Restaurants

Bone Lick BBQ

In a roundup of nearly sixty barbecue restaurants published in July 2010, we named P’cheen, an Inman Park pub, one of the top five ‘cue destinations in metro Atlanta—even though the place smoked meats only on Monday nights. Chef de cuisine Mike LaSage juggled baby back ribs, pulled pork, beef brisket, and homemade sausages with impressive finesse. The P’cheen partners decided to showcase LaSage’s talents at Bone Lick BBQ, which opened in August. The space, along Westside’s burgeoning Huff Road, has instant honky-tonk appeal, with bare concrete floors, walls the color of KC Masterpiece’s Southern-Style sauce, and a jukebox beside 1980s-era arcade games. Few barbecue joints perfect their technique from the get-go, and Bone Lick is no exception. The meats taste like they’ve been held too long—on multiple visits, brisket slices were dry, the charred bits scattered through pulled pork had turned soggy, and the dry rub spices on ribs proved overly aggressive. The most satisfying dish so far is the Big Ole Totties, Tater Tots bombarded with pulled pork, chipotle barbecue sauce, Brunswick stew, cheese sauce, and jalapeño slices.