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A few weeks ago, Charleston Scene critic Hanna Raskin praised the downtown Home Team BBQ, and today, kind words come in from City Paper writer Suzanne Cohen — however, the critics can't agree on what you should order.
Here's the rundown of the reviews on items they both ate:
Baked Queso
- Cohen: "Featuring spicy chorizo, corn, poblano peppers, and jalapeños, the Southwest-inspired cheese dip is so satisfying that one small dish of it is simply not enough. It's rich but not overly so, featuring mild melty cojita cheese that prevents the queso from veering into a gluey mess." +1
- Raskin: "The ratio of mild cheese to pepper heat is right, but the dip’s a little too drippy, and my order was served with stale chips." -1
Crispy Pork Cake
- Cohen: "It's the victim of too many flavors with everything from peaches to mint to parmesan. If they toned it down, reduced the salt, and subtracted the mint and lemon, the pork cake could find the flavor profile they're looking for." -1
- Raskin: "As for the perfectly sculpted cake, it was a hard-crusted mound of tender confit, drawn from every corner of the pig, unmistakably porky and tingling with herbs." +1
Smoked Chicken
- Cohen: "The chicken was smoked perfectly and so moist that it didn't need any sauce to help it." +1
- Raskin: "The bird sent up an intoxicating melody of smoke and brown sugar, the best possible jingle for the wonderfully moist meat." +1
Sausage
- Cohen: "A perfectly snappy skin gave way to ground pork with plenty of sage and pepper, slow smoked to crispy and juicy perfection." +1
- Raskin: "Certainly all of the barbecue is good enough to preclude the need for sauce, with the possible exception of the dryish sausage, saddled with too much paprika ..." -1
Ribs
- Cohen: "The ribs, though very tender with a gorgeous dark bark on the outside, were overwhelmingly smoky and intense — so intense, in fact, that it was borderline palate-killing." -1
- Raskin: "... the sturdy, pink pork ribs benefit from a chili powder rub." +1
While each review concludes with positive and praising tones, these two only agreed on the smoked chicken. So, decide if you're a Raskin or a Cohen and order accordingly — or just give it all a try and decide for yourself — though, it's probably almost a guarantee the chicken will be good.
