Barrel & Ashes
Smoked Chicken Wings with Garden Vegetables and Blue Cheese
Spicy Pork Rinds with Malt Vinegar Mayonnaise
Hoe Cake with Maple Butter
Half Rack of Salmon Creek Farms Spare Ribs
Brisket Sandwich with Swiss
Pulled Pork Sandwich with Coleslaw and Vinegar Sauce
The Best Damn Chick’n Sandwich Ya Ever Had – Pimento Cheese, Jalapeno Coleslaw on Milk Roll
Open Faced Santa Maria Tri Tip with romaine, Pico de Gallo, Rosemary Aioli on Sourdough
Banana Pudding with Toasted Meringue and Nilla Wafers
Turtle Ice Cream Cake with Pecans, Salted Caramel, Chocolate
Apple Cobbler with Malted Vanilla Ice Cream
Lemon Pudding Cake with Heavily Whipped Cream
Toqued by a former Michelin 3* Chef and several Thomas Keller alumni one would be hard-pressed to name a more prestigious Barbeque joint than red-hot Barrel & Ashes, and with early reviews mixed, some including claims of ‘money grab’ or ‘waste of talent’ a visit with four others at lunch certainly lived up the rumors – both good and bad.
Located in Studio City, and decorated in an almost paint-by-numbers way obviously intended to reference more established smokehouses down south, our party’s arrival at Barrel & Ashes began with five-persons being shoehorned into a four-top despite having reservations and greeted by a truncated menu lacking brisket aside from last-night’s leftovers reappropriated to a sandwich suffice it to say things were off to a bad start – the disinterested-hipster ‘everything is good’ service also not entirely befitting a theme of “Southern Hospitality” in any way, shape, or form.
Eventually moved to a shared, 8-seat high-top where service would subsequently improve it was with questions answered regarding both portions and preparation that the order progressed and eventually settling on eight savories to be shared it was not long before the first course arrived, the pork rinds trending a bit oily and oversalted while both the smoky, richly spiced wings and lightly sauced ribs showed signs of promise for the ‘cue…a still-sizzling, toothsome hoecake saturated with what very well may have been a stick of butter rounding out the quartet.
Subjected to sandwiches as much of the nightly smoked meats are not offered at lunch, though some can be had as part of a platter, the second course of food progressed through four more selections with the chicken sandwich moist and pleasant, though falling far short of its billing while the tri-tip was a bit more chewy than I’d have preferred – the brined brisket faring a bit better beneath the unnecessary cheese while the pulled pork was Carolina quality, a must order for those fancying that sort of barbeque.
Greeted at this point by the pastry chef, manager, and afternoon’s chef de partie, all offering compliments regarding our order, it was with a somewhat awkward exchange that the table was offered a complimentary selection of each of the restaurant’s desserts and while thankful for the gesture I still question the motivations considering the fact that only the banana pudding was supposedly available for lunch – a damned shame, really, as the mason-jar presentation was not really all that impressive compared to the refreshingly tart baked pudding, molten hot cobbler, or outstanding ice-cream cake that managed the tough task of offering a new and delicious take on something tried and true.
