- Barbecue!
Everybody loves it!
So much meat.
The bark.
The pull.
And today, I, Keith Habersberger,
the internet's sexiest vixen, (saxophone plays)
will show you where to get the best barbecue in Los Angeles.
- Yes, it's me, Rashawn Nadine Scott.
I'm back again to let you guys know
that I know more than Keith.
And I know where all the best barbecue in LA is.
So follow me to the ribs. Away!
- Bad news, guys.
You don't know the best barbecue in LA.
Good news, I do.
I'm Jared Popkin.
Daddy's home and he's ready to eat.
- Do they have better racks than me?
Will we get in a wreck today?
I hope not.
We haven't yet.
Oh, my God. (glass shattering)
Can't believe I actually got hit.
(engine starts)
- [Keith] Welcome to "Tailgate Debate",
where I the Internet's the most notorious glutton,
face off against two of my foodie friends
at a restaurant recommendation showdown
where only one can reign supreme.
On today's "Tailgate Debate",
we're having barbecue.
Yum, yum.
- Welcome to another episode of "Tailgate Debate".
As we said before, we're doing barbecue.
I absolutely love barbecue.
And I've got two friends who also love barbecue.
You know we're from all around the country.
I don't know what the barbecue is like
up in Washington State (Rashawn laughs)
but we do have our Washington State rep, Rashawn with us.
Rashawn, how's it goin'?
- I'm doing very, very well.
I'm excited to just get some ribs into my system.
The Northwest is not really known for barbecue,
but I mean in the summers,
my family would get together
for like 4th of July and just grill down.
- You can do a lotta acting. You're doing a podcast.
You also do so much delicious cooking just
on your Instagram.
What else is new with you?
What'd you been up to?
- "South Side" is gonna start filming the spring.
So I'm going to go back to Chicago.
I'm very excited for that.
- Joining us as well.
You've seen him on "Eat the Menu",
but he is also Hollywood's new favorite detective,
we've got Jared Popkin.
- What's up, guys.
It's time to eat some barbecue.
I'm a detective for this barbecue.
That's what I'm looking to do.
So you guys know I'm in the far right lane
going slow. - Yeah. I got you.
- So you'll be able to catch up with me.
- All right. Here I come.
'Scuse me. I'm crossing lanes.
- I'm in the far right lane, Rashawn.
- Oh, far right. Golly.
You guys-
Okay. Left from right.
You know, I've also been smoking the lettuce (laughs)
this quarantine, so-
- [Jared] That's true.
- I may have lost my left from my right.
- Yeah. I get that.
- This "Tailgate Debate" definitely
has three independent stoners,
- Yup.
- along for the ride.
Here's a question I have for you.
When you buy a really nice meal,
specifically pause to go get high before it?
- Absolutely.
- I'm one of the weird ones.
I think it's more important to have good weed after it.
I liked my blends after a good meal and after a good shower.
- [Keith] Wow.
- Oh.
- Wow.
- A post shrits, blitz?
- [Jared] Yeah.
- So today we're gonna be judging
our three different spots
on sort of the same platters.
We're gonna go with classics.
We got ribs, brisket, pulled pork.
And then we're also going to compare the mac and cheese.
The side that not every restaurant has
but almost every barbecue restaurant does have.
- I think also, legally,
you can't call yourself barbecue restaurant
if you don't have mac and cheese.
- We're going to Jared's place first.
Jared, where are we going?
What are we about to experience?
- It's called Gus's.
It's been around since 1946 and the vibe is very 1946.
You're talkin' ambiance
and you're talkin' fuego barbecue.
Really good meals
and more importantly, good portions.
That's a big thing for me with barbecue.
You've gotta have the right size of portions.
- Barbecue is one those meals
that's defined by having just a little too much.
- I want to leave here feeling bad
and I mean bad in a good way.
- I wanna leave here with the meat sweats.
(upbeat music)
- We have just gotten our Gus's.
Wow. Look at this guys.
This is beautiful. - Oh, my gosh.
(Rashawn gasps)
- [ Keith] You got some ribs.
These are Memphis, baby back ribs.
We got some brisket.
We got some pulled pork, some corn bread,
some coleslaw and some mac and cheese.
- Oh my God. This looks so good. (laughs)
- Gus's didn't fail me now.
- No, they didn't. - [Keith] Wow.
- I'mma to start with the brisket.
