Big Mama's Rib Shack

Tonight, a few of us decided to try out Big Mama's Rib Shack in Pasadena for the first time. Although the location of this place was somewhat shady, according to Flip, I had an unusual craving for ribs and thought this place could satiate my appetite.

First of all, for all you folks who get the image of some rundown hole-in-the-wall, you're wrong. I'll admit, I had imagined the same thing, but boy was I wrong. Instead, this place had a small bar, had a host stand, pretty decent-looking booths, and even had a wine list. I could've mistaken this place for an Italian bistro or casual-contemporary Asian eatery. We were the last table to be sat, and unfortunately, had 10 minutes to order before the kitchen was closed. As someone in the 'biz', I hate having to be the last table to be waited on, mostly because I know what a drag it can be for the cooks in the kitchen. Anyhow, I looked through the menu and was a bit disappointed that there weren't more rib items. In fact, all I really saw were an option for Baby Back Ribs in the rack portion or portioned in slabs...which I really don't know the difference between. Other than that, all the other menu items were either Creole cooking or deep-fried seafood. I coulda had more options going to Tony Roma's for god sakes.

Skipping to the food, my first impression of the half rack of ribs I got wasn't very good. I guess you could say I was expecting more on my plate than some ribs sitting in a puddle of sauce. However, I was pretty full at the end of the meal, so perhaps my eyes were bigger than my stomach. The fried okra was good, but again, not what I had imagined. Nor did it come with any dipping sauces... The mac n' cheese was horrible...probably worse than at the Souplantation. It was terribly bland and hardly any cheese flavor at all, as if you couldn't tell by the pale color of the sauce. I tried a hushpuppy from my friend's plate and it was pretty good. However, my friend got grossed out by the fried oyster he had ordered...it was green in the middle and looked squishy and unappetizing from my view. Also, the cornbread muffins that we had weren't bad...they nearly crumbled once you bit into them. I did, however, have a problem with the size of them. They seemed a little too petite to be served for dinnertime. There was also a huge tv on the other side of the dining room which we couldn't see at all, but could certainly hear the entire time we were eating. I couldn't help but feel watched by the large portrait of "Big Mama" across the dining room from us. Now that I think about the decor of this restaurant, nothing seemed to match at all. The decor did not match the name of the restaurant, nor did the menus, and there were vases of fake orchids everywhere I looked that one would expect to find at an asian restaurant or contemporary bistro...not a restaurant that offers Southern comfort food.

The bill for 3 people was $60...which is too high for the kind of food I received. The service wasn't bad, but it could've been better. Even though they were closed and we were the absolute last table, I didn't feel as if we were being rushed at all. Our waiter even offered us dessert, which we politely declined. We did have to wait a few minutes for our bill to be closed out, seeing as how our waiter was too busy watching the ginormous tv. I will say that I haven't eaten much Southern food at all, so I am by no means an expert, but as a person working in the industry, I have certain expectations, albeit sometimes higher than the average customer, but expectations nonetheless and this place fell short.

Another note which is totally off subject and probably deserves its own blog, but which I am too lazy to start, I just received a copy of Nancy Silverton's Breads from the La Brea Bakery and now I feel inspired to bake some bread. Just thought I'd throw that out there... ;D