THE GREASY FOODIE: BABY BLUES 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

Thursday, May 15, 2014

BABY BLUES BBQ

444 Lincoln Blvd, Venice, CA 90291

http://babybluesvenice.com/#/home

From Diner's, Drive-In's, and Dives

I have spoken about my rankings of BBQ…life changing, incredible, amazing, great, and good…this place is good by national standards…great by LA standards. The farther you get from Memphis, the harder you have to try to be Memphis, and the harder it is to replicate Memphis, and Baby Blues is a perfect example of this. Trying to transplant a national treasure and delicacy 2000 miles just doesn't work to the best and fullest success that one is looking for. You have the time and money and want the real and true experience, fly to Memphis or KC for the real thing. You have a lunch break or want a messy dinner and you are in LA, Baby Blues is great. The meat and sauce are nothing to cheer about. But the sides are OUT OF THIS WORLD! The mac and cheese! THE OKRA!! This place tries really hard to be something it's not, but they should be commended. While they are not a BBQ institution, they do hit the nail on the head when it comes to some aspects, in some cases doing their thing better than some of the legendary BBQ joints who are dynasties in the pantheon of BBQ immortality.

THE GREASY FOODIE