Podnah's Pit - Portland, OR

1625 Killingsworth, Vernon

Visited February 3, 2013

I struck up a conversation about restaurants with the diner next to me at Yakuza. He recommended Podnah's Pit for BBQ. The ribs, pulled pork, and brisket are the main attraction but Podnah's offer other options also.

Half Ribs with Collard Greens and Coleslaw.

The ribs were huge, meaty, and smokey. The ribs had an overabundance of meaty dry boneless loin and insufficent desirable tender spare rib. The ribs were nowhere near the lust inducing fall off the bones tender stage. The ribs arrived lukewarm, another negative. Other than the smokiness, the ribs were flat and seasoned for a low sodium dieter. Any signature flavor failed to permeate much below the bark. The table had the obligatory pack of pepper sauce, vinegar sauce, mustard sauce, etc in squeeze bottles but I stand by that ribs should be perfect out of the smoker. Any additional sauce added is for variety.

The collard greens were salty, sweet, and tart. Good not great. The coleslaw had a spicy kick from jalapenos or something similar, the lighting too dim to clarify. Different but also good.

I understand the attraction of Podnah's Pit in BBQ void Portland but at their price point and their exposure, I had much higher expectations.