JUST FOR CARNIVORES
Ottawa’s latest BBQ eatery
The first time someone brought the Orléans business called Meatings to my attention, I quipped, “They’ve opened a singles bar for carnivores?”
It turns out I was half-right. The tiny, two-month-old eat-in and takeout joint on St. Joseph Boulevard is Ottawa’s latest barbecue eatery. There, couples and families are more than welcome, especially if they are keen on locally sourced renditions of barbecue’s “big four” meats — chicken, pork ribs, pulled pork and brisket.
Meatings is an offshoot of a five-year-old catering company of the same name launched by Orléans brothers Mat and Joey Flosse, who are 26 and 22 respectively. Since 2012, the brothers have been doing onsite barbecuing and smoking, specializing in whole-pig and whole-lamb feasts. Mat Flosse told me this week that his St. Joseph Boulevard location was originally intended to be no more than a prep kitchen and office, but the jump to making it a tiny restaurant, with its smoker nestled in a shed by the parking lot, was an easy one. Ottawa barbecue lovers should be very, very glad.
Last week myself and some buddies ate a swath through Meating’s concise but wellorganized menu. For maximum sampling, we ordered the family platter ($75), meant for four people, which included the aforementioned meats, three sides of our choice (we went for smoked beans, mac and cheese and Caesar salad) and two of three desserts (spears of grilled pineapple and deep-fried cornbread).
We sat at the communal table — between it and 10 stools, Meatings seats about 20 people — and about 10 minutes later, the fully laden metal tray hit our table. Once we had polished off most of the platter, the consensus was that Meatings turns out some of the best and most authentic restaurant-made barbecue in Ottawa.
We appreciated that Meatings emphasizes meats that have been bolstered with spice rubs before their low-and-slow smoking. Here the barbecue and hot sauces that elsewhere can be a remedy for underflavoured meats are very much optional. Meatings’ ribs, brisket and pulled pork were robustly and appealingly seasoned, but not so much as to get in the way of the flavours of the meats, which were locally sourced from Lavergne Western Beef in
Navan. All that said, Meatings does offer a fine house-made maple-tinged barbecue sauce, if sauce you must.
The cooking of the red meats left them not only nice and succulent and noticeably but not overly smoky, but also crusted with crisped, spiced exteriors — “bark” as barbecue aficionados like to say. The brisket — thickcut, savoury and moist with well-rendered fat — was especially pleasing. Meanwhile, the pieces of dark-meat chicken that we tried were more delicately seasoned, clearly smoked and very moist.
I was glad when Mat Flosse told me that his meats are not pre-cooked, cooled and reheated before being served, as is much more common and which usually makes for dry, tough meat.
Instead, Meatings cooks ribs and chicken for its lunch and dinner rushes, and is able to hold its brisket and pulled pork at temperature without needing to reheat (and degrade) it.
“We’re a couple of young lads with no culinary training,” Mat Flosse said. Apparently, to turn out some great barbecue fare, none is needed. He did say he has done research in recent years in Tennessee, Florida and even Argentina to be inspired by how experts there grill and smoke.
Meanwhile, the sides at Meatings were not mere afterthoughts. Smoked beans were delicious, tasting of smoke, maple syrup, thick-cut bacon and brisket grease. Similarly, garlicky Caesar salad was kicked up a notch with in-house smoked bacon. Mac ‘n’ cheese tasted of from-scratch goodness.
Desserts satisfied a craving for something small and sweet. Grilled and then cinnamonsugared pineapple spears were the most refreshing. Pecan tarts, made by the Flosses’ grandmother, were fine, while deep-fried cornbread with a maple dipping sauce was heaviest. The latter did lose something in its inevitable cooling while we ate our meats and sides.
Beverages maintained a local focus, from made-in-house lemonade and ice tea to Pop Shoppe soft drinks to Beau’s beers to Flying Canoe Hard Cider to Navan-made Domaine Perrault red wine.
I don’t associate barbecue meals with options for glutenaverse diners, never mind vegetarians. However, the listings on the wall above Meatings’ cash keeps those dietary restrictions in mind, specifying which sides and desserts qualify.
There is even a savoury option for vegetarians — “pulled” jackfruit. The canned tropical fruit tries to emulate pulled pork after being hit with Meatings’ pork rub, smoked and shredded. The result, however, retains some of jackfruit’s intrinsic sourness.
My very carnivorous buddy tried one bite of the jackfruit and said, “That’s it for me.”
But it was no big deal if the faux pulled pork didn’t hit it out of the park. Nearly everything else we tried at Meatings was good enough to instil deep-seated cravings for primal barbecue satisfaction. We’ll be back.