- The texture is great.
I'm able to pull it right apart with a fork.
- I like that sauce on top.
Tangy, a little sour.
- Wow. See, that's how I like my brisket.
That's soft texture.
There's just the right amount of sauce on here.
It's not doused in it.
- What you want with brisket,
you wanna be able to cut it into slices
but still tear it apart with your fork.
You don't want something's already
so soft it just shred.
You don't want stuff that you have to cut with a knife.
This is nailing it right in that perfect texture land.
- I don't wanna eat any more of it
'cause I feel like I'm gonna get so full up.
- All right. Let's move on to the pork.
- It's very peppery. I can say it's peppery.
And I can say that it tastes like pork.
It's not my favorite.
- Yes. The flavor is very pepper dominant.
I think with a sauce, it would be amazing.
Well, let's jump over to the ribs.
- So these are nice, thin baby back ribs.
- [Keith] Oh, they smoked it. - They pull away
- from the bone very nicely.
- The perfect texture.
You want that to be still able to chew it
but you want it to come clean off the bone.
- God, it's good!
- I don't normally like a sweet barbecue sauce,
but this is-
It tows the line. It's very good.
That's like brown sugar and honey.
- [Keith] Wow! - Oh, man!
- The baby back is a home run.
- Dang. God, that started off nice.
- [Keith] Totally. - Dang, Jared.
- I'm so happy.
'Cause like the brisket was really good
but not so much better than any brisket I've had.
The pork was similar.
But this is a special rib right here.
- [Rashawn] Yeah. I can eat a full rack of this for sure.
- [Keith] Mm hm.
- I had a bite of the mac and cheese and it's good.
It tastes more like whatever the cheese they put in there.
So what I'm going to do is I'm gonna take a little bit
of mac and cheese and then put some brisket on there.
- Oh!
- Oh, shit.
- That's right there. That's good.
- [Keith] I think this mac and cheese is really quite good.
- A little Sriracha in there would make it really good.
- I mean, I got some chicken sauce over here.
So a little dab on the mac and cheese.
I'mma-
Oh wow, I'm taking two bites. Mm hm.
- It's a chicken sauce alert?
- Chicken sauce coming through.
- Oh, give me that.
So when I said earlier that this needed a little Sriracha,
what I did mean was exactly this chicken sauce.
- I've already eaten too much.
I definitely made a mistake there.
(Rashawn laughs)
But we are headed next
to my favorite restaurant, which is Bludso's.
Yes. I have eaten everything there on "Eat the Menu".
I tried to look for other places around town to represent
and I could not find anything that came close.
(upbeat music)
Barbecue is often best
when it looks like a place
that you're going to be poisoned.
- Oh yeah.
- My favorite kind of barbecue is probably
either in like a random front yard
or it's gotta be tailgating barbecue,
like, for a sporting event,
playing some Cornhole, throwing some bags.
- Drink in one hand and you sport with the other.
- I remember growing up in public schools in Florida.
My favorite,
my favorite public school lunch was every Wednesdays.
We had Jamaican beef patties.
- What? - What?
- Yeah.
We were talking Jamaican beef patties.
Every Wednesday,
you would talk to your friends
about how funny the Chappelle's show was last night.
(Rashawn and Keith laugh)
David is the best.
- Yes. If you didn't watch Chapelle's Show,
you had shit to talk about on Friday at school.
Hell yeah. - [Keith] Yeah.
- Yeah. You're nothin'. - [Keith] Yeah. You're right.
- You're nothin'.
(Rashawn laughs)
(upbeat music)
- I think the funniest barbecue experience I had,
I was in Florida.
I was in a-
What's that shitty town?
- Destin.
- You might've (beeps) nailed it, bro.
I think it was Destin. (laughs)
- I know my shitty Florida towns.
- I was like post night of drinking
and I was walking back to our hotel
and we passed a gas station that was closed.
And a man had pulled a pickup truck that was towing a smoker
into the gas station and was selling barbecue
at one in the morning,
out of a (beeps) abandoned gas station.
And it was (beeps) bomb.
(upbeat music)
Bludso's-
The guy who runs it, his name is Kevin.
He grew up working
and helping his grandmother in Texas make barbecue.
And you actually may know him
from the "Great American Barbecue Challenge"
which is on Netflix.
- Mm.
He's one of the judges.
He is so kind in that show.
