Review: Ribs at PD’s Pub

Posted by mike | Filed under Beer, Reviews

At the invitation of Frank Pasqarelli, the owner, I took a trip back to PD’s to sample his baby back ribs. I’m a big fan of PD’s but I’m stating right up front that the meal I’m writing up here was completely free and offered in hopes that I might write about it. I offered to buy the beer, but I think Frank told the bar tender to hook me up on that front as well. That said, I do plan on giving it an honest review.

PD’s Pub ($$)
www.barsmart.com/pdpub

5832 Forward Ave
Pittsburgh, PA 15217
(412) 422-5027

This feels a lot like my review of the Locavore in the sense that I don’t normally eat ribs (or really even very much meat, for that matter). That makes me wonder just how up to the task I am of writing this review at all. What I can say, is that I haven’t always been so veggie-leaning and I do have a history of enjoying ribs at several points in my life. After all, I am still somewhat excited by the very notion of a rib fest.

Grillin’ up a business. I’ve reviewed PD’s before, but the ribs themselves deserve at least somewhat of a back-story. As far as I know, both the ribs and a handful of other grilled items are always on the menu. To boost exposure during the summer, PD’s offers up some great marketing: on fair-weathered weekends, they set up a grill and cook out front. Brilliant. The whole production smells amazing and probably does a fantastic job of telling the world that they’re more than just a local bar. The whole production is even rather exciting to me—without a grilled vegetable in sight.

Dinner versus the night life. I actually made my way over to PD’s last Saturday after the homebrew competition. As a result, I showed up rather late and just caught the tail end of PD’s operating in restaurant mode. On several nights a week, they bring in a band that typically kicks off at 10:00pm. During those time slots (and even a little beforehand), they start charging a $5 cover. That’s somewhat discouraging for diners (like me), but I also suppose 10:00pm is a reasonable start time—after all, that’s when the restaurant closes. Plus, unlike Gulifty’s, the bands at PD’s make for quite enjoyable listening. I’ve seen Bill Tom’s and Hard Rain (his band) perform at PD’s twice now, and they really deserve a shout out as a shining example of quality in the Burgh’s local music scene.

My point in all that background is that Bill Toms and his band was setting up during the tail part of my dinner. That led to some relatively loud warming up before the attached 4 Wood Grille even closed, which likely caused a little discomfort for Frank and his staff. I’m pretty sure the PD’s staff even asked the band to tone it down at some point. To some extent, that’s really the major downfall of trying to be a music scene and restaurant in basically one space: balancing volume with people wanting to converse over a meal.

The owner in the kitchen. I was somewhat surprised that my first encounter with Frank that night was as he dashed briefly out of the kitchen with my meal. That leaves me suspicious that he put some more effort into my dish than normal, but I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt. Does that mean he’s actually doing the cooking? Not necessarily, but it does speak to a great quality of a successful leader: a willingness to step up and and get his hands dirty when necessary.

On with the ribs, already. When he appeared, Frank served up somewhere between a whole and half rack of ribs and two different sides. The ribs came coated, though not dripping, in a fairly traditional Kansas City barbecue sauce. My biggest concern here was whether that sauce offered up too much sweetness. I’m a big fan of a barbecue sauce with a good amount of spicy and a tart backbody that—one with limited sweet flavors to cover other flavors. I’ll admit that my first taste of the sauce at PD’s gave me a bit of a “sweet” scare, but it did come around with at least somewhat of a kick on the back end. I would have enjoyed a larger kick, but there are probably customers that are happy it sits where it does on the spectrum. That’s the inevitable (and impossible) balancing act of pleasing everybody.

Big score for presentation. Was my plate a little prettier on account of appearing for a review? Perhaps, but let it be said that the presentation was excellent. I have no reason to believe that’s any different from the norm for PD’s, but your mileage may vary. Let me describe: the ribs came juxtaposed with an appealing cantaloupe-blackberry garnish. Honestly, I was even by the plumpness of the blackberry. The sides were served up in white ramekins to match the white restaurant plate used for the ribs. Overall, I liked the stylistic decision to serve sides ramekins, but the portions were resultantly huge (at least for me). Then again, no one made me eat it all (and I didn’t).

Some rib analysis. I’m struggling a bit with a detailed rib analysis, but stick with me while I explore my feelings. My overall impression was good, but I am a nit-picker. My first bite was really for dissection of the sauce. Subsequent bites gave me two distinct impressions: (1) almost little too tender and (2) a distinct salt presence throughout the meat. I can just feel Frank’s heart sinking upon reading those comments, so they deserve clarification. Regarding point (1), a conversation with the party to my left lead to an interesting comment when paused to answer a question on texture:

“Honey, they’re either fall-off-the-bone tender or chewy. Which is it?”

My takeaway from that comment was that my rib preferences are somewhat non-standard. I’m a texture fanatic that actually swoons over beef brisket: I like a good chew. Apparently ribs aren’t supposed to grant me that pleasure. In that sense, the texture probably right on for the world, but a little of for me. In PD’s defense, I did get a more pleasing texture as I moved inward down the rack.

Regarding the saltiness, point (2) from above, I suspect there was a salt brine included the ribs’ preparation that introduced the flavor. That’s actually a good thing, but it left behind more salt flavor than I would expect. While I won’t say the ribs were “too” salty, the meat was plump with a saltier moisture that made it’s presense known. Perhaps, a good metric for the magnitude would be chewing on a plain hot dog: You get a certain salty sweetness, and that magnitude is probably on bar with what I got out of the ribs. That’s not to say the ribs tasted like a hot dog, of course, but is that normal? Good? Bad? I’m a horrible person to know, but it’s one of the flavor points that stuck with me.

I would have ordered different sides. Frank offered up some traditional sides he probably thought would showcase his ribs. There wasn’t much space for requests, so I ended up with a potato salad and macaroni and cheese. The presentation was excellent, but I didn’t expect to really enjoy consuming either: not my optimal sides. On the contrary, I rather enjoyed the macaroni and cheese. The surface was browned and hence pleasantly warm. A level of almost gritty starchiness permeated the ramekin in a side that contrasted nicely with the ribs.

Unfortunately, the potato salad was a different story. While the presentation was equality good: a sprinkling of paprika softly covered the center dish. That gave me the impression that I could anticipate some smokey or maybe just spicy flavor: neither really seemed to be the case. To be perfectly honest, the side was a little bland. If I were making something of the same style, I would probably have hit it up the dressing with a touch more salt, a little dollop of dijon mustard, a healthy grinding of fresh black pepper and maybe even a hint of hot sauce. Of course, chives or even chopped onions couldn’t hurt either.

I’m just not qualified for this one. I’ll admit, that I feel guilty for lacking something better to say about a dish at restaurant I deeply respect, but I’ll also acknowledge that honesty in reviews is critical to this site remaining useful and interesting. The review just highlights am tremendously unqualified to review ribs. I expect that a more knowledgeable, rib-eating reviewier would end up with a completely different, and perhaps more valid, analysis. I’m unhappy with leaving my review in this state, so I’ll state up front, that I doplan on going back with a meat-eating friend to get his take on the ribs.

Will I go back? Well, yes. I love PD’s—I just probably won’t order ribs again. Instead, I’ll bring a friend to give some better perspective to the ribs and order myself one of the other outstanding menu items…and a high quality pint of beer.