Posted on

Oscar’s Special

I decided to go with Oscar’s Special, which included chicken, shrimp, spinach, prosciutto, mozzarella and a side pasta. The first thing you could taste from the dish was the sauce, it was very rich and creamy. All of the meat and seafood was cooked just right. However, I did have trouble with the shrimps due to the fact that they were cooked with the tails on. I received a very unexpected case of crunchiness when I bit into one. Overall, the dish was very enjoyable. One note that I should mention is that there could have been a little less salt in the dish. Because you were already cooking with ingredients that tend to be salty to begin with (i.e. prosciutto, shrimp and mozzarella) there wasn’t a need to overly salt the dish as you could have relied on the saltiness of those ingredients to do the seasoning for you and the dish would have been dynamite. The side pasta however was not what I was expecting though. The pasta was cooked perfectly al dente, but the marinara was not as sweet as it should have been, and almost seemed from a can or a jar. I think that a nice addition to the dish was to have included the pasta in the dish itself. It would have given it much more texture, that creamy sauce could have balanced out and had something to adhere to and may not have made the dish so salty. When the night was over, however, I went home full and satisfied from the healthy portions. -HW

Reviewed at Ziti’s Italian Trattoria.

Posted on

Pit’s Combo: Pulled Pork, BBQ Ribs and Chicken

Pit’s Combo: Pulled Pork, BBQ Ribs and Chicken from Smokestack Urban Barbecue.

I ordered the “Pit’s Combo” – which included Pulled Pork, BBQ Ribs and Chicken. Smokestack Urban Barbecue starts with quality food and ends with terrific creativity to make some of the best pulled pork in town. I loved it. The pork with the sweet Kansas City BBQ Sauce was delicious. The ribs were meat falling off the bone yummy-ness so it was a surprise when we got around to the chicken, although it was perfectly seasoned it and incredibly tasty without the sauces, it was a bit overcooked and dry–even with the sauce all over it. But we moved on to the mac and cheese with the cracker crust and this was not a disappointment in any way. The crackers and cheese were in excellent balance and we finished all of it. At Smokestack, the little things matter -the bbq decor, large windows, pretty flowers outside, attentive service and cleanliness. Definitely on our short list of “go to places” to eat BBQ in the area. The outdoor seating is lovely if the weather is nice and they’re selection of wines, mixed drinks and beer is excellent.