Narda Green (left), general manager of TGI Friday's and Howard Alibaksh, floor manager (both standing), rap with members of the media as the restaurant displayed its new dishes, 'America's Best BBQ', on Hope Road, St. Andrew, on Tuesday, April 4. - WINSTON SILL/FREELANCE PHOTOGRAPHER
Hmm, ribs and barbecue chicken just for the tasting? Sign me up! On Tuesday, April 4, a small group of the fourth estate packed into a corner of TGIF's Hope Road restaurant to dine on their new menu items christened...
BEFORE PARTAKING of the fare, some whet their palates with their choice of the restaurant's potent potables, one favourite being the Ultimate Mudslide.
Soon enough, here comes the grub! Upon arrival, the consensus was that the display was more than excellent. A nice rack of ribs, skewers of grilled jumbo shrimp, some juicy looking chicken halves and delectable chicken breasts looked absolutely delicious, and the hope was that they would taste just the same. Each dish was served with grilled sweet corn, buttered with New Orleans butter, and a few hush puppies - a fried cornmeal and pepper jack cheese delight.
IMPRESSIVE MENU ITEMS
Each dish was served with your choice of the Texan or Applebutter barbecue sauce. The Texan variety was a spicy number, suited for the hot-tongued, whereas the Applebutter, lacked the punch of the Texan and was more suited for the tender-lipped.
First off was the ribs with Texan barbecue sauce. The meat was tender and almost falling off the bones, which made for good eats. However, the Texan barbecue sauce was much too salty. The ribs with the Applebutter barbecue sauce was a more 'blood pressure-friendly' combination. With the chicken halves, the Texan sauce worked better. On the chicken, both the halves and the breast, the sweetness of the Applebutter sauce was pronounced. The grilled shrimp was better with the Applebutter sauce, but you might think otherwise, if you had it with the Texan, which also gave a good combination. Overall, the menu items of 'America's Best Barbecue' were impressive, but one thing was missing - a good beer.
Apparently, each dish is intended to serve one person, but the portions are so huge, you can't possibly eat it all. That's great, because you can then take some home to enjoy another day.
To end this gargantuan, gastronomic affair, banana bread pudding tapped with vanilla ice-cream and caramel. Simply put, there are desirable ways to put on weight and eating this stuff is one of them. The moist and warm dessert practically melted in your mouth. A few miles on the treadmill recommended after this one.
