KAB BBQ Challenge: Big Boy’s

With all of the BBQ spots cashing in on Dinosaur’s ability to pique everyone’s interest, (kind of like how independent coffee shops actually do better with a Starbucks near by), we’ve all inevitably heard from all your worldly friends about which place is “the best.”

Our goal is to give you an objective look at the local BBQ spots, and give you an idea which provides the best BBQ experience overall.

We originally started this in Schenectady with the intention of hitting up Rubbin’ Butts, but for some reason, on a normal night, at a normal dinner time, they were not interested in exchanging food for our money; they were closed. Weird way to run a business. Regardless, we used the smarts of our space phones and it directed us to our place of consumption, Big Boy’s Slow Foods and Catering.

We have a diverse panel of testers which each prefer a different style of BBQ, (saucy vs. dry rubs), and one vegetarian, to rate each restaurants ability to deal with the fussy eaters among us. With myself, being the vegetarian of the group, it’s important to me that I know I’m not going to be stuck eating some bullshit side dishes.

Upon arriving, the array of listed emotions of each of the testers was appropriate:  “Excited for a wildcard,” “hangry” (hungry/angry for the dense), “nervous” and “hungry as fuck.” The table ordered two rib and pulled pork combo dishes, a pulled pork sandwich, mac and cheese, beets, macaroni and potato salad, as well as cole slaw.

The initial negatives, upon ordering, were that there was no corn bread, and that the full BBQ menu is only offered on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays. The more nit-picky ones were the plastic utensils, no beer, no extra sauce.

The initial positives were a big menu, beets, they gave us BBQ that wasn’t supposed to be served until Thursday and they gave us the remote to the TV.

Our score cards range from 1-11, with 11 being absolutely perfect. There’s weighted categories with multipliers throughout the sheet. Percentages are out of total points possible. We should probably get a curve set up but I’m too lazy. Just remember we are tough graders.

Environmental: 51%

It was a combination of ambiance, price and portion size. Price clearly did the best in this category, it was the highest rating from almost every voter. Not so good on the ambiance, because it is clearly a take out style place that just happens to have a table or two. No big deal really.

Food: 65%

Appearance took a bit of a hit with the plastic containers and silverware, but again it’s a takeout spot. The tenderness of the meat was far and away the highest rated in this category, with comments such as “just awesome.” Flavor was divided as it was a saucy style rather than a rub, but still scored high.

Bonus: 43%

These discretionary bonus points got Big Boys a bunch of extra love, because they gave us the remote to the TV, as well as having beet salad as an option, a good, non mainstream drink selection and there was no wait.

Overall: 82%

Had the atmosphere been less of a take out/delivery joint the score would have been a bit higher, but that’s part of their deep-Southern charm (and why the food is rated separately). Check in soon for the next installment.

If you have any spots you think are worthy of our consideration, please leave it in a comment!

Also, if you or someone you know may be interested in sponsoring any part of the BBQ challenge, get in touch!