Bayport BBQ

Two visits to Bayport BBQ in quick succesion makes me understand why food reviewers go to a place many times before they write a review for publication.  My wife and I went for the first time on the Wednesday night before Thanksgiving and then again the Tuesday between Christmas and New Years.  Our first visit seemed like an epiphany.  The ribs were perfect, the pulled pork lovely and the from scratch bread and mix of pickles all of the best quality and flavor.  To top it off the owner who was working the cash registar and taking orders was jovial and wonderfully pleasant.  We quickly decided we had a new favorite spot.  This was especially comforting as since our move from Nordeast Minneapolis to the countryside south of Afton the one thing we miss is the selection of good everyday restaurants.

Our second visit was, to be kind, a mixed bag.  There was a group of six or so people in line in front of us and while you could tell they were not comfortable ordering food that wasn't part of a TGI Fridays menu  the attitude of woman taking orders wasn't helping.  The group was struggling making selections from the menu of items posted to the wall (not a complicated task really) but instead of walking them through it she just waited in silence.  Later while eating we heard them talking to each other about not getting what they were expecting, they got what they ordered but didn't comprehend what they had selected.  This train wreck in front of us was a bit painful to watch and took a long time to sort out.

We wanted to try some different items off the menu so ordered the pulled chicken sandwich in place of the pulled pork and mac & cheese in place of the baked beans.  Because the pickles and ribs were so good we couldn't help but repeat that part of our order from the last visit.  I don't know if we happened to have randomly selected the best items on the menu on our first visit or if the quality is just inconsistant but other than the ribs and the pickles our second visit was very disappointing.

The chicken had a nice flavor but was very dry.  The fact that it was just chicken and bread didn't leave much room for error and error there was.  The BBQ sauce they provide is wonderful but it becomes just a band-aide fix and not a real solution to dry chicken.  The real problem however was the mach and cheese.  It was awful.  It was dry and had no flavor beyond a generic starchy taste which could have come from a Kraft box if you had forgotten to add the powdered cheese packet.

While the ribs were still good they didn't seem to hold our imagination as they had during the first visit.  The texture was a little less succulent and the flavor a little less dramatic.  They seemed to have suffered from being held too long while waiting to be eaten.  The difference in the ribs and the newness of the the restaurant (this is a first attempt by these owners to boot) makes me thing they are having trouble with some of the technical aspects of getting food to customers.  It is relatively easy to makes something taste great on your own schedule but immensely difficult to make that same thing at the moment somebody else wants it.  A recipe that is perfect in its subtle mix of flavors when tested before being put on the menu might turn into flavorless mush if held for more than a few minutes before being eaten.

While this is all speculation I really hope they pull it together and are able to develop the consistency needed to be worth visiting on a regular basis.  I know we will head back again, maybe for take-out this time, but think we will give them a few weeks to work out any bugs.  Hopefully our third trip will be more like our first than our second.