Whiskey Sunday

From left, the St. Louis ribs, brisket and mac-and-cheese balls

Photograph: Jeff Gurwin

There was a time when any old hunk of smoked meat with a tangy sauce passed for barbecue in this city, but with today's bevy of serious spots like Hill Country and Daisy May's, standards have dramatically improved. Whiskey Sunday, one of the newest arrivals from restaurateurs Richard Krause and Jim Mamary (Cafe Enduro), doesn't rise to the level of the competition. On the surface, the restaurant gets some key things right: Service is friendly and attentive, and the design is pure honky-tonk, with mason-jar light fixtures and vintage TVs that flicker behind the bar, where a good collection of brown spirits justifies the name. The space even boasts a smoker that can hold 500 pounds of meat at once, a promising sign that proves to be misleading. Of the 'cue we tried, only the St. Louis pork ribs were a success, sporting a crispy crust, melting fat and yielding meat. But beef cheeks, instead of being soft and gelatinous, were firm and dry—a problem that also plagued the pork shoulder and couldn't be remedied with any of the three house-made sauces. While brisket was a bit of an improvement, it lacked the tenderness we'd expect from a place that focuses on dry-rub preparations. Sides didn't fare much better. Cheddar biscuits were light and buttery, and fried mac-and-cheese balls presented a fun finger-food variation on the standard, but collard greens were wan and watery, and baked beans had disintegrated into a thick mush. Maybe a showing like this would have been acceptable in the past, but today, it just doesn't cut it.—TONY

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