Brother, Can You Spare Some Barbecue?

 Brothers Barbecue

618 South Center Street

Reno, Nevada 89501

Lake Tahoe had been fun but went by way too quick. It was a great weekend getting to spend time with Katie's work family and seeing firsthand how generous her workplace is to their employees and families. We had some hours to kill before our plane left Sacramento to take us back home at 7pm. We had to vacate our hotel room at 11, so that gave us four hours to explore, minus the two-hour drive back to Sacramento. Where to kill some time?

I had thought of maybe exploring Virginia City, or maybe checking out the capital of Nevada, Carson City. As is usually the case, food was the guiding force as to where we would be heading. A quick check of the restaurant scene in both of these towns kind of discouraged me from visiting. Instead, we headed to Reno, which had numerous restaurants to choose from and had some casinos where we could lose our money. 

After a quick drive downtown, a selfie under the Reno sign, a quick jaunt to the Truckee River, and an hour or so of gambling, we were ready for lunch before hitting the road back to Sacramento. I'm not even sure how I settled on Brother's Barbecue, which is located in the Midtown area of Reno. They have a really respectable 4 and a half star rating on Yelp with over 600 reviews, which is something that I definitely look for, but I really think both Katie and I were just craving some barbecue this afternoon and were hoping that Brothers would be an excellent send-off to our getaway weekend. 

Brothers Barbecue has been open for business for the last seven years. They specialize in Texas-style barbecue, which means that they cook their meats low and slow, with smoke added for flavor. That means my favorite barbecued meat was on the horizon for me, brisket. Along with the brisket, Brothers also offers pulled pork, spicy sausage, and pork ribs. Beef ribs are available on weekends, while turkey is offered on Thursdays. The meats are available in sandwiches, bowls, plates, or by the pound until they sell out, which is usually a great sign that you've found a great barbecue spot. Let's see if that would hold true at Brothers Barbecue.  

As is the case when I'm eating in a barbecue restaurant for the first time, I get a plate so I can try as much as possible in one visit. At Brothers that meant that I'd have the Bro's Semi-Famous Brisket and Three Pork Rib Plate ($20). The brisket here was first-rate. It had a very nice pink-hued smoke ring running alongside it, had just enough fat which added a lot of flavors, and was not too moist where it would fall apart too easily. A very sturdy piece of brisket. The pork ribs were also good, with the requisite smoke ring present and plenty of meat on each rib. Each rib was kissed with just enough sauce so it was not too intrusive. No sauce was needed for either of these two proteins, but if you just gotta have sauce, both the original and the habanero were nicely done, but I was partial to the habanero one more, which had a very manageable heat level based on my palette. With my plate, I got the choice of two sides, and I went with the homemade potato salad and the mac and cheesy. The potato was the better of the two. The chunks of potato were fork tender and I liked the mayo-based dressing that coated each cube of potato. The mac and cheesy was a miss for me. It was served at room temperature with grated cheese topping it that had no chance of melting. It was devoid of the flavor that I get from other versions of mac and cheese. 

Katie strategically got her Bro's Two Meat and Two Side BBQ Plate ($17) with different items than myself, so we could try even more of the food at Bothers Barbecue. She went with the pulled pork and the spicy smoked sausage, both of which were very good. The pork was moist and flavorful with some nice pieces of bark intertwined into the pile. I was a bit more partial to their sausage, which definitely had some heat present along with a nice snappy casing. I'm not really a big fan of macaroni salad, but she enjoyed this version. The southern corn was a simple dish of corn kernels that were seasoned nicely and went well with the rich meats. The cornbread was not as sweet as I usually like, but Katie could not get enough as she took mine for herself. 

Brothers Barbecue was an excellent choice for what was going to be our only meal in Reno, before heading back home. The meats that we had were all standouts. I felt the sides were fine, but none really blew me away. Prices were not too bad for the amount of food that you get. Service was friendly and they got the food out to us in a very quick manner. I would not hesitate to return if I found myself back in Reno anytime soon. 

Out of five catcher's mitts, (because Reno is home to the largest sporting goods store in the world, Scheels has a 65-foot tall Ferris wheel inside, a 16,000-gallon aquarium, and  I'm sure they sell plenty of catcher's mitts), five being the best to zero being worst, Brothers Barbecue gets 3.5 catcher's mitts. 

For more information about Brothers Barbecue, head to their website here: https://www.bbqreno.com/