THE GREASY FOODIE: Phil's BBQ

The Greasy Foodie

The story begins blustry day Friday after Thanksgiving in 2008 in a cramped booth at a fake NYC deli in Nashville called Noshville. In between my wife, Rachel, and my brother, Michael, I sat across from my "cooler than me" cousins Mark and Sarah, and Sarah's just as cool husband, Danny. Mark, who lives the awesome life being a lawyer living in San Francisco working for Facebook, with his only downfall being his SEVERE lactardation..which has never been medically or scientifically proven to exist in Mark.. Sarah and Danny are foodies from NYC who have tried every dive "chicken finger" hut and "curry on a stick" in the big city. Danny and Sarah had discussed that they were trying to go to as many places from Bobby Flay's 'Throwdown' show as they could, and that there was one in Nashville we had to try.....a place that I had never heard of in my 13 years of living there..I will get to that adventure later.

I got an idea from my cool cousins idea. An idea became a hobby. And the hobby became an obsession. And thus produced the list.....a world-famous spreadsheet...of every restaurant that has ever been featured on Food Network and Travel Channel....every restaurant from the famous shows like "Throwdown", "Man V. Food", "Man v. Food Nation", "Food Feuds", "Food Wars", "Best Thing I Ever Ate", "Food Paradise" and "Diners Drive-Ins and Dives" to the obscure "Best Food Ever", "Meat and Potatoes", and "101 Best Places to Chowdown", plus my additions of the restaurants of famous chefs, favorite catergories (burgers, wings, pizza, bbq, and sandwiches) and local places of legend. Names, cities, food they are famous for, and addresses. It was and still is an obsession. As of 11:31am on November 27, 2018, THE LIST HAS 4,660 RESTAURANTS ON IT...WITH A FEW OVERLAPS HERE AND THERE. And then over Pastrami Eggs Benedict at Nate N' Al's Deli in Beverly Hills, Hannah and Andrew, our good friends, gave me the idea of the blog. Document every place I went. And thus, "The Greasy Foodie" was born. I will log the places, the shows they are from, and what I had. So far, every place I have been has been amazing, except two, one being mediocre, and another being down right awful.

If there is a city you have been to, or are going to, or are from and want to know what from my list is in the city, send me a email at agmarks@gmail.com

Monday, June 17, 2013

Phil's BBQ

San Diego

From Man Vs. Food and Best Sandwich in America

3750 Sports Arena Blvd., San Diego, CA 92110

http://www.philsbbq.net/

"What you're getting: The El Toro sandwich and a half rack of baby back ribs
San Diego!? California!? To see a place in Southern California make the list might cause some consternation from the purists, but Phil Pace's spot has earned a seat at the table. Combining self-taught recipes for rubs and sauces with traditional mesquite BBQing has netted him a successful mini-empire in SD, and last year, that El Toro tri-tip 'wich was a finalist for Alan Richman's "Best Sandwich in America" (though those same purists might want to just stick to the baby backs)."

On the BBQ scale...this place is amazing....on the BBQ sauce scale...this place is epic

They won't lie to you...they are not known for their meat....

They are known for their sauce...and what a sauce it is...and made the hour and 45 minute wait completly worth it...as did the sweet tea!!

I don't like molassass based sauce, I don't like vinegar based sauce, and I don't like mustard based sauce. I am a Tennessee boy through and through and I like my sauce the way Tennesseans make it...tomato based with a bit of spice, and this is exactly what type of sauce Phil's have.

The meat is great, the sweet tea is amazing, and the sauce is incredible. The onion rings are pretty epic too. Rather than beer battered or who knows what battered, the onion rings, cut THICK (the way god intended), are corn bread battered, so they are sweet and pretty great.

We (my brother and cousin) ordered two pulled pork sandwiches (El Broham) which came with cole slaw ON IT..the way god intended which was great, El Toro which is chopped Tri-Tip which is a cut of meat specific to California. It was a tad bit overated as it was featured on best sandwich in America and had no where near enough sauce. They had options for a sampler of their famous ribs. I got the pork rib, which was drenched in sauce and normal size. My brother got the beef rib which was dinosaur size and epic! We got 3 sides and sweet tea. It was an incredible escape back to Southern BBQ without having to leave California.

THE GREASY FOODIE