INKSTAND

Ever since I started going to the gym and walking up from 2nd Ave to 4th, to catch the 17 bus home, I have passed this tiny place, curious about it’s quality and enchanted by it’s aroma. Today I decided to boldly go somewhere I’ve never gone and try it out.
The prices seemed decent. It was five-something for a sandwich, seven-something for a sandwich, side, and soda. Once inside I noticed that the place was even smaller than I though it would be. It was about four feet wide and ten feet deep, at the most. The register was at the far end and there were two small tables along side the windows. I’ll tell more about those tables in a minute. I saw two dudes sitting, waiting before me and a lady making a purchase at the register. I wondered how long the whole process would take, from ordering to leaving the place. I shit you not, it took less than three minutes. No, less than two. I ordered, paid, and right after she made my change, she handed me my sandwich and potato salad in a to-go container. Damn, I was impressed. But…how was the sandwich?
I decided to wait until I got home to eat because I didn’t feel like getting into a sloppy bbq sandwich on the bus. I did, however, sneak several bites of the potato salad. They have a sign that says something like “Best Potato Salad Served Here.” I admit it was pretty good. There were no crunchy little surprises like onions or pickles or anything. But I like hard-boiled eggs in my potato salad. I’m a weirdo that way.
They have a choice of bbq: mild, medium or hot. I always go with mild. I recently tried to raise my spicy tolerance and I think it worked a little, but I usually want to “taste the meat, not the heat.” In this case “mild” pretty much meant no spiciness at all, so if you like spicy you should probably go all the way. The sandwich was good, hearty and full of slathery goodness that didn’t fall apart all over. I set it down when I felt full, but mere minutes later I picked it back up again and finished it.
Now back to those tables. When I was growing up the Wendy’s burger place in my town had these tables with old-tymey newspaper prints on the top. The last time I saw them was about seventh grade, before they remodeled. Well I’ll be fucked wide open if this place didn’t have two of those little tables sitting right there. I almost took a picture with my camera phone, but that camera sucks and I would have looked like a freak.
I definitely recommend the Mad Oven Barbecue for a good pulled-meat sandwich. Although it was so indulgent I probably won’t be able to go back for a little while. When I do, maybe I’ll try “medium”.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, May 30th, 2007 at 11:39 pm and is filed under food, Strictly Seattle. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.