Cox: Serious smokers at The BBQ Spot

Because equipment makes a real difference in barbecue, here’s a quick look at the smokers used at The BBQ Spot in Santa Rosa’s Brickyard Center.

Two Cookshack brand electric smokers - seriously high-quality units - stand at the heart of this restaurant, turning out brisket, chicken, hot links, pulled pork and, of course, ribs.

These smokers, in contrast to many that have the firebox separate from the cooking and smoking racks, have just a single chamber, like a refrigerator, only here it’s heat that’s produced behind the insulated door. The heat comes from electric elements at the bottom of the unit that the cooks can set at anywhere from 100 to 300 degrees F. Smoke comes from wood pellets in a metal box that sits between the heating elements, so the higher the temperature setting, the more smoke. Personal preferences vary with the cooks, but hickory, apple, cherry, and mesquite woods are popular types of smoking wood, due to their perfume-y fragrances. Above the heating elements and smoke box are racks on which the meat is slow-cooked. Ribs, for instance, are cooked for four hours.

If you visit The BBQ Spot’s website, you see some pretty graphics of brisket covered with the so-called bark on the surface of the meat from the spice rub and meat fat that form a delicious, lacquer-like glaze, and just underneath, a reddish band a millimeter or two thick, called the pellicle. All this is the mark of really authentic southern barbecue. But the Brisket ($15.75 ?½) at The BBQ Spot wasn’t like that. If there’s bark, it wasn’t on my brisket, there was no pellicle, and the meat was a uniform brown. In addition, it was chewy and dry, not falling-apart tender.

The Ribs ($15.25 for 4 bones ??½) did have some bark. They were large, St. Louis-style ribs rather than the baby backs depicted on the website. And the Pulled Pork ($14.75 ??) also had some bark, but hardly enough to bite.

These dinner plates were each given a ladle of St. Louis-style barbecue sauce, sweet yet tangy. This is barbecue that’s good, but not perfect. Each plate also comes with two side dishes and a piece of sheet-baked cornbread.

The cornbread, cold and dry, set me dreaming of good cornbread, high and fluffy, warm and fragrant, moist and tasty.

The sides, chosen from a list of nine, were coleslaw and onion rings. The onion rings were nicely crunchy but the cooking oil should have been hotter. Properly hot oil turns the water in the batter to steam that instantly repels the oil so it doesn’t make the rings greasy. These rings were greasy.

The coleslaw, on the other hand, was wonderful. Snapping-fresh cabbage and carrot mixed with a light, creamy sauce tasted like it had been made five minutes ago. All the side dishes, including baked beans, French fries, macaroni salad, potato salad, mac and cheese, and sweet potato fries, can be ordered a la carte.

The Chicken ($13.75 ??½) entrée was the best of the three main meats. A leg and thigh were slow-cooked to a tender juiciness. It had an appealing, lightly smoky flavor. Here’s where the Cookshack smoker shines. A live-fire barbecue has several drawbacks when it comes to chicken. Because it’s exposed to direct flame, the outside of the meat can dry and burn before the meat at the joints and bones is done cooking. The breast will be dry if cooked as long as the dark meat. But the Cookshack can be set to cook the bird so gently that it’s cooked through without losing its moisture, while giving it a little smoky perfume.

There was a berry cobbler for dessert on a recent night, but the cobbler was just sweet, wet and gooey.

One of the best features of The BBQ Spot is that there are lots of ways to mix and match. There’s a kid’s menu. You can get two or three-meat combos. A “small feast” feeds 3-5 people for $52.75, medium feast feeds 4-6 for $69.75, and large feast feeds 6-8 for $102.75 and that’s less than $13 a person for ribs, chicken, and pulled pork for all.

Bottled beer is available. You’ll see your choices lined up by the cash register. You order at the cash register, get a number on a stick, and find a seat. Someone will bring you your food. It’s lunchroom service and atmosphere.

To sum up: Who’s up for coleslaw and barbecued chicken?

Jeff Cox writes a weekly restaurant review for the Sonoma Living section. He can be reached at jeffcox@sonic.net.