Columbus, OH

Pretty soon after I moved to Columbus, I was constantly told about Ray Ray's - "You have to try it!", "Best BBQ in CBus.", "Worth the trip!". Well, it was a food truck downtown and was only open a few days a week & only until it sold out of the food they'd prepared. The line was also always ridiculously long, so the 20 minute drive to "maybe" be able to eat it, wasn't that appealing to me and I never got ta chance to eat it... until a couple of weeks ago when they decided to open up an actual walk-up restaurant a couple of miles away from me!

Ray Ray's Hog Pit 

Well, straight away I'm going to say it lived up to it's hype. I got the brisket & it was melt in your mouth delicious. It fell apart & was buttery, with layers of flavoring and the rub they shook on top just completely made it. It was ridiculously good.

I also ordered collared greens because literally everyone I told that I was going to Ray Ray's spoke about how good they were. Well, the masses were also not wrong about that. The stock is so flavourful, I don't think I've ever had collared greens from a BBQ place like that before. I'm not usually a big fan of the greens, but I couldn't get enough of these ones.

When ordering I made sure to check if I could have the items I was ordering & they informed me I could. The second time I visited (a week later! Ha!) I ordered a couple of different items and was told in the beans and sauces they used Worcester Sauce which has trace amounts of gluten in it (which if it's the Lea & Perrins one, actually doesn't), and knowing what I did (that it's fine) I ordered the beans and got the sweet sauce.

The sweet sauce was great, but a tiny bit too runny to be perfect (for me). And the beans didn't taste anything too special to me. I've never been a huge lover of beans, but as I couldn't try their Mac & Cheese I gave them a go - and they were pretty standard. The coleslaw was also very standard and not interesting.

So - Go for the brisket and definitely get the collared greens. Yum, yum, yummy!

Side note: If you go to the walk up and not the food truck, be aware there isn't a lot of parking and there are only a handful of park benches to sit on if you want to eat there!

City BBQ

As I was reviewing Ray Ray's, I decided it was time for me to also put up a piece about City BBQ too, as I eat there... a lot. A bunch of people in Columbus don't actually think that City BBQ is that good, but I definitely disagree. I LOVE IT. I did a review about 62 BBQ a while back, and this (for me) definitely beats them any day of the week.

Over the past few months they've started doing something called "Full Cut" brisket, which is kind of like ordering burnt ends, but still with the slices of meat that make it brisket. Well, I now always order this, "Naked" (without the bun) because it's so good. I just love their rub. Smokey, some spice, salty, but not overwhelming & the meat is always very tender and falls apart - I just don't think you can go wrong. I've also had the chicken here, which was fine, but the brisket is definitely where it's at.

Their Sweet City sauce is also a favourite of mine. In the restaurant they always have their main three sauces on offer, kept hot & the sweet sauce is definitely better hot. Sticky, with small pieces of onion in it, its the perfect accompaniment to the salty brisket. You can also buy bottles of all their sauces - which in my condiment loving world is also a giant plus!

Sides wise, their beans are pretty standard, their collared greens are tasty but not as good as Ray Ray's and their slaw is really great. It's vinegar slaw, so there's no creaminess, just crunchy and it brings a freshness when combined with the meat. It's the perfect side for the BBQ. Their fries are ridiculously good too, but they've recently started saying that they share fryers, so cross contamination is an issue.

Basically, I love City BBQ and I honestly don't think you can go wrong when heading here... maybe I might have to go here again today...


What are you favourite BBQ joints and where can I visit them?