Each week, the Shreveport-Bossier Journal’s always hungry reporter visits a different restaurant and tells you about the experience.
By ANON E. MUSS, Journal Services
I have a friend who considers himself a Bar-B-Que expert.
He even has a certificate that qualifies him to judge Bar-B-Que cooking contests.
He says there isn’t any really good Bar-B-Que in Shreveport-Bossier.
I can’t say. I’m not an expert. I just know what I like.
I’ve been wanting to visit Port City Bar-B-Que (2113 Airline Drive, Bossier City). I tried them once, a long time ago, when they were in Shreveport. I frankly don’t remember if that visit was a good or bad experience. It didn’t seem fair to the restaurant to invite my “Bar-B-Que expert” friend to the Bossier location (the Shreveport store is closed), so I asked another friend to join me for lunch on a recent Monday.
Port City is one of four businesses in a small strip mall. If I worked at one of the other three stores, I would be tempted to eat at Port City five days a week. There are few smells more pleasing to the senses than the smell of Bar-B-Que, and that’s exactly what we smelled as we got closer to the front door after parking. If the food tasted like the smell, we were in for a treat.
We arrived at 1 pm. Open since last year, Port City looked new and clean. It’s not a big place, but big enough. There are 12 tables with room for four people at each table, and a bar with another eight seats. There are also two small televisions behind the bar.
There was also recorded music playing. It didn’t fit my taste, but gave the restaurant a little noisy, since for most of the time we were the only diners in the restaurant.
As you approach the counter to order, you will see Port City’s menu hand-written on plexiglass separating you from the kitchen. It was a lot to digest. The person behind the counter agreed, saying, “That was our goal. Confuse people with options.”
Fortunately, there are also printed menus at the counter. So, we each took one and found a table, where we could take our time deciding what to order.
Port City offers the meats and sides you would expect from a Bar-B-Que place. It also has Specials, such as Pulled Pork N Grits and Pork Belly Mac N Cheese. You can also choose from a Port City Burger, a few sandwiches, and Extras like a BBQ Green Tomato and Smoked Brisket Fries.
Since the Extras weren’t labeled as Appetizers and are not listed at the top of the menu, I frankly overlooked them. So, we went straight to our entree. That’s right, one entree for both of us. We thought it would be good to try a sample of several things, instead of ordering several individual items.
That meant ordering The Big Mingo ($33). We were promised 1/4 pound of brisket, Pulled Pork, Sausage, and three ribs, along with two sides and Texas Toast. For our sides, we selected Potato Salad and Brisket Baked Beans.
It wasn’t long before the buzzer we were given was vibrating. Port City doesn’t have table service, so you must order and pick up your food at the counter. The Big Mingo was so big, it took up two treys.
There are two kinds of Bar-B-Que sauce on a prep area to the right of the counter toward the back of the restaurant. One is Original Orange Balsamic sauce, and one is SPICY Roasted Habanero sauce. As you will soon learn, this is important to know.
Armed with samples of both sauces, plastic forks and knives, and a full napkin holder at the table, we dug in. Here’s what we found:
Brisket: Very tender, but without much taste, and with a good deal of fat on the edge which was easy to cut off.
Pulled Pork: Very tender, but without much taste.
Sausage: Thick and juicy, not greasy, but without much taste.
Ribs: Lots of meat, easy to eat off the bone, but without much taste.
There were generous portions of the brisket, pulled pork, and sausage. But did you notice a common denominator? Despite the aroma outside, none of the meats tasted like Bar-B-Que. In fact, I can’t say they had any distinctive taste. However, that’s not to say they weren’t good. In fact, they were very good. All it took was some sauce — and one sauce in particular.
We found the Original sauce to be mild and flat. However, the SPICY sauce did the trick. It lived up to it’s name, and made the meats really stand out. In fact, we had to refill our plastic container with the SPICY sauce, while we left in its container plenty of the ORIGINAL sauce.
Now, to the sides. The Potato Salad was outstanding! It didn’t have that potato taste, or that mustard taste. But it had just the right taste. In fact, my friend reached over so often to get some, I put the cardboard container in which the potato salad was served directly in front of her.
The beans were okay, but nothing special. They were thick, but lacked a distinctive taste such as what we found with the potato salad. The Texas Toast was thick, as you would expect. It was perfectly toasted, with just the right amount of melted butter.
My friend had a Diet Dr. Pepper to drink (she was disappointed Port City does not offer Diet Coke). I had water. The cost of our meal before tax and tip was $35.94. That included a 3.5% charge for not paying with cash.
I give Port City Bar-B-Que Three Forks. Bar-B-Que and I have a complicated relationship. I like it, but I find it expensive when ordering what I need to fill me up. So, I probably would not go out of my way to return. But, if I am in Bossier and hungry for Bar-B-Que, I would not hesitate to visit Port City.
Maybe I will bring my “Bar-B-Que expert” friend. He can tell me why I shouldn’t like what I like.
Is there a restaurant you would like the Journal to visit? Email SBJRestaurantReview@gmail.com
1 Fork: Would rather eat a box of dirt
2 Forks: Will return, but only if someone else is buying
3 Forks: Will return and look forward to it
4 Forks: Will return and go out of my way to do so
