URBAN OASIS
"A feeling of summer in your ribs"
There 's something wonderful about pretending it's the middle of summer in December. And just having returned form Texas without my usual dose of southern barbecue ( Why is it that when your relatives move somewhere where a specific cuisine is devine, they never want to eat it? ), I was hankering for a break from watching every fat gram.
So when a friend told me about Uncle Pete's, I was ecstatic. Tongue tingling, all-consuming pulled pork and beef ribs were in my future. I was not disappointed. Open for a little more than four months, Uncle Pete's is not what you'd expect from a rib joint in Yankee country.
There were few patrons when we first walked in the place, large compared with what we expected from the take-out area you can see from the street. The walls are lined with vintage ads from the 20's and 30's, for everything from soap to food. The big comfortable red booths only boosted our expectations.
The explanation for the beef ribs reads like this on the menu: "huge beef ribs with our special blend of herbs and spices....slowly smoked over hickory wood for hours to tender perfection." Oooo. We started with a "sampler" order ($3.95) and commenced devouring. Like any good barbecue place, rolls of paper towels provided comfort for our sauce-stained fingers. By the time the dinners arrived, we were fully prepped with our ribs and sweet iced tea, a must when consuming southern food.
Though I thought about being good and ordering hickory smoked chicken, I just couldn't help myself and went for the other white meat.
I ordered the pulled pork with a sweet potato biscuit, beans and Asian cole slaw. ($6.95). This tender meat, marinated in the sweetest, most, subtle juice I ever tasted slowly engulfed my taste buds. It was the kind of meal that make you close your eyes. My companion ordered beef brisket dinner with house salad and onion rings. ($6.95). For the less adventurous, Pete's also offers grilled burgers and sausage dinners, steak and turkey tips. You can also order two of three main courses for combo plates ($7.95 and $8.95) or meat on a bun ($3.95).
As usual, we went for the big stuff. And though conversation had been lively, once dinners arrived, we both became obsessed with our happy palates, resorting to "mmmmmm" sounds instead of intelligible conversation.
The portions were more than enough. Try as we might, by the time we were full we could barely speak, little more than a dent had been put in our plates. The service was more than friendly. And despite our lingering desire to sit and smell the grill forever, we instead vowed to go back at least once every couple of months.
- RACHEL LAYNE
Reprinted from NIGHT & DAY Urban Oasis Column - The Boston Globe
December 24, 1995