It’s official, after staring at windows covered by brown sheets of butcher paper for the past few months, The Smokin’ Joint has soft opened, and has already been hit up by Blackburn and Sweetzer, Food Marathon, and Thrillist. Located near the busy section of 3rd and La Cienega, the Joint is serving up it’s own version of California ‘Q’. Michael Kesler, owner and former student at Cordon Bleu, left his music biz career to open up his first restaurant. Nearly everything is made in house, from the BBQ sauce, to desserts and secret recipe rubs. The are in soft opening, so they are still adding the finishing touches and fine tuning the cooking.
I love that I'm about to eat the band.
A massive 9 screen TV on the wall entertains you with live concert footage and performances. Anything from rock to blues.
There was a flat screen TV on one wall playing some pre-season NFL football, and a massive 9 screen TV on the other that was playing Aerosmith concert footage the entire time we were there. The Gothic style tables, imported from India, are large, sturdy pieces, and add a bit of uniqueness to the space.
The menu is your standard BBQ fare, pulled pork, catfish, ribs, brisket and tri-tip. They bring you some mini cornbread muffins with house made honey butter upon sitting down. We also chowed on a full rack of Baby Back Ribs ($25) and a plate of 17 hr smoked Beef Brisket ($17). The ribs weren’t fall of the bone tender, but the flavor of the rub and apple juice soaked ribs, combined with their own tangy BBQ sauce was divine. The beans weren’t your typical baked beans, but a mixture of kidney, pinto, and black beans. The small side of fries were good for dipping into the sauce.
Yummy cornbread and honey butter to start off with.
The full rack of baby back ribs with fries and baked beans.
The brisket had a nice little kick and lots of smoke flavor, but was a little dry, remedied when doused in the tasty BBQ sauce. The chili and lime butter corn needed a little more chili and lime and butter, as I could really only taste the sweetness of the white corn. The baked potato, was actually a few red potatoes, halved and covered with a small amount of sour creme, bacon and chives. Not what I was expecting at all.
The beef brisket with chili lime corn butter and potatoes.
No booze yet, but they will hopefully remedy that soon. I could have used a nice big glass of Zin to go with the spicy brisket, but went with the sweet (overly so) and tart frozen lemonade instead. Parking was a breeze, as they offered valet for just two bucks. This is a great addition to this neighborhood, that is void of any BBQ choices.
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