Culinary Corner: Cryin’ the Blues

North Carolinians are serious about barbecue. In researching places to include in last month’s barbecue roundup, I stopped to eat at Sticky Fingers, one of the area’s newest barbecue chains. After reading rave reviews on the restaurant’s slick Web site, I couldn’t wait to check out the Memphis-style rib house.

Two completely uneventful dinner experiences at the Ballantyne location left me baffled. With all of the great barbecue in the Charlotte area, I can’t figure out what folks see in Sticky Fingers.

The draw is there, to be sure. Like most chains, the place is big and busy. Blues music playing over the sound system echoes the Memphis-style theme. The company has a polished marketing plan, including a brisk mail-order business and full-color catalog. Cute shirts, bumper stickers, can coozies, hats and more lured me in; but in the end, the fare let me down. The ribs were bone dry; the chicken, while moist, was tasteless; and the sides were forgettable. The chopped barbecue came bathed in so much sauce that it was all I tasted.

The sauce is the story To be fair, Sticky Fingers has won numerous awards for its sauce – it’s done them proud. Available in five varieties, the basically sweet, tomatobased sauce comes in the original Memphis-style blend; a hot but still palatable incarnation of the same, labeled Habeñero Hot; a slightly sweeter version called Carolina Sweet; a Tennessee whiskey blend; and a Carolina mustard-based variety. Available at Sticky Fingers restaurants, online and at many area grocery stores, these sauces are tasty, save for the whiskey-flavored one, which leaves a bitter aftertaste.

As celebrated as the sauces may be, good barbecue is more than just the sauce. The pork, chicken or beef should be able to stand alone, and the sauce should be a condiment rather than a controlling flavor.

Waitstaff woes Despite really wanting to like the place, I remain disappointed. Aside from the fare, I found the general conduct of the staff I encountered at the Ballantyne location to be unprofessional and adolescent – not that I expected white-glove service. After all, it’s a casual sort of place. But that doesn’t give the hostess and staff license to exhibit overly casual behavior.

Two girls at the hostess station practiced high school cheers while another typed a takeout order. My server said “No problem” to me so many times that I wondered if the phrases “Please,” “Thank you,” “I’ll be glad to check on that for you” and “You’re welcome” were even in her vocabulary. These are common courtesies and, while the current vernacular may be fine for high school, I fault restaurant management for not curtailing it in the workplace.

Charlotte Weekly Sticky Fingers BBQ Restaurant Story Image Sticky Fingers serves its version of Memphis-style barbecue in two Charlotte-area locations: in Ballantyne and at Concord Mills.

Sometimes the grass is greener Ready to give up, it occurred to me that individual restaurants within a restaurant chain often produce isolated experiences not indicative of the entire chain. So I offered to treat my husband to lunch and we drove to Concord Mills, home of the second area Sticky Fingers.

We were greeted nicely and seated by a hostess who could actually converse as we walked to our table. Our waitress came by after a short wait and was equally pleasant.

As I had all but given up on the pork and chicken options, I ordered sliced barbecue brisket – new to the Sticky Fingers menu. The beef selection is offered as a platter or sandwich. We also tasted a house salad, several sides and a new starter consisting of french fries topped with a combination of cheeses, chopped tomatoes, sliced jalapenos and crumbled bacon. Like a loaded platter of nachos, the fries came out hot and crispy and were, in fact, quite good. The barbecue ranch dressing served with the appetizer was an awful combination of flavors that could have ruined it all – I was grateful it came on the side.

My beef arrived hot and lightly sauced and, unlike my previous Sticky Fingers experiences, it tasted fine. It’s not the best barbecue brisket I’ve had by far, but it was tender and moist and had a rich, smoky flavor. The original Memphis-style sauce was a compliment, not a cover-up.

Sides were fine but nothing to write home about. Macaroni and cheese was the most pedestrian of them all; baked beans and slaw were our favorites. The greens beans looked good but the dose of “meat flavoring” made them far too salty. We ended on a sweet note with a slice of warm pecan pie topped with vanilla ice cream – again, not cutting edge but tasty and a real people pleaser.

It’s perhaps severe to call these dining experiences a total bust, but with all the truly great barbecue around, I don’t think I’ll be eating at a Sticky Fingers again anytime soon.

Well-known Charlotte restaurant critic, food writer, cooking instructor and connoisseur of food and wine, Heidi Billotto writes "The Charlotte Weekly: Culinary Corner," a restaurant review or food feature that appears weekly. Contact Heidi with questions and restaurant, food or story ideas by email at heidi@thecharlotteweekly.com.

This article first appeared in "The Charlotte Weekly" on October 12, 2007. "The Charlotte Weekly" is a free, locally owned, independent newspaper that's "About the Community, For the Community," available every Thursday in North and South Charlotte and Uptown.

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