The Lyceum people put plenty of real butter on the popcorn, which is a strong point in favor of crossing the river to see movies in Red Hook.
After the blue man movie came to its inevitable Cameronian apotheosis, Little Red and I sortied down to Holy Cow for some outstanding really yummy soft ice cream and, as usual, wondered why we thought we might need anything else to eat. I still pine for Carl’s — of course — but Holy Cow is a lot closer and you can at least order inside, which is good on a winter day.
Then we looked for the Red Hook Curry House — it seemed to be closed on Sunday afternoon. And Max’s Memphis BBQ was closed until five p.m., so we went over to Poet’s Walk Park for a bit of a trek through the slush. Just to work up an appetite. Many thanks to Scenic Hudson for keeping the meadows mowed — would it be possible, maybe, for them to work the same trick on Mead’s Meadow, over in Woodstock?
Max’s Memphis BBQ bills itself as the best barbecue in the Hudson Valley, and for all I know that may be true. Certainly the ribs were good enough to write home about. They were right smokey dry-rub ribs, properly cooked, not cooked to death or underdone, so next time I would probably just concentrate all my efforts on ribbing it up, even though they were not the best ribs I ever ate. A sandwich made of meat cut from the dry rub ribs would be very good — close to The Blue Ribbon Barbecue over there in West Newton, Massachusetts, which puts most of the barbecue up here in Yankee-land to shame.
We ordered a plate of ribs and chicken with a side of pulled pork. Just to be sure of sampling almost everything. We weren’t in the mood for sausages, salad, or any of the other delicious-sounding (and looking) entrées.
Max’s chicken and Max’s pulled pork seemed in the “ordinary” range — compared to the ribs. The chicken had been slathered with the usual rather ordinary sticky weet sauce, however, which was less to our liking than a dry rub would have been — and Max’s pulled pork, also, was sauced up with sweet stuff. I can make better pulled pork in the oven just roasting a top butt well sprinkled with salt and pepper and stuck with plenty of garlic. I did think Max’s smoke-man might have at least tried to offer dry rub as a selection on the chicken and pulled pork. I mean, come on — many people don't much like sweet red sauce on their pulled pork. Sweet red sauce gives barbecue a bad name, I believe.
Also, there weren’t any burnt ends in the pulled pork, and no way to order some. There was no option for sliced barbecue either. Max’s cheddar cheese grits, however, were outstanding. The collards were a bit too underdone for my taste, but that may well be the way folks like collard greens in the Hudson Valley. Vegans might enjoy them, but we probably won't see many vegans at Max's. There was no coleslaw to go with the pulled pork, but ... this gargantuan meal cost only thirty-five dollars, with the ice tea and pepsi, and I’d have no complaint if the dinner had been all ribs — which would have been cheaper. We did — somehow!—manage to almost all of it, even the chicken, so it can’t have been too bad, right?
But Max's ribs really stick in the mind.
They were much better, for example, than the ribs we ate several times recently at the Charlie Brown’s down near Princeton, New Jersey. Near as I could make out, those ribs had been pre-simmered in broth or water until they were fall off the bone tender and then slathered with sauce and grilled for a while. That method will fool some of the people most of the time and most of the people some of the time, but it ain’t really like using a smoker. It ain’t even like using a Weber.. Or maybe Charlie Brown’s just way overcooks their ribs to the point of being almost tasteless — down near Princeton. Maybe that's just New Jersey-style barbecue? And hence deservedly consigned to obloquy?
I dunno about the new Charlie Brown’s in Fishkill yet. But I’m guessing that the steak medallions and buffalo chicken fingers I like so much down in Princeton will be pretty good there.
Conveniently, Max’s is just down the road from Holy Cow, so theoretically you could work your way through a slab of ribs, then stop at Holy Cow for desert — it’s only a few hundred yards away — and then keep on to walk for an hour or two at Poet’s Walk Park.. I guess we were just in the mood to do things out of order last Sunday.
Or you could even go for a couple of much better than average burgers with plenty of fries at Uncle Chippie’s — right across from Holy Cow — probably for less than a full rack of ribs would cost you at Max’s. Try a rack of ribs next time before you to to Holy Cow. Max's has a good catering menu, too.
Max’s Memphis BBQ, 7215 Broadway, Red Hook, NY 845-758-6297
www.maxsbbq.com
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