(04/19/08)

The Joint

Rick's Roadhouse is one of the most eye-catching spaces in the Northeast BBQ landscape, with a colorful service-station-turned-bar look that brings a 1950s vibe. Combine that with the equally retro Stanley's Hamburgers across the street and you'd swear you took a time capsule back to the Providence of a half century ago. The bar boasts "Rhode Island's largest whiskey selection," near-outdoor seating (the garage doors tilt back to allow sun), a half dozen TVs and pool tables. Inside, the dining room is dark but as interesting as the bar. Some nice touches include barrels in the entryway, stacks of wood by one of the outlets to the bar, a mural of a drive-in with parked cars, a list of BBQ rules to follow and a catchy "A waist is a terrible thing to mind" slogan that sums up the joint's menu choices.

Tables are spacious and topped with fitted faux leather tablecloths and a well stacked condiment caddy (more on that later). Rhode Island restaurateur John Elkhay (XO, Ten Prime) put a lot of thought and creativity into the space and into the smaller touches, like a carafe of ice water with lemon on every table. There are even TVs above the urinals in the men's room.

The Menu

Despite the roadhouse moniker, Rick's is first and foremost a bar with bar food. The list of Scotches, Bourbons and Margaritas is impressive. Pub appetizers include chili, shrimp cocktail, pigskins, steak on a stick, Texas eggrolls with smoked chicken, fried chicken tenders, wings from Buffalo and wings from Hell (so spicy you get your photo on the wall of fame if you finish them). There are four different steaks, six different burgers, fajitas, meat loaf and a mac and cheese entree. The barbecue is limited to babyback ribs by the half rack and rack, pulled pork, brisket and smoked chicken.

The Visits

My wife and I visited on a Saturday night within the first two weeks of operation.

The Appetizers

If not for the bones I'd swear the breaded and fried Buffalo wings ($7.99) were chicken tenders, but they were moist and meaty. The sauce was fairly mild, though hot sauce helped. The bleu cheese accompaniment was thin enough to allow ample dipping. Buzz saw steak chili (cup $2.99, bowl $3.99) arrived with some onions, plenty of cheese and no beans. It's ground meat consistency was interrupted every few spoonfuls by a larger chunk that reminded me of a Chef Boyardee meatball. My biggest qualms with the chili were the sweetness and the overly high broth to meat ratio, which was only compounded by adding the required hot sauce to raise the heat past children's level.

The Meats

For the entree, one item spoke to me loud and clear (technically, loudly and clearly), and that was the Deluxe Combo Platter ($18.99) that included ribs, brisket and pulled pork. The presentation was impressive, with two-thirds of a rack of babybacks and both the brisket and pork nestled on slices of white bread toast.

The babybacks had thick bones with very little meat in between, but that was offset by the thickness of the cut. The moist meat wasn't particularly smoky and showed no sign of a smoke ring, but the flavor was pleasant enough.

The heavily sauced pulled pork must have been grilled or fried with sauce on, because the edges were crispy and the meat beneath was quite chewy. The sticky meat was closer to an overly sweetened takeout Chinese dish than barbecue, though I imagine some might like this. I didn't.

Brisket, though sauced similarly to the pork, was probably the best of the three meats. There was no smoke ring or smoky flavor here either, but despite all the sauce, there was some texture andflavor to the meat.

Overall the barbecue items were just okay, if that. My wife's sirloin (6 ounce $9.99, 10 ounce $14.99) was very chewy.

The Sauces

A tray of condiments graces every table. This includes squeeze bottles of sweet barbecue sauce (typical commercial Kansas City style) and hot barbecue sauce (ditto but with heat), ketchup, Rhode Island Red hot sauce, a shaker of dry rub (surprisingly potent in the heat department), silverware and custom wetnaps bearing the Rick's Roadhouse logo.

The Sides

Sides were a mixed bag. Barbecue entrees come with cole slaw and beans as standard sides, and Rick's batted .500: I liked the cole slaw (vinegar base with some sweetness to balance the tartness) but was underwhelmed by the soggy sweet, high viscosity beans. The mashed potatoes that accompanied my wife's steak were pretty good, with some skins and a natural potato flavor.

The bottom line: I want to like Rick's Roadhouse, but I really wish the barbecue were better. That said, the prices are a steal, the portions are more than generous, it's one of the coolest hangouts I've seen in a while and it's close to both the Providence Place Mall and the Dunkin Donuts Center. The bar business alone should ensure success. If so, I hope this buys some time to work out the barbecue kinks.

other opinion:

TBD