Big Nate's Barbeque Review

Our trip to Big Nate's, a hole-in-the-wall mostly take-out barbecue joint in the middle of nowhere south of market, was quite successful. The short summary of how it compares with Memphis Minnie's (MM's), our last BBQ destination is: go to Big Nate's for the ribs and MM's for the brisket and, as for the pork sandwiches, you'll roughly win either way. (For all these meat dishes, though, you'll be happy at either place. The quality differences are minor.) The sides and desserts at MM's are better.

Of note at Big Nate's is their barbecue sauce, a very tasty red sauce that came pre-mixed with every meat entree. This sauce was certainly much better than any of the sauces at MM's. And now, without further ado, the details on the items and how they stacked up to MM's:

• Ribs. Better than MM's. More meaty and with more (likely BBQ-sauce-caused) flavor.

• Brisket. Not as good as MM's. This brisket was tough and only got its flavor from the BBQ sauce while MM's was tender and had its own flavor (and it was served without sauce). We also discovered part of the way through the meal they gave us slices of white(-ish) bread, presumably intended to be used to pick up chunks of brisket and/or soak up the BBQ sauce: definitely a good way to eat this dish.

• Pork sandwich. This is a tough comparison; recall that at MM's we liked the sandwiches so much we ordered seconds. But the majority of us agreed that Big Nate's sandwiches were better. The chunks of pork were tender and were tasty on their own (as at MM's), but the BBQ sauce (and the complementary BBQ-sauce sodden bun) really added something. This sandwich is what a sloppy joe wants to be. The only person that voted in favor of MM's sandwiches over Big Nate's agreed the flavor at Big Nate's was better but said the meat was too fatty.

• Coleslaw. Slightly below average (somewhat dry), and certainly worse than MM's (which people raved about).

• Baked beans. Decent/good, but nothing special.

• Greens. Bad. Bitter. Or something. They were practically inedible.

• We were disappointed that Big Nate's was out of cornbread when we werethere.

• Sweet potato pie. This was their one dessert item, a pre-wrapped mini four-inch-diameter pie (not baked in in-house). While good, it certainly is incomparable to the banana pudding and fried pies at MM's.

This trip, like MM's, was surprisingly cheap at $13/person.

Incidentally, this selection of dishes was over half the menu at Big Nate's. By contrast, I recall we only ordered a small fraction of the different items MM's offers.

For dessert we ended at Andalu in the Mission.

Original Announcement

First:

The summer is waning (and I'm feeling not that fancy) so this Wednesday at 8:00pm we'll head to another hole in the wall barbacue joint: Big Nate's Barbeque. It, like our previous BBQ destination, Memphis Minnies (which we were quite happy with), ranked in top three in the chowhound's BBQ competition.

Please tell me if you are coming!

Big Nate's is just south of the Civic Center, at 1665 Folsom St.

Second:

This Wednesday at 8:00pm we'll mourn the impending end of summer with barbecue food. The destination will be Big Nate's, a place well-regarded by chowhounds and actually a previous target of ours that got switched at the last minute.

Please tell me if you are coming!

Big Nate's is just south of the Civic Center, at 1665 Folsom St.

Comments from Other Attendees

Seth's Comment:

I didn't think it was that good overall. Kind of crummy atmosphere (a little bit too much of a hole in the wall), and the food didn't justify the trek to nowhere.

-Seth

Mark's Comment:

Seth raises a good point I forgot to mention: this place is primarily a take-out joint near a highway entrance in an shabby area that is neither residential nor retail. Decor and atmosphere is probably not the list of features they care about.

-Mark

Feel free to add remarks here.