Max City BBQ is a small Texas style barbecue place in Eagle Rock. When I walked in, it felt like home. The smell of freshly baked pie made me want to gain the power of cartoons and float towards it. The smoky barbecue aroma made my mouth water. I was greeted with a waiter who let me sit wherever I wanted. Southern style food has this way of making me feel like I’m a part of the family, like I’m just another one of the southerners.

But the truth is, I’m from New York City and have never had real barbecue before in my life.

I had thought that going to a Texas BBQ in Rego Park was authentic. It wasn’t until college when I became obsessed with watching MasterChef and Gordon Ramsey did I learn about the vast world of food out there. When I heard that people cooked meat for hours on end to get it to the point where it just melts in your mouth, I was sold. Chewing is just an obstacle from getting food into your stomach and I am a strong believer that eliminating the need to chew is the best way to eat.

"The smell of freshly baked pie made me want to gain the power of cartoons and float towards it."

I ordered Spencer’s Platter of Pork, something designed to be shared between two people aka the perfect date option. Everyone knows you can’t truly be with someone until you know what they look like eating a messy food. And messy it was. A quarter pound each of baby back ribs, St. Louis ribs and pulled pork, with mac and cheese and coleslaw on the side. You’re telling me they pull pork into bite-sized pieces for you? Could there be any more hospitality? They tie it all together with 2 pieces of cornbread. I dug right in, mixing everything together with their in-house barbeque sauce. I started with mixing mac and cheese, pulled pork and barbeque sauce. Perfect. Then I did the same but with baby back ribs instead of the pulled pork. Didn’t even chew once. This was amazing; how could everything be in such sweet harmony and save jaw muscles? I then took a bite of the St. Louis ribs. They were a bit dry, but nothing a bit of barbeque sauce couldn’t fix.

Spencer's Platter of Pork

Since I’ve never had southern barbeque before, I didn’t know how you’re expected to eat the food, so I just did whatever I wanted. My logical way to eat it was to split the cornbread in half and smoosh things into it and eat it like a sandwich. “I just blew my own mind,” I thought to myself. I turned to my health nut of a boyfriend and saw him chomping down on coleslaw because, “vegetables are important.” Of course, I had a couple bite of coleslaw as well, but I didn’t go there to eat cabbage. I immediately took a bite of the baby back ribs to cleanse my palate of it. The ribs were perfectly cooked, falling apart and glazed with sauce. The creaminess of the mac and cheese allowed it to just slide down my throat. Their in-house sauces were the perfect balance of sweet and spicy and it tied everything together. The cornbread accompanied the meal like garlic bread to spaghetti and meatballs.

“I just blew my own mind,” I thought to myself. 

"Would I recommend Max City BBQ? I feel like the fact that you even have to ask is an insult to the gloriousness of their food."

Would I recommend Max City BBQ? I feel like the fact that you even have to ask is an insult to the gloriousness of their food. Everything was cooked to near perfection and it was more than enough food for two people. I think that when people go out to restaurants, they should order something they cannot cook at home and I think it would take years and loads of equipment for me to get even close to good barbecue. Whenever I need a BBQ fix in the future, you’ll know where to find me.

Max City Barbeque
4729 N Eagle Rock Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90041
Food: 10/10
Environment: 10/10
​Service: 9/10

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