180150 Sat Mar 08 14:16:58 -0800 2003 1 15 Pennsylvania 0 968469 What I thought was just another neighborhood bar in Conshohocken turns out to be a real local find for ribs and smoked chicken. The Conshy Rib House on 600 E. Hector Street in Conshohocken is a spin off of the Bridgeport Rib House where they do the actual smoking. Décor wise it is vintage corner bar with ample beer mirrors and Nascar legends on the wall. Now the food. We ordered the BBQ sampler, which is a heaping platter of 2 baby backs, 2 spare ribs, and 1 thigh, 1 leg, and 1 breast of chicken, and 2 sides. What I’m use to in the Delaware Valley is parboiled ribs that are “finished” on the grill. Not here, they’re marinated with a dry rub and slow smoked over hickory and oak at 225o. The food comes hot from their holding oven, the baby backs were fall off the bone with a nice balance of smoke and BBQ sauce, maybe it was the time of day but the spare ribs could have stayed in the smoker a little longer but those spares will blow any one else’s away locally. The chicken was moist, smoky and plump. The leg was a miniature turkey leg. Baked beans were done right and the potato salad was from scratch. They also have live music with a fair amount of blues, which flips this place into a real roadhouse mentality. Here’s their web site: http://www.ribhouse.net/ Bring toothpicks! Sat Mar 08 14:16:58 -0800 2003 0 Jim Tarantino 1 968477 The only time that I will do ‘Cue two days in a row is purely for scientific analysis. Mind you nothing exceeds like excess! With that in mind I took a buddy to the Bridgeport locale for a dainty BBQ brunch. Décor is even cooler, aside from the same esoteric biker bar touches of the Conshy location, the Bridgeport Rib House has the joint lined with bad ties, kind of an elephants graveyard of holiday gifts gone bad. Always wondered where they lumbered off to die. Anyway the food is as consistent and tasty as the Conshy location. This time I had a chance to meet one of the owners, Deets Radiff. Once Deets and I started dropping names we found that we prayed from the same bible, “Smokestack Lightning: Adventures in the Heart of Barbecue Country” by Lolis Eric Elie and Frank Stewert. The tome is a Kerouacian tour of the nation’s pits. While the book has recipes, it’s really a tour of the barbecue psyche. Well Deet’s used the book as his “Frommers” to tour BBQ pits and the end results show. Deets took a liking to us and we got a class trip. He has a professional “St. Louis” style smoker that burns hickory at 225o. The ribs and chicken are rotating on rotisserie like apparatus. It’s stainless steel and vented. The marinade base is cider vinegar with a rub added before it goes into the smoker. The food is then moved to a warmer where it is then grilled slightly for turnout. When we left he mentioned something about a TV crew coming in from a food show to tape. Good consistent ‘Cue, what else can I tell you. Best I’ve had in these parts and I’ve judged a BBQ fest or two. BTW, at NXNW in MT Airy, John Stage of Dinosaur BBQ will be in place for Book and Cook. Link: http://www.ribhouse.net Sun Mar 09 16:58:55 -0800 2003 968469 0 Jim Tarantino