It could be the ratio of meat to rib that is deceiving. If you are used to babybacks all the time, the amount meat on the relatively small bones seems plentiful. And with MB’s ribs being more toothsome, one gets the impression that it’s a lot of bones.
Indeed, it could be.
Once I recover from all the pasta I ate tonight, I might do a BBQ bang bang. Partner would like to try Bludso’s La Brea, so I could do Bludso’s, HC, and MB… And then not eat for the following week! 
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Now I do; or, rather, I now have a pig in this ditch. I had to try HC after yesterday’s posts - it is closer to me than MB, and while I prefer Spare Ribs to Baby Backs, if there are are good baby backs to be had in the hood, I’ll have them please.
Pros
- The BBQ sauce is awesome, particularly the Kentucky Vinegar (spicy and punchy from the vinegar). I could use that sauce on almost anything, maybe even chocolate cake.
- The Collards were fantastic
Cons
- The baby backs were terrible. Little smoke flavor, slathered in an overly sweet BBQ sauce, mushy texture
- 1/2 chicken was tiny AND tasted of a very odd (maybe cinnamon) rub. Dry as a bone - in fact it was all bone.
In every way (except the BBQ sauce which is not really needed on first rate BBQ anyway, IMHO), I prefer Maple Block: the quality of the meat and the smoking is of quadratically higher quality.
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For my tastes, MB has the only ribs in this city that are worth seeking out. I wish there were more, but alas, I haven’t found them.
I thought you might have this impression (an accurate one, IMHO). I think part of the reason I like HC is b/c it remind me of my mom’s cooking (sans BBQ sauce)… And, no, she wasn’t trying to make BBQ. And I think my partner likes HC b/c of its “down home” appeal (he hasn’t tried MB).
The diff in quality in HC vs. MB is rather vast, IMHO. I really will have to try their (MB’s) ribs again to see if what I received was an aberration…
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I haven’t been to MB yet but Max City in Eagle Rock does my favorite rack of spare ribs @ < $25/full rack.
pic from KevinEats
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that looks good
Here are my ribs from MB
Hard to even imagine a meatier pork rib
And the flavor and texture are just perfect
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Wow, I can’t believe your meat went so horridly bad. We eat there fairly often and have never had dried meat. I’m so sad you didn’t like it. 
don’t be sad.
glad I tried it.
and glad you like it- it’s just not for me.
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Quadratically - so far above my pay grade it mind-numbing!
I picked up some chicken at HC for my dad. We were having Taj Tandoori - way way off his spice tolerance chart. HC is in the same general area and I remember their chicken being pretty good. It was - again. I don’t recall a cinnamon flavor - decent smoke though. I think our mixed experiences can be chalked up to the inconsistency issue again.
Not 100% sure cinnamon, more like “cinnamon-like,” I should say.
My SO is SO much better at detecting most flavors than I, and she could not identify it, other than to say, “Weird spice rub on the chicken. It is like cinnamon and I don’t like it.” She then handed me a drumstick that was quail-like (in size).
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Nice! I like the fact that they leave the tips on!
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Woah, that looks great. Gotta check that out!
The good, the bad and the ugly… and the funny.
I see you’re a vinegar based man when it come to bbq sauce. Is that the reason you didn’t like the sweet sauce on the baby backs? Or can you appreciate a good sweet sauce, but this one was just too cloying?
Yours do look pretty meaty. I had them in my kitchen and very well could have tried them but…
true[quote=“TheCookie, post:277, topic:4358”]
Or can you appreciate a good sweet sauce, but this one was just too cloying?
[/quote]
I guess I can, in the right place, but for me good pork is sweet enough. With pulled pork I will take a Carolina BBQ sauce (mostly astringent but a little sweet and heat is good).
Beef BBQ, OTOH is less marred by sugar, IMHO, than pork Q.
Still, I really don’t need any BBQ sauce with good links, or pork ribs, except to dip the corn bread in. BBQ sauce makes bad BBQ palatable and doesn’t help great BBQ (actually it brings it down), again, IMHO, of course.
Very true.
Although a good sauce (not just bbq) is a love of mine, I agree with you. I’m trying to stay away from my beloved pork more and more, but will try certain dishes out of curiosity. I had a couple of rib tips from Bludsoe’s Compton, at a party. They were so perfectly cooked. I couldn’t believe people were covering them with sauce.
Hmmm… I’ve always been a honey, butter or nothin’ kinda’ girl when it comes to cornbread. But I think I’ll try the BBQ sauce dipping thing 
.
I’m heading west today. Maybe I’ll do a HC/MB taste test.
Thanks for responding. Those are some good thoughts on what sauce goes well with what.
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hey ns, i keep meaning to pull the trigger on those spare ribs.
whats the convenience factor, please?
ease of parking, speed of getting in and out, etc.
i see u can order online which is cool…
parking is usually easy, getting in/out depends on how backed up they are. I always order via ChowNow and they are usually ready when I get there, but 1 time they were really backed up and we had to wait an additional 15 minutes. They compensated with free food, so they took care of us for waiting.
don’t pickup on Tuesdays though - it’s all night happy hour so they’re usually slammed.