Finally, some decent BBQ!

 Courtesy of www.famousdaves.com

After my last quest to find decent Bay Area BBQ went awry, I was hesitant to try anymore for a while.  MSG-dry mouth is not a fun post dining experience.

But my recently relocated friends from Texas tried the Famous Daves all the way in Gilroy recently and gave it the all important thumbs up.  It was time for us to try again…

Famous Daves is a chain started by Dave Anderson 25 years ago in the midwest.  His ribs and sauces have won more than 300 awards across the country.  Closer to home, he won the big Reno BBQ Rib Cook-off last year: the biggest BBQ competition on the west coast.

Gilroy is the closest Famous Dave’s outlet to the Bay Area, so we drove down to try some tasty pork.  And it was tasty, indeed.

First off, the menu is huge!  Every combo you can think of (ribs and chicken, catfish fingers and roasted chicken, brisket and ribs, and on and on…) is possible with the way they’ve arranged things.  Most items include at least one side dish, many with two.

We loved many things of the things we tried, but a few truly stood out:

• St. Louis Style BBQ Pork Ribs
• Chicken Wings w/BBQ sauce
• Catfish Fingers & Chicken Tenders
• The Sides! (beans & cornbread, especially)

The ribs are St. Louis style with a nice coat of sweet yet tangy sauce.  I loved them.  They were super meaty ribs, perfectly smoked and very tender and moist.  The sauce was just great.  They also have five other sauces at the table you can use too.

Now, I’m not usually a huge fan of buffalo wings, or chicken wings in general.  But these are definitely worth trying.  They’re moist, tender, and the sauce (there’s two BBQ and one buffalo) that slathers the meat is “finger-lickin’ good.”

Those catfish and chicken fingers were so good, I could’ve gone for another order of both.  Mmmmm….  The fish was moist and tender inside with a fantastic light breading on the outside.  And the chicken fingers had a coating that tasted like…well…cheese flavored Pringles.  Yes, cheese flavored Pringles.  You have to try them.  Trust me.

And those sides!  Yum on the baked beans, cole slaw, cornbread, and texas toast.  It helps round out a meat filled meal, and does it very well.

I was ecstatic to have tried this place.  And though it may be a chain, they’ve obviously earned their keep.

Famous Dave’s – 6925 Camino Arroyo, Gilroy, CA – 408.842.1400