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Author Topic: BBQ Restaurant Review -- the BBQ Exchange, Gordonsville, Virginia  (Read 964 times)

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Kristin Meredith

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We went to the BBQ Exchange on Feb. 29, 2020 with a friend.  We read an article a few years back that this place was ranked a “top 50 in the US” bbq place.  The place opened at 11 am. When we pulled up at 1:45, the lot was filled. The yelp reviews give it really excellent reviews.

It has a very modest interior and you order and take your food to a table.  Tables are all picnic style with benches, no booths.  Interior area to sit is modest and pretty cramped (day was too cold to be at outside picnic tables). The tables had 4 bottles of sauce available – a Carolina sauce, two fairly traditional bbq sauces (one sweeter than the other), and a mustard bacon sauce.  The sauces were good, but nothing outstanding or original.

  Our friend ordered the pulled pork plate which was a pile of chopped pork, very light sauce and two sides.  He selected cole slaw and a cold broccoli salad.  He also had his choice of 3 or 4 breads and took a pumpkin muffin.  Bentley and I split the 4 meat platter.  We chose brisket (sliced not chopped which they also offered), pulled chicken (only kind of chicken offered), pork ribs (3 in an order) and sausage.  It came with two sides.  We got cole slaw and potato salad as the sides and then ordered extra sides of beans, collards and hush puppies.  It came with bread, so we selected the corn bread.  I wanted to get some onion rings, but when I learned they did not make them fresh in house, but instead just cooked them from frozen which were commercially purchased, I passed.

The pork platter was $10, the 4 meat platter was $19.75, the additional sides were $2 per side for a small serving. I felt the prices were fairly reasonable.

As we were tasting and eating, we wrote our impressions and I am just going to share those impressions as opposed to writing a traditional review.

MEATS
1.  Brisket – chewy, under cooked, good flavor, give a 5 on a KCBS scale.
2. Chicken – too much sauce, creosote flavor, just not good, did not like sauce being added without giving me a choice..
3.  Ribs – they were a dry rub, no sauce which I appreciated, but dry and overcooked with little flavor.  Bent said they tasted like they had been cooked the day before.  They had very little meat.
4.  Pork – chopped and very lightly sauced;  I thought a little dry and not much flavor, but Bent felt it was better than that.
5.  Sausage – good, smokey and probably the best meat we tasted that day;  we both would order it again.

SIDES
1.  Potato salad – meh, there was no there there.  It was chunks of potatoes with some mashed potatoes, mayo and mustard mixed it, maybe a bit of vinegar also.  Would have liked some celery, relish and chopped eggs in there.  Not that great.
2.  Beans – beans were sweet, so Bentley did not care for them. I love sweet baked beans, but these were just swimming in sauce. Good flavor, they just need to cut the sauce by half.
3.  Collards – major difference of opinion time.  I thought they were well cooked, but way too salty.  Bent thought they were very good, properly seasoned and properly cooked.
4.  Cole slaw – both thought it was average, nothing special.  It was mayo based.
5.  Hush puppies – really good, crispy, Bentley thought they were the second best thing he ate.

BREADS
1.  Pumpkin muffin – moist, perfectly cooked, nice balance of spices and flavor, very, very good.
2.  Corn bread – moist, a hint of sweetness, very, very good.

Obviously from the yelp reviews, a lot of folks think very highly of this place.  I don’t think of us as food snobs, but I do think we know and can grade bbq and we were simply not taken with it and I could not recommend it.  Personally, I was not that impressed and there are better places in Culpeper than the BBQ Ex
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Kristin Meredith

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Re: BBQ Restaurant Review -- the BBQ Exchange, Gordonsville, Virginia
« Reply #1 on: March 01, 2020, 12:23:45 PM »

Pork platter

 [ Invalid Attachment ]

Chicken and slaw with cornbread

 [ Invalid Attachment ]
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Kristin Meredith

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Re: BBQ Restaurant Review -- the BBQ Exchange, Gordonsville, Virginia
« Reply #2 on: March 01, 2020, 12:26:14 PM »

Pork ribs, brisket and sausage

 [ Invalid Attachment ]

Potato salad, collards and beans

 [ Invalid Attachment ]

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Bentley

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Re: BBQ Restaurant Review -- the BBQ Exchange, Gordonsville, Virginia
« Reply #3 on: March 01, 2020, 01:19:24 PM »

I wrote this for yelp, it pretty much covers the place for me.

Saw an article on this joint a few years back that they were rated as one of the top 50 in the US.  Have wanted to go since that, finally got around to it today.  Was about 1:45 and they were quite busy, which always makes me happy for any business!  It is a pleasant atmosphere to eat in.

Food was hit and miss...sausage, pork, greens, corn bread and pumpkin muffin all above average.  Brisket, ribs, chicken, potato salad and beans, below average.  Hush Puppies simply Outstanding.   OK, you dont need to hear why the food that was good is good, it stands on its own.  I will tell you why I thought the others were below average.  Brisket, good flavor, way under cooked.  Chewy, did not pass pull test.  Ribs, I swear I think they were yesterdays.  Small with no meat, dry & over cooked.  Pulled Chicken, fairly well cooked, but how about not serving it swimming in a sauce I did not ask for, big no no for me.  I had no idea what the chicken really tasted like, I just know it was in a sauce I did not care for, nor asked to be put on it (You might want to give your customers a heads up it is served that way). 

Potato Salad, good texture, but no flavor except mustard.  Could I have a little celery, onions and eggs in mine?  It was like potatoes, and mustard with a little mayo, just not my idea of potato salad.  Beans, again, tender, but swimming in a sweet sauce.  Not big on sauce in beans to begin with, and I am a savory sauce guy when I am having beans with BBQ, sweet just does not do it. Cole Slaw, a bit more seasoning and mayo and this get an Outstanding, but just a little bland for me! 

