Meat Up BBQ
1450 North Kramer Blvd.
Placentia, CA 92870
I've been writing this blog for a long time when we went to the same address for two restaurants. It's happened a few times now, proving how tricky the restaurant business can be. At this same address was a restaurant we liked, Sue Ann's Kitchen, which served classic American food. The one time we were here, it was sparsely populated, but I had hoped for a better fate for them after eating their food. It was not to be, as they closed their doors in 2014.
When we showed up at Meat Up recently, they were crowded and filled up during our stay. That is an excellent sign. Meat Up comes to us from the guys behind two food trucks, The Viking Truck and the Garlicscapes Truck. I'm sure it's not a surprise to most of you who read this blog regularly, but I haven't been to either of these trucks since I'm not a food truck fan. I had heard good things about the Viking Truck and their sausage and tater tot menu. From what I've gathered, the Viking Truck is still in operation, and the Garlicscapes Truck has been taken off the road to concentrate on this, their latest venture.
We came to Meat Up early Sunday evening with my parents, who would buy me dinner for my birthday. Not only because it's nearby, but the feel of this place reminded me of Leadbelly's Barbecue, which is a few streets over. Both of these restaurants have versions of loaded fries, some great-sounding burgers, sandwiches, and meat plates. The only difference between the two is that at Meat Up, you order at the counter, and the food is brought to you, while over at Leadbelly's, waiter service is the norm, thus costing you a little more money due to tipping. We put our order in and waited for the food to be brought to their very comfortable dining area, with TVs turned to basketball. Let's see if this food would be slam dunk good or if we would have to call a foul. Sorry for being so cheesy.
As soon as I sit down and see bottles of BBQ sauce on the tables, I get excited that we will be in for a treat, and if there are multiple bottles, it's even better news. At Meat Up BBQ, they had three sauces: Habanero Mustard Sauce, Red Pepper BBQ Sauce, and Blackberry BBQ Sauce. I like knowing that the meat will come out naked, and I can use the right amount of sauce I like. I tried all three of these throughout my meal here, and my favorite was the blackberry variety, but the other two were solid. Now, on to the food.
I have yet to mention it, but Chris Burrous was here profiling this restaurant on the Channel 5 Morning News, and he raved about the garlic feta fries, but I could not resist trying these Smothered and Covered Chili Verde Fries ($7). These fries were topped with a pulled pork chili verde and generous cheddar cheese. The fries stayed remarkably crisp, even as time passed, not that they were around too long. The chili verde pork was mild, but the pork was tender, and the sauce went well with the barbecue-seasoned fries. Really good, and I can't believe more places haven't thought of putting chili verde pork on top of fries. Delicious.
My mom's go-to item at a barbecue restaurant is almost always a pork sandwich, so it was no surprise when I heard her order this Meat Up Pulled Pork Sandwich ($11). For a sandwich, this had plenty of meat included. This sandwich came with pickles, barbecue sauce, and cracked pepper, and it usually comes with horseradish cole slaw, but my mom wanted that on the side. She really enjoyed this sandwich and found it to be one of the better ones she has had recently. With each sandwich, you get your choice of a side, and she opted for the broccoli salad, which is pretty close to a salad she made when we were growing up. Meat Up's broccoli salad contains sunflower seeds and cranberry in a creamy sauce. Very tasty, and fresh produce was used in this. My mom left here pretty happy.
It's almost always a crap shoot what my dad will be ordering these days. There used to be a time when we would order a lot alike, but that hasn't happened in a while. I'm not saying I wouldn't order a burger in a barbecue place, but probably never on my first trip to a new place, but there he was getting this Smokin Reuben Burger ($11). This burger came with a house fennel sauerkraut, arugula, strips of pork belly, barbecue sauce, and Swiss cheese. My dad loved this burger. The sauerkraut was not overpowering, like a lot of them tend to be. The burger patty was cooked well and seasoned nicely, and the pork belly pushed this burger over the top in decadence. My dad made quick work of this burger. For his side, he tried the Bacon Potato Salad. This classic potato salad was made up of a mustard-mayo sauce, some pickles, and, as you can see in the picture, quite a bit of crumbled bacon. This was a delicious version of potato salad. Of course, the crumbled bacon was great, but the salad base was also good. Tasted very homemade and not too mustardy, my biggest pet peeve with many potato salads.
The OC Cheesesteak ($11) would be Katie's dinner tonight. This sandwich utilized smoked tri-tip as the protein, then they added caramelized poblano peppers and onions, avocado cream, sliced tomato, and Swiss cheese to finish it off. Definitely not a traditional cheesesteak by any means, but Katie really enjoyed it. The tri-tip was tender and flavorful, there was plenty of cheese, and the veggies were done nicely, so they snapped when bitten. The only drawback of this sandwich was that the avocado got lost here, but that's bound to happen with all of these big-time flavors vying for attention in this cheesesteak. This sandwich was a little heavier for Katie, but she managed to finish most of it.
It was my birthday dinner, so I went big at Meat Up with their 3 Meat Plate ($21). I had St. Louis Ribs, Pork Belly, and Rib Tips for my meat-a-palooza. All of the meats were solid. The rib tips were not like any I have ever had before. They were huge and full of meat, but some of the bigger ones were a little drier. I'm still unsure why these were so much bigger than I used to be, but I wasn't complaining. The pork belly was also a little different than what I was expecting. It came out in strips, like undercooked bacon, and was topped with crunchy chicharron. It's alright, but again, it's different from what I expect when ordering pork belly. The pork ribs might have been the best out of all the meats. They were tender, with light sauce, and had just the right amount of light smokey flavor, which is my preference. You get to choose two sides with a meat plate, and I tried the Hellbilly Chili and Mac and Cheese. Both of these sides were solid, with an edge to the chili. This chili utilized three different kinds of beans, beef, plenty of cheese topping it, and a touch of garlic sauce, which I mistook for sour cream when it first came out. The chili was really flavorful, and the garlic sauce did not overpower the chili like I thought it would but actually added another flavor profile to it. I can not see myself coming here without getting this chili. The mac and cheese was a step below the chili, a classic version of this dish, with a breadcrumb topping and some herbs. There needs to be something to make this side dish stand out, though. A lot of food, which I only took a little bit home for lunch the next day.
It's hard coming here and not comparing this place to Leadbelly's. Maybe it's because they are so close to each other or because they serve the same kind of West Coast barbecue, but whatever the reason, they are about equal in my book. The sides here are better at Meat Up, and I would give a slight edge to the barbecued meats at Leadbelly's, but slightly, and only based on our one visit to each. We talked to the owner on our way out, and he mentioned that their menu is still a work in progress and they are still fine-tuning their dishes, so I look forward to trying them out again. North OC is a hotbed of very good barbecue places, so they could spread the love and open one south of Irvine to feed all of us in barbecue-starved South OC. Please hurry.
Out of five tennis racquets (because one of my first brushes with someone famous was when I saw tennis great and Placentia resident Michael Chang at the supermarket), five being best to zero being worst, Meat Up BBQ gets a strong 3.5 tennis racquets.
For more information about Meat Up BBQ, go to their website here: http://www.meatupbbq.com/
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