Illusionaire

Big Daddy’s BBQ at Hawthorne and 28th needs to stop claiming they have the best-tasting bar-b-que in Portland. I had such high hopes for them, too. Formerly the location of At The Hop, the new owners did a nice job renovating the space. I think my first clue that dinner would not bode well is that I couldn’t smell anything until I walked into the restaurant. My favorite BBQ places can usually be scented at least a block away, and smelling nothing from the parking lot is a bad sign.
Aaron & I showed up close to closing time, and to their credit they didn’t try to rush us so they could clear the joint out. The menu had some very fun double entendres like Big Daddy’s Loin: hand-rubbed goodness, melts in your mouth. Their list of foreplay… err, appetizers, featured a sampler, and we ordered that so we could try a little bit of everything. They were out of hush puppies, so we substituted the deviled eggs instead.
Our appetizers showed up right after our dinners arrived (ack!) and our server provided us with an assortment of their house made barbecue sauces: Tarheel Mustard, Kansas City Mild, Memphis Smokey, and Mojo Texas Hot. The first three were way too thin, and none of their flavors had any staying power. The Memphis and the KC tasted like ketchup with varying amounts of vinegar and sugar. The Mojo Texas had some flavor to it, but it was about as spicy as I would expect a mild sauce to taste.
Included in our sampler were fried green tomatoes, fried okra, frickles (fried dill pickles) and deviled eggs. First off, their batter would be better classified as a thick cornmeal paste. The okra was vaguely tolerable, but the frickles and tomatoes were pretty bad. I think the frickles might have been okay if they had used a better grade of pickle, but as Aaron described it, “It’s sort of like they deep-fried the limp pickles you get with your grilled cheese sandwich at Denny’s.”
The tomatoes were sliced too thickly, and didn’t cook up correctly after they had been battered. I may be spoiled by the awesome homemade fried green tomatoes that Denise makes, but still… these things we were served were pretty much inedible.
Picked up an egg, popped it in my mouth, and my first words after I swallowed were, “Mine are better.” Following my lead, Aaron tried one as well. His words? “Hell, MINE are much better than these.” I know that not everyone likes pickles in their deviled eggs, but pepper or paprika would have been nice.
Most meals are served with side dishes, so I tried those next. My macaroni and cheese starred overcooked elbow noodles (okay) and pretty awful artificial cheese (not okay). Think Velveeta gone wrong. No spices, either. Maybe I’m strange, but I prefer my food to arrive at the table not needing a ton of salt and pepper in order to make it palatable. The collard greens were the only redeeming thing out of everything we ordered. Good flavor, not overcooked, and the right proportion of smoked pork to greens.
Yep, the main dishes were less than stellar, too. I ordered a quarter rack of spareribs. Their menu claims that they’re “meltin’ off the bone” but I beg to differ. Overcooked with a mild hint of flavor, but nothing to write home about. Took a lot of effort to get the meat off the bone, too. They reminded me of the pre-cooked ribs where you remove the shrink-wrap, warm them in the oven for a bit, and dinner’s ready. No, wait… more like the deli ribs from Safeway or Fred Meyer. Definitely not what I would expect from a place that specializes in barbecue. Aaron reported that his pork loin sandwich was pretty dry and flavorless as well.
When she came to clear the table, our server suggested we enjoy one of their desserts. I declined on the basis that I wasn’t sure I’d enjoy it, and I was already so horrified by what they were trying to pass as homecooked food that I was ready to get out of there and find something decent to cleanse my palate.
Bottom line? When the kings of barbecue yell, “Who’s your daddy?” don’t expect them to be referring to Big Daddy’s BBQ. Friendly service and passable atmosphere, but I’ve had better barbecue from generic foodservice companies. Pass this place up and go anywhere else.

One of my favorite places to enjoy sushi is Sushi Takahashi (24 NW Broadway). Very low key, better sushi than some of the spendier places, and the staff is friendly if sometimes a bit distracted. There’s a little train that chugs around the bar with flat cars of plates to pick from, or you can order plates fresh from the chefs from $1 for simple things like asparagus rolls to $3 for more elaborate dishes like spider rolls. Your bill is tallied by the colors of the plates you stack as you eat your dishes. White plates are a dollar, tan plates are a dollar fifty, floral plates are two dollars, and blue plates are three.
My favorites include the Philadelphia roll, the cucumber salad, and the spider roll. There’s also a yummy dessert of strawberries with condensed milk and powdered sugar. This dish isn’t on the sushi menu, but if there isn’t one on the train a polite request of the chef will have one delivered to you in no time.
Neither of us were sure how they would serve what was listed as “quail egg” on the sheet, so we ordered one and decided to give it a shot. I’m usually pretty adventurous about what I’ll try to eat, and I’ll try most things once, but there are a few things that make me reconsider that policy. When it arrived, it had three strikes against it… the egg was raw (but tiny), the roll was too huge to get into my mouth cleanly, and it was overflowing with roe. I can handle roe in small doses, but I usually steer clear of roe-filled rolls. Gave it the evil eye for a few minutes, and decided I just needed to try it and get it over with. The first time I tried to put it into my mouth I nearly spilt the egg, so I put the roll down for a minute so I could come up with a new strategy. Had to tilt my head sideways to get the whole thing into my mouth without spilling anything, and it was a stretch at that. The nori was pretty chewy, and there was so much content in the roll I had trouble getting it down. My mouth was not impressed by the textures and has apparently not acquired the taste for egg and eggs. Think I could have handled it a lot better if the roll had been smaller, but I don’t think I’ll be trying it again anytime soon. I’m amazed I was able to get the whole thing down.
I figure if I can make it through a roll like that, nearly anything else would be a piece of cake. Went on to enjoy spicy tuna, shrimp, and calamari rolls, as well as several avocado rolls. It’s fun to order items at random off the menu, although one of these days I’m going to bring a “sushi cheat sheet” with definitions of all the different varieties.