Migz BBQ on Broadway

Restaurant: MigZ BBQ on Broadway
Cuisine: Barbeque/Western/Pub Food/Southern/American
Last visited: May 23, 2011
Location: Vancouver, BC (Kitsilano)
Address: 2884 W Broadway
Price Range: $10-20

1: Poor 2: OK 3: Good 4: Very good 5: Excellent 6: Tres Excellent!!

Food: 2
Service: 3
Ambiance: 2.5
Overall: 2.5
Additional comments:

• Bar/Pub/Restaurant
• Specializes in barbeque
• Known for ribs
• Popular for college students
• Very casual
• Good for the game
• TVs
• Event nights
• Daily specials
• Cheap eats/budget friendly
• Open late
• Mon-Fri: Dinner only
• Sat-Sun: Lunch and dinner

**Recommendations: n/a

I remember coming here back in University and I haven’t been back since then. It’s been a while and I didn’t remember being too impressed by it, but I don’t think I was disappointed either. This time it was a whole new ball game, but they were passing the same ball. What I mean is that this time I wasn’t a student, I came with different players (foodies), but the food was more or less how I remember it… not very memorable.

It wasn’t really bad barbeque, but it was very mediocre BBQ. I’ve had excellent BBQ before and I wasn’t even coming in expecting those standards. Migz was never a place high on my priority list, but when Sherman and a friend asked me to go, it was more for the company than for the food. After all I had just finished a late lunch of heavy Filipino food and munched around the various food vendors at Richmond Summer Night Market (to see this year’s vendors see my post here). Both those meals already involved a little barbeque and I can’t say I was necessarily hungry, but after a full day’s worth of barbeque, what’s another one right? So off I went.

I don’t really know how to say this, but Migz BBQ was more or less BBQ for college students more so than food enthusiasts. It’s pretty much the crowd they aim for anyways considering it’s close to University of BC. It wasn’t anything special and it’s not even like it was great value either. I actually found it a bit pricey for what we ordered. Even considering the area, it’s pretty much a sports bar serving pub food, and I didn’t find the ambiance, quality, flavour, or portions worth the price. I guess it depends on what you order because the burgers and pizzas are very affordable, but anything from the pit was a bit of a gauge.

Being in Vancouver we already have limited options for great barbeque. It’s just not really in our food culture, although it’s been recently picking up in the last year. I probably wouldn’t come back to Migz, although some of the stuff was okay, but if there’s better in the city, which there is now, then why settle for anything less?

On the table:

Migz Pig Out Platter – 2/6

• (3 ppl) Your choice of three different meats from the pit and two sides. Our Signature Meats Are Smoked To Perfection From 4-12 Hours Using Cherrywood. $45.00
• Served With Your Choice Of  Two Sides: Creamy Corn, Coleslaw, Baked Potato, Corn Bread, Hush Puppies, Rice, Fries, Yam Fries, Mushrooms, Crab Macaroni Salad, or Mixed Vegetables
• We ended up choosing Baby Back Ribs, Pulled Pork and BBQ Smoked Duck. The sides we chose were corn bread and cole slaw.
• I don’t know which 3 people are pigging out on this because there’s not much to pig out on. I only nibbled too and it wasn’t going to feed the other two I was with.
• This was intended to feed 3 people and it was probably enough to feed 2 semi-hungry college boys… if even. I found the platter pretty poor value.

Baby Back Ribs – 2.5/6

• Tender, juicy rack of pork ribs with homemade bbq sauce- our specialty ($18.95 a la carte)
• This is their specialty and one of their popular favourites.
• I only had one rib and it was quite dry and crispy and the tendons weren’t broken down yet. I didn’t find that it had much meat either.
• They were smoked with Cherrywood so they weren’t falling off the bone tender as they would be if they were boiled first.
• They weren’t saucy ribs, but they were basted with their own BBQ sauce that was smoky, tangy and heavier on the vinegar than it was sweet. It also had a hot sauce kick to it and it did create enough of a coating for a crispy charred bark on the ribs.
• Since I only had one, I asked Sherman how a few of the others he had were. He said he had one that was juicy out of about three others, so they’re quite inconsistent.
• I prefer the ribs at Hog Shack Cook House or Montatna’s over these ones. I haven’t been to Memphis Blues in a couple years and I heard the quality went down, but from what I remember I would rather have those ones too.

Pulled Pork – 2.5/6

• Boneless lean pork pulled to shreds & served with bbq sauce ($16.95 a la carte)
• Pulled pork is one of my favourites, and I wasn’t really liking this one.
• First off, the pork was chopped and not pulled, so it was chunks of chopped pork shoulder.
• Second, there was barely any BBQ sauce on it, so we had to ask for more. It wasn’t juicy enough to not need BBQ sauce either.
• Third, in was a bit inconsistent and parts of it were dry while others were moist. Sure it depends on how much fat each piece had, but overall it shouldn’t have been as obvious as it was to detect the inconsistency. It was generally still on the drier side, although it wasn’t dry.
• The flavour was smokey from the slow smoked process more so than a use of liquid smoke (if they even used any in this case), but the use of Cherrywood was most obvious in the pulled pork.
• The side of BBQ sauce we had was very thin and watery, and I liked the thicker cooked BBQ sauce that was served on top of the pulled pork better. It was richer, bolder, and just had more robust flavour and better texture.
• The side BBQ sauce was very thin and tangy and it had some good heat and kick, but it’s not necessarily spicy. It was the same sauce on the ribs, but I could taste it more on the pork.

Smoked Duck – 2.5/6

• Half duck smoked with cherry wood & carved with our signature bbq sauce. ($18.95 a la carte)
• I was surprised to see such a gourmet option on the menu.
• I haven’t had too many Southern roasted ducks, and this one was quite good, but I found the duck much too fatty.
• The duck had a really thick layer of chewy gelatinous fat, and although fat on duck is good, this one was a bit too much.
• The meat was smokey and quite tender and the BBQ sauce was a bit thicker than it was on the ribs.
• Maybe it was because I just had a delicious melt in your mouth roasted duck at Wild Rice (see here) that I couldn’t appreciate this one as much?
• Personally, I really prefer the Chinese smoked duck, and I know it’s not comparable, but it just tastes better. See a great one here at Red Star Seafood.

Corn Bread – 1.5/6

• This tasted like unsweetened bland pound cake instead of corn bread.
• It was served warm, but it was just reheated, which isn’t a big deal, but it didn’t even have that home made quality.
• There was little corn meal and crunch and it’s not really buttery and more or less flavourless.
• It was somewhat moist and very crumbly and tender, but definitely more of a pound cake.
• I wasn’t liking how it was presented or served either. There’s just no passion or love for this side.

Cole Slaw – 2/6

• The cole slaw was the pre chopped cole slaw mix and it was very wet.
• It had a tangy mayo vinaigrette dressing that was on the thinner side and some ground black pepper which was quite noticeable as a seasoning.
• The slaw was crunchy, but just your basic cole slaw and I can’t say I went for seconds.

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