His food is so good.
I have never been disappointed by Bludso's. Not once.
All right. We are here at Bludso's.
We've got two trays of food here.
We have our sides
and our cornbread separate from the meat
and the meat is heavy.
- Ooh! I can smell the pork.
- Oh.
- Oh, my lord.
- Oh, yeah.
- Look at that. Oh my gosh.
So good.
- Wow.
- Just visually,
I'm already like holy shit.
- I am going to cleanse my palette by having us
some sweet tea to start.
- I'll join you with a little sweet tea sip.
- I'll join you with a sweet tea palette's cleanser.
- May your day be full of meats and ever sweats.
(group slurps)
Ooh, that's nice.
- [Keith] Brisket is beautifully sliced.
Has such a nice little bark.
- Really nice and soft, easy to pull.
- [Rashawn] Falling off so well that it's like,
I can't even get it on the fork.
- I honestly,
I pinched it with my thumb and my finger.
- Yeah, it's got a nice crispy edge,
soft and tender in the middle, but not like mushy or chewy.
It has like some bite to it.
- The trick to this brisket is it's soft enough to pull on
but it's got that burnt, good, chewy texture to it.
- I did think that the previous place
had more visible moisture to the brisket,
- [Jared] Yup.
- but I like the doneness of this quite a bit.
But other than the flavor on this is much more buh-bam!
I'm gonna move into this pork.
I just picked up a particularly beautiful fatty tender piece
just sitting right on top.
Oh.
Holy shit.
It doesn't need sauce.
- [Rashawn] Wow.
- There's so much flavor.
- The pork is really (beeps) good.
- [Keith] That's what I'm talkin' about.
- I like when the pulled pork's that brown,
not like tannish brown.
Oh, man. This on some nachos.
This is insane pulled pork. - Oh.
- Yeah. This would be good for nachos.
For sure.
- Tastes like the word barbecue.
- It does. (Rashawn laughs)
- Feel just the pork.
- [Jared] All right. I'm going for rib town.
These ribs look picture perfect.
They really do.
I don't even wanna eat it.
- The meat has pulled away from the bone
and yet it is a perfect straight line slice.
- Listen, there's two types of people.
There's you watching and then there's me eating.
- Well, that's good. What is that flavor?
That is a very interesting flavor.
I've never tasted the rib like this.
Yeah. It tastes so unique.
The other ribs were good for the fact
that they were like kind of,
like they were in a good way, like slim.
These are thick.
- This is like the kind of rib that your dad eats.
And he stops.
And he looks at his wife (piano plays)
and he smiles.
And he's like, this is really good.
- And then they go home and make another baby.
These are baby-makin' ribs.
- [Rashawn] Ooh.
- Let's move on over to our mac and cheese moment.
This Mac and cheese looks so beautiful.
- It's creamy in the right way.
- It's creamy.
Like Rashawn said,
you can see the spice just floating in it.
And this is exactly what I remember
the first time I had Bludso's.
Everybody took a bite of something
and we're like, "Oh, that's the best that".
And then they have the next, I was like,
"Oh wow, that's best that"
- I'm gonna try this potato salad.
- Wow. What the (beeps)?
Holy shit.
Am I allowed to curse on this show?
You sure are.
- Okay. Holy shit.
This is one of the best potato salads I've ever had.
This whole meal was an experience.
Bludso's is something else.
- One more.
Rashawn's place is our last stop.
We gotta hit and try one more barbecue place.
First place had some of the best ribs.
So surprising to me how good they were.
- [Rashawn] Yup.
This place is such a well-rounded restaurant.
The sides we're out of control.
- [Jared] Yup.
- So I'm excited to see what our last spot has to offer.
- And you know what boys, I think would be even better
if we all took a Wet Ones
and we just got those hands real good.
- Oh, yeah.
- Oh, you're so right.
- My stomach is getting full, but my mind is open.
(Rashawn laughs)
- As long as you're free in your mind, baby,
they can never imprison you.
- These Wet Ones smell so delicious.
- They're like a tropical splash.
I wish we were sponsored by these Wet Ones.
Wet Ones. Get yourself some.
They're wet.
- Wet Ones. They go well with barbecue.
- Don't make a mess. Be blessed.
Wet Ones.
(upbeat music)
- So we were parked.
We had finished our Bludso's.
