The Cube Restaurant

For those of you who don't know, I love barbecue. The cuisine has a special place in my heart for many reasons. One of which is that is that I make barbecue as a hobby. Albuquerque has a quite a few different choices for barbecue, like Johndi's BBQ, which I have a blog entry for. Most of the barbecue available in Albuquerque seems to be most like Texas style. I have a hard time distinguishing what each style is because there seems to be a lot of overlap in the types; for example, Rudy's, which is based out of Texas, carries a pulled pork with mustard seems more like a Carolina style. It seems that many times the choice to stay true to your region of allegiance in the barbecue world will result in suffered in sales. I do have favorite dishes at different places I frequent because they seem to specialize in a type(s) of meat(s). The Cube specializes in Memphis style barbecue where the focus is ribs and pulled pork. The Memphis style of ribs come wet, with a bit of sauce applied before and after cooking or dry, a rub is applied. The pulled pork here was really good, but did not come smothered in sauce like the normal Memphis style comes, it came on the side.

The name the Cube Restaurant is not really a traditional name for a barbecue establishment; for the most part barbecue places are normally associated with someones name. When I think of cubes I think of several things: cubicle farms which many of my friends work in, Cubism art, how bad I was at geometry, and one of my favorite rappers, not barbecue. I was a little skeptical of the quality of barbecue or food for that matter that I was going to find at a barbecue joint associated with anything math related, but I was pleasantly surprised with what I found. The outside of the restaurant looked simple and clean. The parking lot was spacious and newly paved. Exiting this place is a pain in the butt because of the cars parked on the curb make seeing on coming traffic a little difficult. The restaurant was well well decorated with art, color schemes, and fixtures. The theme of the cubes was done pretty well. I really liked the cube light fixtures. The painted concrete floor had what appeared to be sort of texture which I thought looked great. The restroom, despite being small, was well decorated and clean.

When I got to the Cube, there were only two tables of other patrons, I had caught them at a good time for them to hear my rants, odd request, and reasons for doing what I was doing. The staff was very receptive to me which I appreciated. The Cube does serve a good selection of beer and wine; one of the beers that I applauded that they serve, but would not drink was the Pabst Blue Ribbon. They also carry some local beers like the Marble Brewing company Red Ale and the Sierra Blanca Pale Ale on tap which was great to see a local business support local brewing companies. The menu was fairly difficult read due to the size of the lettering which was due to great selection of menu items they had available. I asked to see a to-go menu, but they ran out two patrons before I approached the counter. During my rant, I explained that I was there to try the food and I was going to put it in the blog. I told the staff that I normally get the kitchen sink combination at barbecue establishments to determine what my favorite dish will be there. They do not offer a kitchen sink combination. I then asked the staff for their recommendations. The suggestions were what made them different from the other barbecue establishments in town which was what I was planning on doing with some of their other offering like brisket and chicken. The Cube only offers five variety of meats: brisket, pulled pork, chicken (half or whole), baby back ribs, and sausage. According to the staff the meat to eat there would be the baby back ribs, sausage, and pulled pork. A two meat combination was the most variety they offered and I went with the recommendation and went for the two meat combination of sausage and pulled pork with two sides. I had a feeling that if I did not try the ribs, I would have had dinner's remorse so I added a half rack, but I asked the staff to accommodate me with both the wet and the dry variety of the Memphis style ribs. I also knew that I had ordered enough food for three meals so I asked for a to go box, but in the inexperienced staff forgot by the time I exchanged money for the promised delivery of food to my table. For my two sides, I again consulted the staff they recommended the mashed sweet potatoes, five Cheese mac & cheese, or the baked beans. I went with one of their preliminarily recommendations, the five cheese mac & cheese, and decided I better get some veggies in for the day so they recommended and I opted for the side salad with a vinaigrette dressing. I forgot to ask for it on the side so the dressing was generously applied. I also ordered a Sierra Blanca Pale Ale.

The wait for the food was just a few minutes, the staff just basically had to plate my food and it was ready to go. They did bring out my salad first, which I appreciated. Before the rest of my order arrived I had a few minutes to enjoy my salad and beer. The salad was made of a great blend of greens with cherry tomatoes. I liked how the plates are rectangular to go with the cube theme. Is someone thinking that a square is a rectangle? One of the things that I enjoyed about this place was how fresh the ingredients were, but the downside to this was if they ran out of something they ran out. I had read they made great carrot cake, but were sold out when I had arrived. The main course arrived and it was excellent. The ribs had no evidence that I was able to see of "cheating" or boiling that I was able to find. Many places are boiling their ribs prior to smoking to get the fall of the bone effect. There are a few other ways to accomplish the fall of the bone effect that I do not view as cheating, but I don't think you're going to see that too often in a restaurant setting. The ribs did have a beautiful, visible smoke ring. The ribs tasted as good as they looked. I cannot choose between the dry or the wet ribs. They were both great. The pulled pork was moist, flavorful and was served with the sauce on the side as mentioned before. From the photos below, you can tell that the magical meat juice from the pulled pork, read fat, ran a bit on the plate by the sauce cup. The sausage was well smoked, but did not have a distinguishable style that I have come to associate with barbecue joints. An example of this would be the spicy jalapeno sausage that Rudy's carries or the hot links of Quarters.The five cheese mac & cheese was amazing. It was made with provolone, mozzarella, fontina, parmesan, and gruyere cheese. One thing that I found odd was they were serving Texas toast with the Memphis style barbecue, but then again a business need to carry the variety of regions of barbecue to accommodate the majority of customers.

Overall, the food was great. The negative observations that I made, I think are minor to correct or at least I hope they are because it would be a loss to Albuquerque barbecue if this place did not stay open. The menu was not easy to read due to being on a marker board. The tables and chairs did not go with the decor or great fixtures of the restaurant, but
it's fairly minor and maybe when more money is available they will purchase the chairs and tables. The staff is green. When they restaurant got busy they were getting killed despite the plentiful staff head count. The servers were unable to answer some basic questions about the restaurant or the menu, but with more experience it should work out. Condiments were not readily available on the table despite having the holders on the table. The minor problems did effect the rating, but again the food was great. I think this is a great business model that is a welcome addition to Albuquerque barbecue. Offer sides made from fresh ingredients with a gourmet twist to go with killer barbecue. Overall, I would give the Cube a rating of three and a half stars out of five.


http://www.thecuberestaurant.com/

Nick and Jimmy’s Bar and Grill

The building that was occupied by Johnny Carino's Italian restaurant was vacant for about three years. The new restaurant is called Nick and Jimmy's Bar and Grill that is the partnership that runs a local favorite restaurant, Yanni's that serves great Greek food. Nick and Jimmy's serves a variety of food, but what I would describe as American grilled food with a nice bar. According to something I read online, because everything we see online is true, Nick and Jimmy's had a million dollar renovation. I did not see the million dollars unless it went into the kitchen. Apparently they do have a crazy hot broiler which I think is awesome because you really don't hear about that kind of stuff too much in this market, their broiler gets up to 1400 deg. The bread is identical to what is served at Yanni's. I don't really have too much to say about the experience good or bad, but overall it was OK. The food quality was good. I would give it a score of three out of five stars.