Taste is subjective, heck all you had to do was see how many folks were in there eating at 2 in the afternoon to know that.  I try not to be nasty when I do a review and try and be fair, even with taste being subjective.  I think so few folks cook for themselves  any more that standards may have been reduced.  I think I have been pretty fair and honest in this review!  Go try it yourself and see what you think!
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Free Mr. Tony

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Re: BBQ Restaurant Review -- the BBQ Exchange, Gordonsville, Virginia
« Reply #4 on: March 01, 2020, 02:06:15 PM »

The collards and broccoli salad look the most appetizing from pictures. That is a very odd looking brisket slice. Pale with almost painted on looking smoke ring. I can almost taste the unrendered fat through the screen.
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Bar-B-Lew

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Re: BBQ Restaurant Review -- the BBQ Exchange, Gordonsville, Virginia
« Reply #5 on: March 01, 2020, 02:12:59 PM »

The collards and broccoli salad look the most appetizing from pictures. That is a very odd looking brisket slice. Pale with almost painted on looking smoke ring. I can almost taste the unrendered fat through the screen.

My first thought was the brisket looked like it had lipstick on it
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Re: BBQ Restaurant Review -- the BBQ Exchange, Gordonsville, Virginia
« Reply #6 on: March 01, 2020, 05:12:29 PM »

IMO What you two have cooked for competition and had set in front of you while KSBS judges has ruined you. Less than 1% of BBQ joints are going to produce top notch food. Here in St Louis I have given up on buying BBQ out.
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Bentley

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Re: BBQ Restaurant Review -- the BBQ Exchange, Gordonsville, Virginia
« Reply #7 on: March 01, 2020, 09:41:17 PM »

I pretty much agree with your statement, but...

It is fundamentals that make it below average.  Realizing that taste is subjective applies to the potato salad, maybe lots like there's bland, I don't so I did not care for it.  But the brisket and ribs, that is simply fixed.  Cook one longer and the other less. The beans and chicken, lay off the sauce.  The cole slaw, again subjective, but add a tad more mayo and seasoning.

When your business is packed and 90% of your Yelp reviews are 5 Star, you could care less what the BBQ Judge & Competitor thinks of your food. And the No. 1 thing I believe contributes to folks loving places like this is, they have no idea what really good food is.  They dont cook, therefore their standards are low, and Chilis are good ribs and a place like this, they think theirs are out of this world!
« Last Edit: March 01, 2020, 09:43:03 PM by Bentley »
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Bar-B-Lew

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Re: BBQ Restaurant Review -- the BBQ Exchange, Gordonsville, Virginia
« Reply #8 on: March 02, 2020, 08:44:43 AM »

I am aligned with Bentley's statement on people not having low BBQ standards as their baseline usually is a chain restaurant that does not specialize in BBQ but has it on their menu (i.e. Chili's, Applebee's, Friday's, etc.).
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Kristin Meredith

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Re: BBQ Restaurant Review -- the BBQ Exchange, Gordonsville, Virginia
« Reply #9 on: March 02, 2020, 09:45:10 AM »

I am maybe a little harder nosed on the issue.  I think folks read a yelp review, see a lot of cars outside, see lines inside and just think "boy this has to be great stuff". Then combine that with the fact that many don't cook at all, much less know how to make their own que, and that their experience with most que is family restaurant stuff, and you have a lot of folks that don't know how to judge what they're eating.  One of the reviews I read said the food was great bbq because they use a lot of sauce and she loves bbq sauce.  ???
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Trooper

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Re: BBQ Restaurant Review -- the BBQ Exchange, Gordonsville, Virginia
« Reply #10 on: March 02, 2020, 09:46:36 AM »

I'm a real fan of beans.
Looks like you wound up with bean soup.

OK, once again, top beans for your BBQ @ home is - -
Mrs. ZCZ's Calico Beans. Hands down!
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Bentley

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Re: BBQ Restaurant Review -- the BBQ Exchange, Gordonsville, Virginia
« Reply #11 on: March 02, 2020, 11:14:02 AM »

I searched to see where this recipe is on the site and did not find it!  Will one of you post it, or send me the recipe and I will?

I'm a real fan of beans.
Looks like you wound up with bean soup.

OK, once again, top beans for your BBQ @ home is - -
Mrs. ZCZ's Calico Beans. Hands down!
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WiPelletHead

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Re: BBQ Restaurant Review -- the BBQ Exchange, Gordonsville, Virginia
« Reply #12 on: March 02, 2020, 02:41:57 PM »

I searched to see where this recipe is on the site and did not find it!  Will one of you post it, or send me the recipe and I will?

I'm a real fan of beans.
Looks like you wound up with bean soup.

OK, once again, top beans for your BBQ @ home is - -
Mrs. ZCZ's Calico Beans. Hands down!

You will find it here Bentley.

https://pelletfan.com/index.php?topic=2736.0
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Bentley

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Re: BBQ Restaurant Review -- the BBQ Exchange, Gordonsville, Virginia
« Reply #13 on: March 02, 2020, 03:19:44 PM »

Thanks, I just added it to the recipe section!
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Jimsbarbecue

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Re: BBQ Restaurant Review -- the BBQ Exchange, Gordonsville, Virginia
« Reply #14 on: March 02, 2020, 11:48:02 PM »

Years since I was in Gordonsville. Small town then ,people were happy when fast food places opened. My guess is one generation has passed , the ones that cooked some of the greatest muffins on a wood stove. Now average or below average food they don’t have to cook seems good to them. As BBQ cooks we all have made food we decided not to serve to guest or keep the leftovers for ourselves. Food places will just sauce it and serve it
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