Bubba's Smokehouse BBQ

This past weekend Mr. Borscht and I got stuck in traffic on the 5 freeway for a hour en route to meet my sister and her family vacationing in San Diego for a long weekend.  Kayaking in La Jolla was on the schedule and Mr. Borscht and I were fairly excited about that, we hadn't been kayaking in some time and though we're no pros we do enjoy the activity.

And like any sport or activity out in the sun kayaking did make us vewy vewy hungry, we drove around La Jolla to find parking, which by the way seemed nearly impossible and when we did finally see a spot we grabbed it right away and by pure chance it was right next to a place called Bubba's Smokehouse BBQ.  None of us have been to Bubba's before but I assume we were all very hungry because it was the first place we saw and we just happened to end up in it.

4-ish PM, a very late lunch, the place was dead.  I walked in and looked around a bit disheartened, okay I lie, I was totally disheartened, but I didn't say a word, after all, there were others who were rather excited about the place and who was I to say anything?  Who was I to stampede all over their hopeful faces?  So I took my seat like a good girl and looked at the menu.

The words "smokehouse" and "BBQ" should be a rather large clue as to what kind of food they serve here, BBQ Pulled Pork was big on the menu and their signature dish just happens to be a BBQ Pulled Pork sandwich.

I was standing at the counter on the verge of making a fatal mistake,

TUMMY:  I would like an order of the fried catfish a la carte and...

NICE SERVER LADY:  Umm, I just want to let you know that the fried catfish isn't fresh, it's frozen... I just wanted to let you know that it's not really our "specialty"

TUMMY:  Oh, well in that case I don't want that, instead I would like the BBQ Pulled Pork sandwich

NICE SERVER LADY:  That's better

I can't say how much I appreciate this kind of honesty at restaurants and really wish all servers were this honest, I mean pa-lease let me know if I'm not going to like something or should I just waste my money on food that can only be described as "yuck" and never come back?!

And of course the BBQ Pulled Pork was moist and melt-in-your-mouth, it was simple, a mound of pulled pork topped with BBQ sauce sandwiched between two soft buns.  The best BBQ Pulled Pork sandwiches I've had were home-made and obviously this one didn't top that but it wasn't bad, it was a very basic-tasting BBQ Pulled Pork, though if I had to make one complaint it would be that the pulled pork was not as flavorful as I would have liked it to be.

Mr. Borscht opted on the Bubba Smokehouse signature sandwich which was pulled pork topped with sausage, all topped with... yes, BBQ sauce.  Once again it was tasty for a basic pulled pork sandwich but also the complaint here once again is that the pulled pork wasn't flavorful and neither was the sausage.

The most exciting part of eating at Bubba's were the sides, a variety of deep fried sides, yes very bad for you but at the same time so intriguing you just need to have a taste.

Chicken wings

not too exciting since you can find chicken wings almost anywhere,

but who doesn't like chicken wings with a side of ranch

after a long day at the beach?

Fried Okra!

Okay, okras not really my thing

but my sister's husband loved them!

Hush puppies

which I had no idea were just deep fried corn-meal until this day

And my new favorite:  FRICKLES

the name is so frickn' awesome that I just had to order it

and...

they were pretty delicious as far as fried pickles go.

C'mon, who doesn't love salty???

I said earlier on when we sat down to eat at Bubba's the place was pretty much empty but an hour or so later when we were wrapping up our stuffing session I looked around and was surprised to see that Bubba's had gotten packed (just check the picture below) and yes, there was a line!  A long one too.  That being said, though I can't say that the food at Bubba's is fantastic or a place I'd take a date the food was okay (and so the town seems to think as well).  On the very plus side, Bubba's offers a good variety of beers to complete your meal of BBQ slathered pulled-pork sandwich and side of frickin FRICKLES!

The Damage:  $24.00 +/-

1 side of Frickles

1 Pulled-Pork Sandwich with a side of Fries

1 Smokehouse signature salad with a side of slaw

Bubba's Smokehouse BBQ
888 Prospect Street
La Jolla, CA 92037
(858) 551.4227