Lucille's Smokehouse BBQ

7411 Carson St.
Long Beach, CA 90808
562-938-RIBS (7427)
www.lucillesbbq.com

You can call the Good Bros all kinds of things, but you can't call them quitters! Apparently, finding "A" grade BBQ in San Diego is as hard as getting the stock market to settle on the price of pork bellies. Out of necessity, it was time to expand our horizons and search for BBQ in unexplored lands. But where to go? No worry, we will use our handy Magic Box* to direct us to new northern frontiers. "Magic Box, we need BBQ in near Buena Park" So, we plugged in our destination - Lucille's Smokehouse BBQ.

"Destination, 5,3mi. Turn left in 500ft and prepare to merge right"

As amazing as Magic Box is, it can only tell us WHERE, not HOW GOOD. Once Magic Box told us we had arrived at our destination, squinting at a sea of neon glow. We drove through the maze of cookie cutter shops and restaurants looking frantically for our prize, and there it was: Lucille's. Smoke rises from the stack, and Tamara the White welcomes and invites us in.

To our disappointment, we couldn't be seated immediately at a table, so we were handed a branded pager and waited. This part was a little tough for the Good Bros. since we both were still on edge after several roller coaster rides and the BBQ debacle we refer to as Joe Cool's Big Mistake. Thankfully, the wait was actually good for us and helped us focus on the task at hand.

The waiting room at Lucille's, unlike many other restaurants, felt a lot like the back patio of a comfortable house. All rattan on the inside, and 50's diner seating in the bar called When Pigs Fly - this was our home for 20 minutes. After a long day, sitting on a comfy wicker couch almost made us forget that we came here to try the food. Buzzzzzzzzzz. Our table is ready!


Our table #1 was next to the Zagat survey plaques and the door. Seemed like Lucille was trying to say "like it or get out." Once seated, we were eager to look over the menus. Wow! Look at all the food options here. After several minutes of tossing around ideas of what to eat, and some helpful suggestions, we were set. I'll take an order of the pulled pork sandwich with the coleslaw and baked beans. Good Bro #1 is going with the beef brisket and sweet potatoes. Oh, the fried shoestring red onion appetizer looks too good to pass up. We'll take an order of that to keep us company in the meantime.

As Tamara approached, we were glad we didn't stay on the comfy couch in the waiting room. Our playfully, patient server brought the food just as we finished gorging ourselves on fresh bread and apple butter. The food looked really good, and the aroma of real BBQ told us was time to eat. One whiff of the pulled pork and you can smell that hickory smoke. It was good enough to put in your pocket or wear it as a mustache. The brisket looked good, but seemed a little tough and oily. Good Bro #1 claimed that it melts in your mouth if you kept it in the side like chewing tobacco. The sweet potatoes had good color and texture, good enough satisfy the craving of mashed potatoes and a dessert. This BBQ joint didn't have cornbread - don't know why. But they might as well not have coleslaw either. The coleslaw didn't have that slightly sweet tangy taste, but was really just a small stack of freshly grated cabbage and nuts better suited for fish tacos. We didn't think the BBQ sauces were much to brag about either. Twist off the sticky cap, one taste and it was confirmed - ketchup and corn syrup. Didn't bother us though since the pulled pork and brisket, with that great smoky aroma, tasted fine without the sauce.

The service here was great, although our server seemed scared of us. (We got excited about the scent of hickory that filled the restaurant when the smoker was being loaded.) She hung in there and made our dining experience here fun. Thanks Lucille for the great time, and the great food. As we say,
"See you next Saturday!"

B+

* a cell phone with navigation service, affectionately called "Magic Box"