By Sunday my wife and I decided to take a trip to Boulder City to visit a restaurant that advertises on late night television stations they have the best ribs and state “If you’re saucin, you’re hidin” ( A trademarked statement) concerning the flavor that ribs should have as the viewer observes the actor spicing a rack of ribs with a dry rub smiling as another actor passes in the background smiling into the camera.
The drive is about 30 minutes from our house, not a long drive considering it is mostly on the 215 expressway. We got into Boulder City and drove to the downtown area where the restaurant is located. We go to pull into the parking lot and the spaces were all taken. First thought was that’s a good sign as it was just a few minutes past noon. Being only about 20 spaces in all we went around the block to find a space on the street relatively close to the entrance.
We walked into the parking lot and being about 20 feet from the entrance we noticed a few white poster board signs written in black magic marker stating the restaurant was out of ribs and a few other port dishes. I looked at my wife and she looked at me, “should we go eat breakfast at the Coffee Cup”! I said lets go in and see what they have, cause now I’m curious as to how or why a rib house would be out of ribs on the busy weekend where most business is logged by restaurants. We went in.
The hostess was young, she greeted us at the door asking us if we would like to be seated at the bar or in the restaurant. We chose the restaurant and proceeded to be seated. Looking around the interior was mostly all cabin like design with a light varnish on the timber surfaces. The restaurant was relatively full with about 7 tables unoccupied. The waitress appeared a few minutes later asking us if we would like to order drinks with a voice sounding like we were a distraction to her. I ordered an unsweetened tea and a soda for my wife.
A few minutes later the drinks were placed on the table, I got the soda, wife got the tea. We switched as she walked away hurriedly to her next table. Now I am talking to the wife about the design of the interior to pass some time as we wait to order. Once again the waitress comes back asking us if we were ready to order. I asked ” are you a rib house?” “yes we are” she replied. It’s Sunday and you are out of ribs.” Her explanation was ” we are on vacation Monday so we ran out of ribs and tips and a few other items.” I asked her to give us a few minutes more as we looked over the menu disappointly.
We finally decided to order the chicken pizza that was a special of the day. We got the pie in a timely manner, only about 10 minutes by my estimate. The pie was a 10 inch, serving plates for the two of us were pizza tins for individual pizza that are about 6 inches. Now I am a Pizza Man, I owned a pizza shop and sold gourmet pies to the public so I am particular when I try a new place. The ingredients were bbq chicken, onions, mushrooms, cheese and spices .
The bbq chicken had a nice smooth flavor with a tanginess that wasn’t over powering. The onions were thick and thin, no consistency in the cut so one bite was delicious and then the next was overwhelming with the thick cut onion the predominate flavor. The dough appeared to be processed instead of being made on property. It was not crispy, yet it was thin like a New York style shell.
I don’t know if we will go back to try the ribs after this experience. By under ordering supplies they left dozens of patrons feeling like myself, caring more about their personal needs then that of their customers. As a restaurant owner you never want to run out of the product you’re “famous” for. Instead of under ordering it would have served them better to order as they usually did and if there was to be any left Sunday afternoon have an in house special buy one rack of ribs get one 50% off or free.
