, but I don’t know for sure) was bustling around taking drinks orders and bringing around peanuts. The service was slow, but what do you expect from a one man band. I took a quick and rather perfunctory look at the menu (I already knew what we wanted) and went straight for the ribs. C dwaddled a bit and ended up with the beef brisket sandwich, a recommendation from the server.
The ribs came first, and I think my heart dropped. It looked dry and hard, and wasn’t glistening with sauce like good barbie is. I took a first bite, and it confirmed my suspicions, hard meat. Perhaps I shouldn’t have been surprised…other openrice comments described the ribs as being just average and were often hard. That just goes against what I know as good ribs: a shinny coat of bbq sauce, juicy and tender meat that is ready to fall off the bone. These ribs needed quite of bit of knife work, which speaks volumes.
I guess I could excuse some of that after dipping the ribs into extra sauce on the side. The ribs weren’t sweet enough on its own, so dipping became mandatory instead of just optional. My disappointment is palpable because of my expectations perhaps. It was heralded as the best place to get real American food, and it fell way way short from what I’m used to, even from the non-BBQ town of Seattle.
The bbq beef brisket sandwich was somewhat better. C liked it a lot more (maybe also the fact that she had the sense to order it and I didn’t). Several things were really good – the toasted (brioche I think) bun was excellent, and just the right amount of butter. It was a hefty portion for a reasonable amount of money, as well, which is always good. The beef, though not melt in your mouth, was at least tender.
But the menu said BBQ…and I didn’t taste a hint of barbie in there. C didn’t even know it was supposed to be a BBQ sandwich until I told her, which says a lot.
Well, I must admit, I was disappointed. I’m willing to give it another chance, perhaps go in the evenings where perhaps Anthony makes an appearance in the kitchen. He’s supposed to be a CIA graduate (Culinary Institute of America…), so there must be some chops somewhere. I’m waiting to see it.
