Kim G.
Yelp
While driving the Fruit Loop in Hood River, I happened upon this BBQ place in downtown Parkdale - the downtown is about 2 blocks long! There are picnic tables out front which would be awesome on a warmer day or summer night, butt since it was chilly, I opted for a table inside. It was about 4:00 on a Friday so I was late for lunch but early for dinner and had the place to myself. For an hour. At 5:00, there was a mad rush of families and not a table free! The waiter told me it's even busier between 6-7:00. There were a few couples out in Hood River for the weekend, but the majority were locals, families with kids, which is saying a lot. The BBQ brings them back again and again
Since it was my first time here, and I wanted to sample a few things, I chose the BBQ dinner. It came with a rack of 3-4 ribs, pulled pork and two sides. Had to go with cornbread as it seems illegal to have BBQ without it! Not normally a coleslaw person but since theirs had the addition of pears, I felt compelled to try it.
Since I was tasting ciders all day, I went for their hard apple on tap. It was ok, tasted more like a flavored beer than a cider. Since I had just had a Pear Lemon cider at The Gorge Whitehouse, the best cider ever, anything would pale in comparision.
Food arrived quickly, starting with a small complimentary salad (or soup of the day.) the salad was baby's lettuce (points for not serving iceberg), cucumbers, carrots, and I chose balsamic dressing. Very basic, but good.
For the dinner portion, everything came piled nicely on one plate with butter and honey on the side for the cornbread. They smoke the ribs with a dry rub, but for those like me who like a little wet sauce, they have a sweet and a spicy sauce in the table. I opted for spicy which was very mild. The rib meat came off easy leaving a perfectly clean bone. The brisket was also perfectly cooked, lots of crisp parts mixed with tender morsels of succulent meat.
The cornbread was two flat muffins and they were delicious, light with a hint of sweet, with a crisp top. Perfect compliment to the meat. The coleslaw had a sweetness due to the addition of the pears. The bowl it came in was very cold because they probably plate the sides ahead of time. I bring this up because the slaw never had a chance to hit room temperature so that the flavors were challenging to detect. It was actually too cold to eat, if that makes sense.
This bbq dinner could easily be for two, and with a price of $18, that's a good deal. I brought half the meat home, along with one cornbread muffin and the coleslaw. Had it the next day for lunch letting the coleslaw hit room temperature, and it was fabulous.
Waitstaff was friendly and very helpful when I asked questions about the menu, like what is a cornbread salad? It's like cornbread stuffing but no egg, with a bit of mayo to hold the cornbread and red peppers together.
My waiter highly recommended the meatloaf saying it melted in your mouth and was full of flavor, and I see that other Yelpers have said the same. Since it was a BBQ place, I felt obligated to get actual BBQ. Next time I'm going for the meatloaf with a side of that cornbread salad! Oh, and I will leave room for dessert as the slices of fruit pies arriving at the other tables looked yummy.