As the days become progressively shorter and colder, there's nothing like the nostalgia of a Southern barbecue to warm up your freezing body and taste buds. Tiffani Faison, a finalist on season one of Bravo's foodie reality show, "Top Chef," offers just that with her newly opened Sweet Cheeks. With all the hype surrounding its opening, I was certainly hoping Sweet Cheeks would merit the somewhat tedious trip to the Fenway area.
It was clear upon arrival that the word had spread about Faison's venue. We happened to be seated almost immediately, but the line of people waiting for a table behind us seemed to multiply within a couple of minutes.
If a Texas-style barbecue joint and an Urban Outfitters had a love child, Sweet Cheeks would be their succulent yet shamelessly hip progeny. Darkly lit and decorated with strings of overhanging white lights, the decor gives the artificial appearance of a nighttime picnic. However, that picnic is also complete with a slew of stylish waitresses in black-rimmed glasses, about 10 flatscreen TVs all broadcasting different sporting events and a perplexingly huge photograph of an elderly man enjoying a meal at a nondescript diner. Though Sweet Cheeks might not provide a so-called authentic Southern barbecue experience, apart from the TVs, it definitely has charm.
The menu features a wide variety of classic comfort foods: macaroni and cheese, hushpuppies, Texas-style ribs, pulled pork, brisket and more. The meats can be ordered either in a sandwich or on a tray.
We opted to try the fried green tomatoes as an appetizer. It never fails to shock and impress me how almost any seemingly healthy food can be improved with the help of a little hot oil. The tomatoes were crisp, not overly greasy and served with a deliciously tangy mayo-based dipping sauce.
The online Yelp community grumbled about small portion sizes, but a friend and I split the pulled pork tray, intended for one, with very little trouble. For $17, which seems a little steep, you do actually get quite a lot of bang for your buck. The tray comes with pulled pork, Texas-style toast — which I could not differentiate from two regular slices of white bread — a choice of a "hot-scoop" and a choice of a "cold-scoop." We settled on a "hot-scoop" of barbecue baked beans and a "cold-scoop" of the raisin-carrot salad.
The pulled pork was perfectly cooked and served without any sauce. While I understand that the minimal sauce addition maintains the integrity of the pork's flavor, I elected to dowse it in all three of their homemade chili sauces. The beans were well cooked but surprisingly tasteless, though this dilemma, too, was solved with a few splashes of chili sauce.
The raisin-carrot salad, which I was expecting to be a simple pile of, well, raisins and carrots, actually proved to be the most flavorful part of the meal. Topped with generous amounts of bleu cheese, the vinegary dressing really complemented the sweetness of the raisins. All in all the food was quite enjoyable.
Though Sweet Cheeks served up some pretty delicious barbecue, the steep prices and inconvenient location would definitely keep me from coming back, especially with Davis Square's own Redbones so close to campus. However, if you ever have a few extra bucks and are in the Fenway area, Sweet Cheeks definitely provides a satisfying and pleasant meal.
