Squealers BBQ

Hubby and I have been in the mood for barbecue lately, and now that we have started trying them, we are hoping to go to several in the near future so that we can compare them without forgetting them.  Squealers has been on the list for quite awhile, and recommended a lot, so we thought we would start there.  Several people told me the original location in Mooresville is the best, but is quite a hike for us, so we just went with the one out on West 86^th Street.

So we ate a lot of stuff, and I will get to it, but man, the fried biscuits?  Freakin’ awesome.  Seriously, I have been thinking about those biscuits ever since.  They are super light and fluffy inside and fried just right to be a little crispy on the outside.  A teeny bit of sweetness, but not much.  I called them extremely tender, but not as sweet, doughnuts.  I want to go back just for them.

Ok, let's get to the real reason we were at Squealers-- the barbecue.  I ordered the pick 2 sampler platter ($15.50) with their “award winning” pulled pork and the “jumbo” chicken wings.  You also get your choice of 2 sides.  I chose mac and cheese and the Amish potato salad.  Oh, and you get two of those biscuits with apple butter.  Have I mentioned how much I like those things?  They also give you several choices for barbecue sauce. I went with mixed (“smoky sweet” + “smokin’ hot”) on my pork and just the sweet on the wings.  Anyway, my favorite thing meat-wise was definitely the pulled pork.  They give you quite a healthy portion of it and top it with some sauce.  If I had eaten all of it I probably would’ve wanted more sauce, but had enough for the amount of it I ended up eating.  The pork is pretty tender, although not the most tender I have had, and had a moderate smoky flavor on its own.  What I really liked was taking a little bit of it and piling it on a little piece of one of those biscuits.  I thought the sauce was really nice with smoky flavor and a bit of spice, but not too much.  The wings on the other hand were a write-off.  I ate only one just because I needed to taste it, but they were small, dry and blah.  Where they come up with “jumbo” as a descriptor, I do not know.  I do really enjoy barbecue chicken in general and would be interested to try the half smoked chicken and see if it was better.  I really enjoyed the pork, but was not so in love that I wouldn’t venture in another direction next time.  I found the sides kind of average-- I really didn’t like the potato salad and the mac and cheese was fine, but not amazing (although of our sides, it is one I might order again). I am not exactly sure how “Amish” potato salad traditionally made, but after some research, I have found nothing but disagreement on the subject.  This one clearly included a lot of sugar and tasted like it was probably made with a recipe similar to this, although I don’t think it had as many ingredients as this, it seemed mostly just like potatoes and celery in the dressing.  (On the bright side though, while I was looking around, I found this recipe for warm goat cheese potato salad which sounds quite delicious.) The mac and cheese was nice and cheesy, and certainly seemed homemade with actual cheese, and not “cheese product.”

Hubby, on the other hand, had some pretty amazing ribs.  He is the barbecue rib lover in our house and that is his go to item in a barbecue joint.  He ordered the ½ slab of baby back rib dinner ($16.20 with up charge for onion rings).  He got onion rings and cole slaw for his sides.  He declared that these were the best ribs in Indy, and after having a bite of them I agreed.  I wouldn’t exactly call them “fall off the bone” tender because you did actually have to pick them up and bite the meat off, but it came right off the bone when you did.  Absolutely no resistance.  They had a wonderfully smoky taste and were nice and “wet” in the mixed sauce.  The cole slaw, again was too sweet for both of us.  It actually tasted sort of similar to the potato salad (and look at the picture—it looks like mashed potatoes).  The onion rings were good—your basic onion rings, as hubby said, there are really no bad onion rings, only better onion rings, and these were somewhere in the middle. 

We also tried one of the cherry cobblers for dessert (not that we needed one more bit of food). Our server told us they made the cobblers there and they were only $1.95 with an extra $1 for ice cream.  It was okay.  The cherries were from a can and there was so much ice cream on top that the cobbler topping got lost and soft.  I would ask for the ice cream on the side if I got another one.  The service was friendly and efficient and our server checked back several times to make sure we didn’t need more sauce.  The interior is pretty much what you expect—casual.  There are several booths and regular tables.  They also have a full bar.

Hubby really wants to go back to Squealers and get some more ribs, and I want to go back for the biscuits.  But for now, we are setting out to try some other places first and compare them.  Who really has the best barbecue in Indy?  And do any other places do the fried biscuits?  I would love to compare them too!

Squealers

5515 West 86^th Street (another location in Mooresville)

Indy 46268

317/871-7427

www.squealersbarbeque.com