Today was a perfect day for a barbeque lunch. The temperature in Atlanta was around 75 degrees. The humidity was low, and there was a nice breeze. After reading a very positive review of Rolling Bones BBQ by Jennifer Zyman, I decided to make the half hour drive into the city and try some new Q. I had been to Rolling Bones a couple years ago and was not terribly impressed with anything other than the building. Rolling Bones is housed in a retrofitted gas station (very similar to Fox Bros.) in the Sweet Auburn district of downtown Atlanta. It turns out that Rolling Bones was recently put up for sale and was purchased by Todd Richards and the Lush Life restaurant group. While they left the facility intact (smart), they radically retooled the menu for the better.
To my mind, the big change between Rolling Bones v1 and Rolling Bones v2 is a shift towards a chef driven menu. RB v1 was very much a stock BBQ joint. Innovation was not in their lexicon. They focused on the basics, and there is nothing wrong with that. Unfortunately, those basics didn't really knock me off my chair. RB v2 takes a different approach towards what a BBQ restaurant can and should be. For a few years now, I've believed that the next generation of BBQ restaurants would begin to incorporate some of the best elements of classical cuisine and the slow food/locavore movement. That's exactly what I found at the new Rolling Bones. The meat selections had expanded past the standard offering of pulled pork, ribs, brisket, and chicken to include duck, turkey, and trout. Also, several of the meats are advertised as brined, which is a pretty radical departure from mainstream BBQ dogma. The menu also reflected an awareness of current food trends in that there are three sliders offered (beef, pork, chicken) and there are boutique ingredients (Benton's bacon). To the trained eye, it's pretty easy to see that there is a chef in the mix. This was also made fairly obvious by the two purveyor's trucks I watched arrive during my lunch. Let's just say neither Sysco or IFC made a delivery today.
My lunch order was pretty obscene. I went for a two meat combo plate (spare ribs and duck), two sliders (pork and beef), potato salad with Benton's bacon, and brunswick stew. Picking the meats was not too difficult, but the sides were a different matter altogether. Rolling Bones v2 offers sweet potato, succotash, cole slaw with raisin dressing, mustard greens, baked beans, smoked onions, or a cucumber/tomato/onion salad. Also, RBv2 has a beautiful little display of red velvet and carrot cupcakes right by the register. I really longed to tear into the red velvet, but I knew I was already in over my head. I'll have to save that for the follow up visit next week.
The meats were all perfectly cooked. The pulled pork was drawn into nice sized hunks, and there was plenty of bark. I watched my brisket being sliced at the counter. It had a delicious rub and was tender and smokey. I've always been a spare rib fan and mine did not disappoint today. Going into lunch, I was probably most excited about the duck. It's advertised as citrus and herb brined, but I didn't really taste much of that. What I did taste was smoke. It's a delicious offering and I really admire Todd for having the balls to put it on the menu. By the way, that's the smoked duck in the picture above, back behind those gorgeous ribs.
As for the sides, my favorite was the potato salad. Although it seemed a little strong on the celery side, I appreciated that they laid off the mustard. The Benton's bacon was a nice addition.
My low point for the day was probably the brunswick stew, but I don't feel it's fair to blame that on Rolling Bones. I'm just not a fan of GA style brunswick stew. Rolling Bone's brunswick stew is thick with pork, corn, celery, veggies, and tomato product. In fact, it's a little too thick for me. I prefer a looser stew that incorporates baby limas, potatoes, chicken and a few other North Carolina style ingredients. Someday, I think the folks around here will get it right, but until then I continue to dream of Chapel Hill Brunswick stew. One thing I really appreciated was the bang for my buck I got at Rolling Bones. Sides are either two or three dollars and they come presented in easy to take home deli-style containers.
While I was taking my meal to the table, I had a brief conversation with the chef/owner Todd. He indicated that they would soon be offering organic pork on the menu. Also he plans to add short ribs, pork belly, and trotters (yes, pig's feet) to the menu in a couple weeks. Todd struck me as a really interesting guy with his priorities in all the right places. I like to see a restaurant and chef that are not afraid to experiment and see what the market will bear. I like a strong vision. All in all, I have a very positive feeling about the new Rolling Bones.
As for the staff, they were all very pleasant and attentive. While I was waiting for my food, I spent ten minutes watching the line. It's clear that Todd is still breaking in some of his employees. I think that this is probably the source of the food delays that Jennifer accurately pointed out in her review. In fact, Todd said that he felt that her comments were fair and they were working to address them. Is parking an issue? Sure. But, I'm not sure that Todd can rectify that easily. Just do a little parallel parking and enjoy the walk. Make it a point to take the trip and visit the new Rolling Bones.
