Blogger Night Out at Sweet Cheeks

I was invited along with some fellow bloggers by Tasted Menu, a fantastic site that reviews dishes as opposed to a restaurant for a night of dining.  Have a hankering for gnocchi, check out Tasted Menu.   They will show you ratings from real people reviews of the best and worst gnocchi in town.

Our destination was Sweet Cheeks a Barbeque Restaurant in Fenway.  Chef Tiffani Faison, formerly Rocco, opened this new place to fun reviews about a month ago.

I almost feel like a fraud reviewing a barbecue restaurant.  I have no basis for comparison because it’s not my thang.  Yes, I said thang :).   I am not a barbecue person at all.  I probably wouldn’t choose to go to a barbeque joint if it was my decision, however, reading the write-ups I was intrigued and open minded.

Completely clueless to the Fenway area beyond Comm Ave, I took a cab to Boylston Street.  Walking towards the doors, the aroma beckoned me into the restaurant with the most tantalizing, mouthwatering smells.  I would have been compelled to enter whether I was invited or not.  The first of our group to arrive, I was asked to wait by the amazingly friendly hosts so took myself to the bar.

Offering an extensive beer list, extremely limited wine list and fascinating cocktail list, I asked the bartender for help on choosing a beer.  “A sort of English lager, but not a light beer” was what I said to him.  The bald, long bearded guy totally got me and suggested a Mama’s Little Yella Pills- it was perfect.  A light color, golden beer with a smooth clean taste.  And, even more fun drinking it from a jar.

When everyone had ordered, Alex asked our super happy and very accommodating waitress to order every other side and appetizer that we didn’t get with our trays.  Holy barbeque.!!!  A lot of food.Soon after, my fellow bloggers arrived.  Erica from In and Around Town, Rachel from Tales from a Kitchen Misfit and of course Alex and Dafne of Tasted menu.

Alex was all about trying everything and I mean everything on the menu.  So unbelievably overwhelming for me but I was in it to taste it.  I just did it wrong!

When doing barbeque, well, doing everything barbeque, one should limit themselves to smaller tastes.  I did not, I ordered a ” Big Cheeks Tray” (meat and two sides) – what turned out to be an extraordinary amount of food for one person.

The restaurant is a large open space with long bench tables that seat people as they arrive.  We were on a high-top wooden table with a poor couple sat at the end.  I say poor because they were seated with a bunch of bloggers taking constant photographs.

The food started to arrive.  I was already scared.  The biggest tray of food landed in front of me.  I was at a loss of where to start.  My food tray consisted of the Pulled Pork with Mac & Cheese, Coleslaw and two huge slices of white bread.  The food was served on a large tray with blue metal cowboy plates and cups.  On top of that the many additional sides started to land on the table.

The pulled pork was smoked, salty goodness, splashed with some barbeque sauce, it truly did alight my taste buds and I tried very hard to eat a fair amount.  I did quite well.

I wasn’t a huge fan of the mac and cheese as it was a bit dry and lacked flavor.The coleslaw was really good and different from any coleslaw I had seen or tasted.  Not shredded but large chunks of crisp, fresh and zingy cabbage.

I tried a quarter of the biscuit.  They were so huge, I knew if I eat a whole one I would not have been able to eat anything else.  Warm and fluffy with a sweet, creamy honey butter that could have easily made this a dessert and not a side.