lunch review - smoke bros southern bbq

i always love it when friends call me with questions like, "do you have time to try out a new bbq place?" yes. yes, i do.

my friend met one of the owners yesterday at local watering hole, and the owner told him about the bbq. they've had their restaurant open about two weeks, but have had a converted coffee drive up that's been open for around four months. both are in an interesting location. the same corner contains an indian restaurant, an italian place, an armenian deli that claims to serve mexican, american, halal, and has goat & lamb meat. it's a diverse spot, and smoke bros' two locations fit in nicely.

since i was trying out the food, i felt alright ordering more than i would normally eat. shoot, if the bbq's good there is no reason why i wouldn't enjoy eating leftovers later in the day. both my friend and i ordered the 4 meat combo plate. it comes with a side and corn bread. we also ordered sodas. oh yeah, to start it all off we got the smoked wings starter. they' re weren't too smokey, but the seasoning on them was very good. they smoke the meat and then fry them up a touch to heat them. the chicken wings were very good quality meat, and there were 10 pcs for the $6.99 price, which seems like a good value to me.

for my 4 meats i had:
-st louis ribs - these were grrrrrreat. the meat literally fell off the bone. no b.s. the sauce was sweet, but not overly sugary.
-texas brisket - decent. the meat was tender, but it was a little too heavy on the sauce. the brisket comes pulled.
-smoked tri tip - so, this was some of the best tri tip i've had in a while, and this is a cut of meat i make on a somewhat regular basis. i should stop because i can't even come close to this. so very tender and moist. of the meats i had, it seemed like the tri tip had the best sauce (flavor & amount).
-bbq pulled turkey - i went out on a limb on this one, mainly for variety. it was worth it. the turkey was good, and i could definitely get with this on a sandwich.
-as for my sides, the bbq beans were good, with a mild kick and ground beef. i think you could have turned up the spice a few notches.

my buddy prefers his meats without sauce (you know atkin's fans). his 4 meat combo was:
-smoked chicken - amazing. still juicy, which can be difficult to maintain without any sauce on the outside.
- st louis ribs- tender. i tried a bite of his ribs that didn't have sauce. the smoke flavor came through in a better way that was a little lost without the sauce. i think they were a little better this way.
-brisket - without sauce the brisket was a little dry. and, being pulled the flavor is a little irregular. some parts were very good, others just okay.
-andouille sausage - this was offered hot or mild, and he went hot. it wasn't too hot for him, but it might be to hot for others. shoot, i was just looking @ it, the amount of pepper flakes in it and it looked hotter than i would want. but he enjoyed it. we wondered if they were homemade sausage or perhaps from a smaller, local distributor. they had a slightly irregular look which made us think that, but it didn't affect the taste at all.

honestly, i ate about half to 2/3 of my food. it was all worth eating, but in the future i'd get a smaller plate. without a second thought i would recommend the ribs and tri tip. if you like bbq, you have to eat here.

3069 w. ashlan (southwest corner of ashlan & marks)
fresno, ca 93722
(559) 224-2020
fresno@smokebros.com

*cross posted here, fresno famous & yelp