Encounter 1: Big Rascal's Bar-B-Q

My first actual encounter with barbecue in Ocala was when my father and I drove a Penske truck into town to transport all my worldly possessions.  It was 9:30 at night, we'd been on the road for two days.  We were hungry and tired, and in no condition to objectively judge what we were eating.  It was food, and we were happy to have it.  So this should be the official first encounter... Big Rascal's Bar-B-Q out on Blichton Road off of Highway 75.

I heard about them from the Urban Spoon app on my iPod, and the reviews on that were pretty good, so I decided to give them a try.  Needless to say, the search is not over.

The people were nice enough.  I ordered my food over the phone at a time that is normally considered past the dinner hour.  I knew that I was going to have to put the kids in bed before I left, so when they asked me if it was okay for my food to be ready in 20 minutes, I hesitated a little.  Sensing my hesitation, they volunteered to put the order off a little and have it ready in 45 minutes, and asked me if that would be okay.  I told them that was perfect, and when the kids were down, I went to pick up my food.

I didn't stay to eat, but the place seemed like a typical barbecue restaurant.  Simple with a "western" sort of theme.  I was in and out in just a couple of minutes.

I ordered the big combo dinner, which came with sliced beef, sliced pork, and pork ribs.  I tried the sauce immediately, and it tasted like ketchup with a little Worcestershire sauce in it.  Strike one.

Now, where I'm from, when a place advertises sliced beef and pork, you expect to get some thick slices. I don't claim to be a vast treasure trove of knowledge about meat, but common sense tells you that there must be some substance to it for the flavor and juiciness to reside.  Cut it too thin, and you lose much of the taste.  The beef and pork from Big Rascal's was cut as thin as paper.  Arby's has thicker roast beef.  That was disappointing.  The ribs tasted okay.  They were tender, but a little fattier than I prefer them.  I actually liked the beans a lot.  They came in a nice, thick sauce, which is how my mom always made them.  The potato salad was good but nothing that caused me to notice it.  I can get just as good from Publix (that's the grocery store chain in this part of the world).

So my first outing resulted in a meal of which my favorite part was one of the side items.  I'm not sure that I SHOULD have expected much more, but I'm an optimist.  This search might be longer than I thought, but it's just one place!  On to the next!