A car came whizzing by
and they just decided they did not like the look
of my left side, driver's side mirror.
They took it clean out.
Oh, my God.
I can't believe this actually happened.
Mirror is quite spiderwebbed now.
I had to pick it up off the ground.
I snapped it back in.
Geez Louise.
They didn't totally (beeps) my car
but they did hit my car,
which is hilarious
because at the beginning of the show,
I did say, "I hope we don't get an accident."
Will we get in a wreck today?
I hope not.
All right.
So Rashawn, we're going to your place.
Where are we headed next?
- Keith, we're headed to Boneyard Bistro.
They're just nice, big meaty, dinosaur-looking bones.
I feel like you're gonna get a good helping.
And I do think that all three
of these plates are gonna be so different.
Based on the flavors that we've had,
I think this is going to be a nice change of pace.
Would you open a barbecue restaurant?
- I've definitely thought about it.
And it's something that I think might be
a lifelong goal is to open a barbecue place
and open a fried chicken place.
- If you open a restaurant that does barbecue,
I'll sleep in the back.
(Keith and Rashawn laugh)
- He'll be working there.
- [Rashawn] I'll be your lead hostess.
- [Keith] Rashawn'll main stage jazz performer.
- Yeah.
- [Keith] The poker tournaments that Jared can run.
- I'll run a bunch of poker tournaments during jazz night
and then I'll sleep in the back every night
with a full little belly.
- You really want to sleep in the back?
- I just want Keith to own a restaurant
so I could sleep in the back.
- Oh, I want to sleep on the flat top grill.
- Boneyard Bistro.
First of all, the logo is intense.
It feels like a motorcycle gang.
We got two sauces.
These are pork ribs, but they are massive.
I thought they were beef ribs when I saw them
but they're actually pork ribs.
They're just the biggest ones I've ever seen.
- [Rashawn] Ooh. Yum, yum, yum, yum, yum.
- Oh my God.
- Oh, it smells so good.
There's a lot of accoutrement presented with this meal.
- [Rashawn] This single, deviled egg with the bacon on it.
- I know, right?
Somehow, it smells kind of like a delicious burger
in my car.
I think it's because of the pickled onions
and like the other things that are everywhere.
- I'm gonna take a bite of this brisket.
- Wow. This is the best brisket so far.
- Ooh.
- Oh, whoa.
That is a tender piece of brisket.
Oh, my God.
- [Jared] The best brisket so far.
- Brisket is rich.
It is rich and fatty and salty
and flavorful and the bark is really good.
All right. I'm gonna dive into this pork.
Well, this is a crazy experience.
- Yeah. It's not your traditional, pulled-pork flavor.
- I don't love it as much as some of the other pork today.
I think it's good still.
But the Bludso's pork, I do think beats this one out.
- Do we want to try this Texas sauce with the ribs?
- Oh, I love the flavor.
It tastes like steak.
- Almost, I don't want to say that Montreal steak seasoning-
- But you nailed it.
(Rashawn laughs)
So I like these ribs.
They do come clean off the bone.
They are a little bit tougher than I'd like.
- I like to, you know, work.
I want to get in there and- (growls)
- Between the salt and the sauce,
It is like a really overwhelming amount of flavor.
- It's a lot of salt.
These would weirdly accent
like a homemade grilled burger very well.
- You know, it tastes like a backyard-barbecue moment.
- It's very genuine rip, but it's so salty.
This is beer barbecue.
For sure.
- Look at the inside
of these little fried mac and cheese bites.
- [Jared] Oh, yeah.
- It is ooey gooey.
- I'll say that looks the coolest.
Of all the stuff we got,
I think this is like the most
fun, - [Keith] Fun.
and delicious looking thing.
- Or I'm going in for it.
This only helps me to find this as a beer-barbecue spot.
- It makes sense for the biker gang.
This is like a perfect kind of food for a biker gang.
- [Keith] Yeah.
- Yeah. Let's start a cool-ass biker gang, Rashawn.
We'll take point.
- What would your motorcycle gang name be?
- Rashawn and the size Queens.
- Damn. - [Keith] Ooh.
- [ Keith] I really liked this.
I do think the brisket was the star of this platter.
- [Jared] The ribs were something-
When I was eating them,
I could tell that someone else could love.
- You're talking to me because I am pickled.
I do. I am a salty queen.
