L.A. Brisket
2930 Bristol Street
Costa Mesa, CA 92626
Nothing gets my feet moving out from behind this computer faster than barbecue. I can hear about a new pizza place opening, or maybe even a burger joint, and I'll put it on my restaurant list and sit there for a while. I do the same thing about barbecue, but something gets me thinking about it and finding reasons to be nearby to try it. This happened when my good friend Ed came to town a few weeks ago and wanted to meet up for dinner. We decided to give LA Brisket a try.
LA Brisket is at the always-busy Lab Anti-Mall in Bristol, Costa Mesa. Meeting Ed on a Friday evening at 7 was challenging because getting a parking spot was difficult. I used the valet while Ed got lucky and pulled into an open spot near the back of the lot. LA Brisket is situated right near the driveway where you enter, and this is their second location, with the original being in Artesia.
LA Brisket focuses on brisket, but they also offer chicken, pulled pork, and pork ribs. No combo plates are available, although you can order these meats by the pound, and they will come with sliced white bread and BBQ sauce. Bowls, a version of loaded fries, and a handful of sides are also available, but their main focus is on their sandwiches. There are 6 to choose from, all named after Southland Freeways, except for the 405, which is a buck more, priced at $11.
Ordering is done at the register right next to the front door, and then you wait for your food in the dining area, which has about twenty tables, hanging lighting, and a self-serve soda machine. When we walked in at 7, we were one of two tables occupied, but as the evening went along, the tables did fill up, but it was never what I'd consider overly crowded. I have it on good authority that they smoke their meats on the premises, but the smoker is outside eyesight, and the overwhelming smoke smell you'd expect was not really present this evening. It took us about five to eight minutes for our food to arrive, which is how it turned out for us.
Let's start with Ed's evening meal, the Chicken Bowl ($10). Ed has always been odd, so seeing him order a chicken and rice bowl in a barbecue restaurant wasn't a shock. Joining the dark and white meat bird and garlic-infused rice in this was some of their LA Slaw, adding a slight tinge of vinegar. I did not see Ed use the green sauce that comes with this, and I'm not even sure what that green sauce was. Ed felt this was a good dish. The chicken was tender and flavorful, with a slight pepperiness. The garlic rice and the slaw made this a nicely balanced bowl.
Loaded Fries ($11) are always a favorite of mine when I see them, so I had to try them at LA Brisket. You can have these here with chicken, pork, or the protein we tried, their famous brisket. Also topping the sturdy fries was some of their slaw, caramelized onions, mushrooms, parsley, and a blue cheese sauce. Then, they were finished off with a generous dusting of parmesan cheese. This worked well for me. The blue cheese had just the correct bite and did not overwhelm. The brisket was tender, but with everything else around it, it was hard to get a feel for whether it was good or not. The fries remained crisp during the whole life of this starter, and the parmesan was a nice touch that finished this off. I'd get this again for sure.
Okay, I did something I had never done before in eight-plus years of writing this blog. I ate my meal before taking a picture of it. It couldn't have been the conversation because Ed is not that interesting. It must have been that I was starving or something else. Anyway, I had to go back and buy another sandwich and bring it home to my house. As I said earlier, LA Brisket offers six different freeway-inspired sandwiches, and the one I pictured here is the 101 ($11). This one comes with garlic aioli, mustard sauce, slaw, caramelized onion, and gruyere cheese. As you can see from the pictures, most of these items could be more prominent. They were in there, but because of the way the sandwich was constructed, it was hard to get everything in one bite. Everything was very compartmentalized with this sandwich. They were also very stingy with the aioli and the mustard sauce. I would have appreciated a heavier hand with these condiments. The brisket was good, and they supplied plenty on this sandwich. It had a nice smokiness but could have been a tad more tender. The bread was excellent, with a lovely crunch, and held its structural integrity. Again, if the menu had not alerted me to the fact that there was cheese on this, I never would have known.
I had really wanted to love LA Brisket, especially after I had read a few critics rave about these sandwiches, but I left a little disappointed. It was not awful, but it was like Christmas morning when your heart is set on an Atari 2600, and your parents get you a Pong video game. Yes, I'm showing my age a bit here. My point is I was left disappointed in both cases. I'll give them another chance and ask for extra aioli or sauce on the side next time. I'd also be interested in their pork ribs and pulled pork. Everyone I encountered on my visits has been friendly and pleasant, except for my cantankerous friend Ed, but I've known him for over 40 years, so I'm stuck with him.
Out of five night-vision goggles (because the land that now occupies the LAB retail complex used to be home to a night-vision goggle factory more than 20 years ago), five being best to zero being worst, LA Brisket gets 2.5 night-vision goggles.
For more information about LA Brisket, head to their website here: http://labrisket.com/
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