T-Rex BBQ Berkeley CA

Upscale BBQ… isn’t that a oxymoron? T-Rex was a fun experience. We had the Pork Spareribs, Pulled Pork, Beef Ribs and Beef Brisket. We also had the fried oysters, Kale and Macaroni and cheese.

Overall the sides and appetizer were done immaculately. The oyster’s crisp coating locked in the creamy broth of the oyster, which tasted fresh and deliciously briny. The kale was well cooked and softened with little niblets of sweet squash. The Macaroni and cheese was a creamy masterpiece of heart attack inducing richness, They substitute shells for macaroni, which heightens the amount of cream sauce that coats each delicious bite. This is certainly not an everyday item.

I was less impressed with the BBQ. BBQ isn’t something that can be skimped on. You need the right cuts of meat, treated with the right care. BBQ requires the toughest cuts of meat because what makes BBQ so tender is not fat or water but gelatin. Tough cuts of meat have thick muscle fibers that when cooked slowly at a low temperature dissolves into gelatin. Thus giving the moist, glistening tenderness that marks great BBQ. Unfortunately you need a good layer of meat to dissipate heat, this was the problem with their pork spare ribs. The meat was shaved right down to the bone giving an extremely thin slice of dried meat on the bone. Although nice and smoky, the texture was lost. The beef rib however was a delight, a think hunk of meat on the bone that was smoked long enough to get a great layer of pink smoke on the outside and leave it fork tender. The pulled pork was nice, well smoked and doused in their wonderful BBQ sauce, but nothing amazing. The brisket however gave me pause to question just what cut of meat they used. The slices were very short vertically and wasn’t characterized by the thick muscle fibers you usually see with beef butt. Brisket is tough, requiring 1-2 full days of smoking to fully tenderize the meat, do they use a shortcut? Using a better cut of beef is totally a cheat, however in terms of flavor and texture it was great.
Overall the experience was…. Well… upscale BBQ. It doesn’t have that rough and tumble approach that characterizes truly great BBQ but was tasty and I highly recommend it. Go for the incredible sides if nothing else.

Taste of the Bay