April 26, 2014

Brother Jimmy's Grand Opening

This weekend is their Brother Jimmy's Grand Opening, and they are celebrating the way you would expect any BBQ restaurant celebrate, by offering copious amounts of food, drinks, and fun for all. Grand opening festivities include fashion shows, mechanical bull riding, line dancing performers, face painting, live music, and kid’s line dancing lessons. Come and join in on the festivities, as there is something for everyone to take pleasure in.

Talks of BBQ can sometimes lead to heated debates. When it all comes down to it, there’s many factors that are arguable, such as the type of meat that should be used, how long it should be smoked, whether it should be sauced or not, what wood to use, etc. In fact, I’ve even heard arguments about what is the proper plate ware to use when serving BBQ. All these small factors may sound trivial to some, but to diehard fans, they are what makes the difference between something good and something crave-worthy.

For some reason though, the BBQ restaurants in Miami is somewhat underrepresented. Being a Southern state, you would think that Florida would have a decent amount of these restaurants, but it is actually the opposite. I can count on one hand the amount of legitimate BBQ restaurants in Miami. Now I can add one more restaurant to my count, because Brother Jimmy’s BBQ recently opened at Sunset Mall. Some may baulk at the notion that a BBQ restaurant is opening inside a shopping mall, but the type of food that Brother Jimmy’s is offering is something that they are taking quite seriously. Everything is made in house and they offer everything you would expect from your typical North Carolina-style ‘cue joint. Selections include ribs (wet and dry-rubbed), brisket, pulled pork, and smoked chicken. Deep in the menu, you can also find some southern dishes such as a fried chicken platter and blackened catfish. If you came here and only wanted to sample one thing, I would go with the marbled brisket. It was luscious and not too fatty, almost tasting like beef butter. The pulled pork is a bit overwhelmed in smoke flavor, but has a nice texture that is not too mushy. The ribs on the other hand, are quite tough and have way too much resistance when bitten. When it came to the fried chicken, I was served a whole chicken at an affordable price (compared to places like Yardbird) but was not impressed with the size of the actual chicken or the flavor. While not bad, it was dry and did not offer enough flavor to make up for lack of moisture. The saving grace on this dish was the texture, as it was cracker-like crisp with a crunchy skin.

The atmosphere of the restaurant is homey and surprisingly spacious. Instead of focusing on just cramming people into the restaurants (as other shopping mall restaurants tend to do), Jimmy’s has a set up that makes you feel like you are part of everything going on without giving you that claustrophobic feeling. Service is well trained, and on my visit, management was very attentive with all the patrons.