Baby Blues BBQ brings its California fame back home to Philly with excellent homestyle cooking. The Fischer siblings, a crew of Philly natives who operate the restaurants, transformed the former home of Bubble House to give it a much needed new look.
While the front feels like the living room of an old Southern home, the back has a more dimly–lit saloon atmosphere with winding walls and cowbell lamps. The basement, invites private parties and special guests (ahem, Mayor Nutter enjoyed some ribs on Oct. 11). The Fischers even placed their original dinner table from the '60s down there. It feels like home. But the real gem is the open kitchen, which lies inside the main dining area. Three Philly–born line cooks and grillers flip baby backs and slather sauce on grills as guests sit at the bar, having full interaction with the men behind the magic. It’s endearing, just like dads at a cookout. With such an open kitchen, we'd prefer not to see the cooks fondling french fries bare–handed, but the space is pretty clean looking
But these chefs serve up a little more than patties on a bun. The menu is dense with meats and classic BBQ sides — Texas beef, baby back and Memphis ribs, chicken, brisket, burgers, shrimp, catfish, swordfish. You name it, they cook it and they cook it well.
We decided to dive elbow deep into the expansive menu and ordered hush puppies ($3.95), 1/4 lb chicken ($3.95), sauteed okra ($3.50), “blues on the cob” ($3.50) and the “Big Blue” platter ($26.95) — a choice combo of three meats, two “fixins” and a hunk of cornbread. We were greeted with a slab of Texas rib (larger than my face … literally), on top of a beef brisket, Memphis ribs and generous bowls of mashed potatoes and macaroni and cheese. All dishes were served on plastic NFL plates. This really is a bro–bq.
The hush puppies, essentially fried cornbread balls with a side of honey butter, were crispy on the outside and warm on the inside — the perfect start to our delicious meal and cholesterol nightmare. Blues on the cob, grilled corn slathered in butter and cotija cheese was flavorful and crunchy, but on the soggy side. The chicken was surprisingly juicy, bettered only by the house made sauces — classic BBQ, Sweet, Hot and XXX. We dug into the tomahawk–sized Texas rib and experienced pure fall–off–the–bone bliss. The Memphis ribs were also quite good—unsurprising to us, we were told that Baby Blues has the best ribs in LA. They do brisket like pulled pork (shredded and not sliced), which we were nervous about, but it was tender and flavorful.We could even taste the beer used in the braising.
The mac n’ cheese and cornbread had great seasoning and texture. We really didn’t get excited by the okra; maybe its just a southern thing.
Even with bowling balls of fried and meaty goodness in our bellies, we were pressured into ordering the staff-favorite banana pudding garnished with Nilla wafers ($4.95), also known as a “sugar bomb.” Thick and (not so sickly) sweet, it was a struggle worth the effort.
We were on the verge of a gastric explosion by the end, but Baby Blues BBQ is worth the pain.
Baby Blues BBQ 3402 Sansom St. (215) 222-4444 Don't Miss: Mac n’ Cheese and Texas Rib Skip: Sauteed Okra $$