- It's gonna be tough, but it is time for us to go park,
have our little "Tailgate Debate",
and see who won
today's restaurant-recommendation battle, baby.
All right.
We have completed our three platters of barbecue today.
What a day it was!
It truly was delicious.
And every store had something
that I thought was the best of the day.
But let's start with Gus's.
I thought the ribs were outstanding.
They were the best ribs of the day.
- Gus's take some of the best ribs of the day, baby.
And ribs are a big part of a barbecue journey.
- Some would say ribs are the most important.
- Some would. Most would probably.
- [Rashawn] Jesus would. The rib.
- Jesus would?
- Jesus would. - Wow.
- He's always talking about ribs in the Bible, right?
- You're right. The Bible does talk about ribs a lot.
Life came from 'em.
- I do agree. The ribs were very strong.
I did not really care for the pulled pork.
It was just-
It was not my tea.
- I get that.
I like to pull pork, but agree that it needed a sauce.
- Served with the sauce most times guys.
- [Rashawn] Yeah.
- [Keith] Most times.
- But I think the second one, Bludso,
it was really delicious.
I thought they came out bangin'.
I thought they entire meal worked really well together.
All of the flavors work across the board.
- Well Bludso's gave me the hat. (chuckles)
Feels a little much.
- Feels a little bribey. - Feels a little bribey.
- The macaroni and cheese there.
- [Jared] That potato salad.
- [Rashawn] It was so good.
You could see the flavors
through the thick plastic covering.
And I was like, "Oh, they're not (beeps) around.
They know.
- Every part of the meal was delicious.
There was no weak link at Bludso's.
It was the most me-style of barbecue, Bludso's.
But like our last place, Rashawn's spot,
I thought was incredible.
But it wasn't my style of barbecue.
- I like salty, savory
so that the meats were really, really salted and flavored.
So I could eat that all day.
- Yeah.
But of the briskets,
I would go-
I'm gonna go Gus.
- [Jared] Wow. - Gus was good.
- [Jared] I was gonna go Bistro.
- [Keith] I was going to go Bludso's,
which is what I thought I would go with.
(Rashawn laughs)
I think that Bistro was pushing flavor.
They wanted to bring something new to the barbecue game.
They had a lot of accoutrement with it.
They had a lot of heavy salt.
They had the fried mac and cheese.
Only one restaurant can take the cake
and the "Tailgate Debate".
Finger-pointing winner award.
As you know, we have foam fingers.
And that's how you know you've won.
So we're each going to vote.
Now, here's something I wanted to bring.
Some of our commenters suggested to really make it fair,
you cannot vote for the place that you vouched for.
You must vote for one of the other two.
All right, Jared, you're gonna lead us off.
- Give it to the overall, just as a meal.
No real misses.
All real hits.
And for me, that's Bludso's.
- [Keith] Whoa. Tip of the hat.
- So between Gus's and Bistro,
If I had to choose one to go eat at tomorrow,
probably get those ribs from Gus's.
They were just damn fine ribs. (Jared grunts)
- Damn fine ribs.
- Well, the moment you've all been waiting for,
the deciding factor, it's me.
I knew that when I woke up today
I'd be making a strong decision.
- Huge.
- I told myself
Take a vitamin, stretch,
put on sunscreen, really get ready.
With the power vested in me by the state of California,
my vote today for overall best meal,
(suspenseful music)
Bludso's.
(Keith grunts) (fireworks explode)
- [Rashawn] It's good overall meal.
- [Jared] It good.
- Look, I've eaten many times before,
I will eat it many times again.
- Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. (Keith screams)
- Every single one was delicious.
I recommend all three of these restaurants to you.
If you were visiting LA and you want some barbecue,
these are great options.
Why not go and visit your local barbecue restaurant?
Especially during COVID,
restaurants have had a hard time.
Go support some of your local faves.
Get some brisket.
Get some ribs.
But of course I am the winner,
which means I get to dance in celebration
while you all mourn your loss.
♪ Go, Keith. Go, Keith. ♪
♪ Go! Go! Go, Keith! ♪
♪ The place you've picked got picked. ♪
- Shh.
- Shh. (Rashawn laughs)
About other porky places, I guess I will.
(upbeat music)
♪ Oh, it's a sweaty day in Los Angeles ♪
♪ Eating ribs and brisket, mac and cheese ♪
♪ And what I please ♪
♪ Oh, yeah ♪