Bludso's BBQ [Los Angeles, CA]

Cleaning Stuffs (Yes, that includes the Wonderbread)

The unboxed goods!

Spareribs.

Beef tips + Brisket

Man oh man, good ol' Texan-style BBQ.

Did you know? I used to hate BBQ (ironic, as I lived in Texas for a couple years). Growing up, I've always had a very sensitive throat to smoke and strong flavors: a strong enough whiff and I'll be hacking in tears for the next five hours. So you can probably imagine how much I despised breathing in smoke from the grill at barbeque events and family dinners. I wasn't all too particular about meat either; was always a veggie-carbo boy until very recently. When I started reading MDA, I slowly began incorporating meat into my diet as an ode to primal living, but I never reached the amount I eat nowadays...

Until Phil's BBQ happened.

It took place on a warm random weekend during the last quarter of 2009. Outraged that we still had our Phil's BBQ virginity intact, Mr. Gavin drove Raymond, Wilson, Lorna and I there almost immediately after discovering the fact; and I was hooked from the get-go. Wait, scratch that; I was hooked from day 2. That first fateful time I had Phil's, I got the best of both, beef + fries & cole slaw. It was excruciatingly delicious: (although I don't quite remember what I named it,) I still recall the painful burden Food Baby #1 left me with. Ah, those were the meat-innocent days...

Yup, so it was (1.) Phil's and (2.) MDA that spurred me into the meat-eating habit I have today.

Nowadays, I have quite an insatiable fascination for all-things meat, from cooking methods, to quality and meat grading, to the environments and conditions in which the animals were brought up under. Because it's such a big part of American culture, grilling and barbequing piques my interest quite a bit. "Why is it such a big deal? Why is it so good? What makes it so good? Oh, different techniques... What are the different techniques? Smoking... What are smoke rings? Wait, there are BBQ CONTESTS?!" I've become so fascinated with the subject recently that I even contemplated on the possibility of learning the secrets of the trade and opening up my own BBQ restaurant in Hong Kong land. Mmm, that's another story for another time.

Instilled with this newly-gained BBQ knowledge, I look forward to every possible BBQ encounter. I would seek out good BBQ pits on Yelp, bookmark, and wait until the opportunity arose to go and sample it. The Tao-concert-Saturday that took place in LA gave me exactly that opportunity.

The name of that opportunity: Bludso's BBQ.

Located in Compton of the greater LA area, I blackmailed M to take me here... Kinda. Thanks, again, M :D

Not going to reiterate what I said in my Yelp review, but in summary, it was an interesting experience. I've heard about Compton being a shady 'hood, but didn't actually think much of it until coming off the freeway and seeing the drastic change in atmosphere: streets were dirtier, rims were larger, all-American cars everywhere, y'know the works. Yap, interesting experience.

If you chance upon this pit, remember: brisket, brisket, BRISKET. You'll thank me for it.