Maple Block Meat Co

Heh. And, that wasn’t as good as the ones you had before because it was my first cook on the offset.

tony, where’s that from, the beef short rib I mean ???

for fuck’s sake that does look grub.

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here’s a few shots from LC’s in KC



and another burnt end from BB’s Curbside (live blues also)

trying big mistas in dallas ain’t gonna hurt tho

Very nice brisket - good bark and juicy.

Ribs were a bit odd, seemed like they smoked it initially, and then spent a fair amount of time in a steamer. Ended of tasting like steamed smoked ribs… kinda like what you find in a buffet steamer tray but with more prominent smoke flavor.

Went last night for the first time. Agree the brisket was excellent. Ribs were large and had a good smoky flavor, but not much meat and not all that tender. Is the non-tender what you get when you steam them?

Regular sauce was fine but unnecessary. We asked for “spicy” sauce, which had more of a flavor of roasted chipotle than I like (w/o actually being at all hot).

Side salad was excellent. There was no mac and cheese on the menu! Argh!

Service (from front of house to our server) was very nice. Decor is relatively upscale.

The food is good. However, it’s sufficient pricey that I don’t see myself going there often.

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Hmmm, did you grub their for dinner ???

last time there, the brisket fucking sucked and the first three times it was beyond exceptional.

but every fucking time it was heavy as fuck. I couldn’t even eat for the fucking remainder of the day, and truth to tell, I am a bona fide trencherman of the fucking nth degree, that’s a polite way of saying that I’m a fat fuck.

:slight_smile:

I suppose anything is possible but I must point out that I have had a ton of their ribs and never had a single one that wasn’t meaty, moist and tender.

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Hmmm… Maybe an off-day? There just a bit more chew than I was expecting, and my dining partner said she prefers Houston’s (I’ve never had the ribs there).

For me, if I go back, I think I’ll stick w/ the brisket (which was lovely). :smile: And w/ the salads (the price of which was justified by the good amount of avocado).

Edit: I’m now looking at the pics from @wienermobile . My ribs were the same size, but I don’t recall them being that meaty. Hmmm…

Perhaps the issue is that MBMC serves spare ribs, (aka St Louis) not baby backs. The latter are more tender/fall-off-the-bone and the former have more chew. I far prefer the spare rib - it is more rib-forward.

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AHHHHH… didn’t realize the difference. I must be a baby-back kind of guy. :wink:

Houston’s is the paragon (note the kevin word) of baby back ribs. If that’s your style than MBMC’s spare ribs will not float your boat. Unless they start doing baby backs.

Interestingly, on MBMC’s menu it specifically says “pork spare ribs” and on Houston’s it only says “barbecue ribs.”

Paranoidgarliclover, it was the first time for me too yesterday, although I got it to go instead of dining in.

I actually prefer spareribs vs baby back. Part I did not like about the ribs was the outer texture felt like they either finished it in some high moisture environment or stored it in a steamer for too long. While moist, it lost the crusty outer texture one associates with slow cooked (dry heat) BBQ.

Otherwise thought it was a nice space and servers were pleasant the short time I was there.

Falling off the bone has nothing to do with the rib itself; it’s a product of how the ribs are cooked. They’re just overcooked. And, you can make them fall off the bone wrapped or unwrapped.

I can tell you with near certainty, unless theybhave changed hpw they make ribs, Hillstone restaurants bake the ribs, wrapped in foil in ovens, and then grill them to order. They’re not barbecued in the traditional sense.

But I assume that the amount and texture of the meat itself DOES have something to do w/ the type of rib?

It depends, actually. Kurobuta spare ribs from Snake River Farms are smaller than most loin back ribs (which are commonly referred to as baby back ribs, but not actually true because they come from larger hogs instead of baby hogs), and baby backs from Snake River are really more like true baby backs because they do come from smaller pigs.

Also, how much meat depends on what part of the rib you’re getting and how much its been trimmed. You’ll probably get about the same amount of meat from the thick end of a loin back than the small end of a St. Louis or Spare Rib. There are differences in the actual muscle fiber texture of the ribs, but you can make tough baby backs and tender spares, and vice versa. It depends on how they’re cooked.

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Great info, thanks.

But dem spare ribs got more fat=flavor.

If you compared a rack of spares/St. Louis vs. a rack of loin backs, then that’s probably going to be the case most times. Spares/St. Louis racks definitely have more fat that true baby backs.

However, that’s not necessarily the case if you order a half rack or just get a few bones. The thick end of an untrimmed loin back rack is likely going to have more fat than the small end of a spare/St. Louis rack. There’s a thick layer of meat, then fat, and then bone on the thick end of an untrimmed loin back rack; the small end of a spare/St. Louis rack oftentimes has very little fat covering that part of the meat. So, if you want a nice meaty, juicy, fatty part of a loin back rib, get the thick end if you can get it.

I picked up some ribs and brisket to go. Maple Block wins best que in LA for me. I really liked the ribs. Perfectly cooked and great flavor. Got a half rack which was way too much. Also got the fatty brisket and that was a mistake. It had too much fat. Loved the flavor but it was just too much for me. Next time lean for me. It was plenty juicy, over poked and cut too thick but flavor is what counts. But I’ll take over cooked and cut thick so long as the flavor is there, and it was under there.

Now Maple Block, make a dino beef rib please!!!

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I love beef ribs. Baby Blue has pretty good ones on the weekends…