La Cabra Brewing Smokehouse - Review - Bryn Mawr - Philadelphia - The Infatuation
"Sure, we get that recommending the best barbecue joint in the Philadelphia suburbs is like recommending the best Philly cheesesteak in Des Moines. But La Cabra in Bryn Mawr has legit barbecue smoked in-house, served alongside eleven of their own beers from their nearby Berwyn brewpub, along with cider and rotating draft cocktails. The result is a casual restaurant with scratch-made components down to the barbecue sauces that works for a family night out, date night at the bar, or happy hour with friends. While the menu is large, the meats that are touched by the smoker are the must-orders. Ribs that hold their shape but pull effortlessly off the bone and brisket glistening with fat are the promising signs of the real barbecue you’ll find here. Sides like the baked beans, which seem to be equal parts shredded pork and beans, reinforces the smoked-meat sweet spot. Perhaps the only better menu item than the barbecue is La Cabra’s 36-hour sourdough pizza, available only on Wednesdays. Keep in mind that La Cabra doesn’t take reservations and can fill up quickly during the dinner rush on weekends, so going for lunch or linner is the move. That leaves your evening open for meat sweats. Food Rundown Dark Bier La Cabra offers a wide variety of styles of beer. Most are familiar and straightforward like their cleverly named Hipster Catnip or Philly Adjacent IPAs. If you are a hophead, you can’t go wrong with these, but the beer-savvy move is to try some of their less mainstream brews like the Notturno, a Belgian Quadrupel with 11% alcohol or their Schwarzbier, the refreshing black lager that looks much heavier than it drinks. Sticky Ribs Three perfectly meaty and tender baby back ribs come with a Korean barbecue-inspired sauce that is more soy than gochujang. They come out on a crock of sizzling garlic polenta to soak up the sauce, making this a great shareable or light entree on its own. Italian polenta and Korean ribs? Don’t think, just eat. photo credit: La Cabra Crowd Pleaser The only drawback to good barbecue is choosing among chicken, pork, and brisket if you’re not with a group big enough to get them all to share. Fortunately, the crowd pleaser entree solves that problem–it comes with a smoked chicken wing, pulled pork, brisket, coleslaw, pickles and both sweet heat and pit sauces. Its name is apt–while priced inline with the other entrees at $27, our small group shared it and still took some home. The sleeper hit was the chicken with crisp skin and an abundant dry rub that had coming back for a whole bird. Brisket Chopped Cheese The chopped cheese sandwich is a marvel of the NYC bodega. The only way to improve it might possibly be to substitute barbecue brisket for the traditional ground beef. And La Cabra does. This one could have benefitted from more cheese but is definitely an improvement over the corner store version. Pro tip: add a dash of the sweet heat sauce. Signature Mac and Cheese The move at La Cabra is to top your cavatappi and cheese with bacon, chiles or onion straws, or go big with toppings like buffalo chicken, brisket, pulled pork, or sausage and barbecue sauce. Whatever you do, top it with something because on its own, it’s an under seasoned side dish best suited for a kids’ menu. Get the collard greens instead. White Pizza Charred chewy perfection of a pizza, it’s almost unfair that one of the best barbecue spots in the Philly suburbs is also one of the best pizzerias. But they only do pizza on Wednesdays so plan accordingly." - Jonathan Deutsch
