Joe's Real BBQ (Gilbert, AZ)

I've eaten Joe's Real BBQ a few times now, but have never actually eaten on location for one reason only: its too busy.  Fortunately, that tends to say something about the quality of food served at Joe's.  With Carli's dad in town, it was time to try Joe's again and see if it once again lived up to expectation.

The meats served at Joe's Real BBQ are smoked using pecan wood in Oyler pits.  Since we didn't know exactly what to get, we tried a little bit of everything.  For our bbq meats, we ordered the pork ribs, pulled pork, and sliced beef brisket. 

The pork ribs had the right amount of char on the outside, leading to an extremely meaty, tender inside.  One of the best part of the pork ribs was how delicious they were (even cold) the next day for lunch.  The pulled pork and the beef brisket were not as great as they normally are, being a little bit dry.  However, that could be a result of having to drive 30 minutes home after picking up the food prior to eating.  All three provided a great smokey flavor from the pecan wood smoking process.

For sides, we ordered the sweet cut corn, bbq pit beans, mac and cheese, and cole slaw, along with a slice of cornbread for each of us.  These homemade side dishes are just as big of a star in the meal as the smoked meats (though the corn and mac and cheese were my favorites).  The cornbread was served with honey butter, which Carli really enjoyed.  And everything came with a couple of containers of their homemade bbq sauce.  For me, the bbq sauce is good, but not great.  I usually prefer to use either Stubb's smokey mesquite or honey pecan bbq sauce.

If anything, as you can see, it was quite a hearty meal.

Because we enjoy the food at Joe's Real BBQ, we will be making it a point to try out their sister restaurant, Joe's Farm Grill.