Review: Sides stand up to yummy main dishes at Bayou BarBQ

At barbecue joints - even really good ones - the magic usually stops at the meat.

The pit master might fret over the pedigree of hardwood coals and fine-tune the heat like a Stradivarius, but the stuff on the side often has a thrown-together feel: beans or peach cobbler gooey with corn syrup, coleslaw that would be left to the flies at most church picnics.

That's not what's going on at Bayou BarBQ, a delicious new barbecue and Cajun restaurant in Monument.

Owners Patricia McClelland and Kenneth Trombley, who also own the popular Bella Panini Italian restaurant in Palmer Lake, have lifted the traditional sides to be worthy of America's most exalted and argued-over meat.

The coleslaw ($1.50) is gorgeous - a fresh, crisp tangle of red and green cabbage laced with a few carrot slivers and glistening in a tart vinegar dressing that tastes as good as it looks.

For potato salad ($1.50), Bayou eschews gloppy-mayonnaise orthodoxy in favor of a light, vinegary German-style dish flecked with fresh parsley.

I ordered the corn on the cob, expecting it would be the awful, starchy zombie cob of the living dead you tend to find everywhere but your own kitchen.

Instead, even in March, it was sweet and each kernel was practically bursting with freshness.

"We hand shuck it, boil it, then finish it on the grill," McClelland said when she came out from the tiny kitchen to check on our meal.

The spicy Cajun slurry of jambalayas, crawfish étouffées and red beans and rice nearly stole the show.

Oh, by the way, the barbecue isn't bad either.

I was worried at first because I'd invited my barbecue consigliere to Bayou. This is a guy who can't sit 10 minutes without getting into a story about some tar paper shack somewhere in Carolina, or a family pig roast after hanging tobacco.

This is a guy who has a criticism for every barbecue joint he's ever visited but would go back to every one of them, and when the 'cue is really good, stops speaking in full sentences, instead just saying things like "Whoooo boy!" or "Ooooh man!"

"At a great barbecue place," he said as we were pulling up, "you should be able to smell it before you even get in the door."

At Bayou, we couldn't smell it when we got to the door. We couldn't really smell it when we walked in the door. But then the huge plates arrived, and Mr. Barbecue held a hickorysmoked pork rib ($9.95 for six) to his nose like he was sniffing a fine Bordeaux and inhaled the sweet, smoky perfume.

"Oooooow, yeah," he said, and cleaned the bone in a few seconds.

The ribs are the best of the barbecue. The half chicken ($8.25) was great, but not quite as flavorful.

The brisket ($8.95) was a little too moist and had no noticeable smokiness. The salmon ($10.25) was loaded with delicious smoke, but a tad dry from overcooking.

The pulled pork ($8.75) is roasted to give diners a nonsmoked option - and it's awesome with one of Bayou's three house-made barbecue sauces, but I could see Mr. Barbecue's face grow long when he heard it wasn't smoked.

"We do the pork the Carolina way," McClelland said.

"They don't traditionally smoke it there."

Mr. Barbecue leaned over and whispered, "Boy, if word gets out to my relatives that she said you don't smoke a pig in Carolina, there'll be a posse comin' her way."

Like I said. People like to argue about barbecue almost as much as they like to eat it.

The lack of smoke didn't keep Mr. Barbecue from stealing pulled pork off my plate.

The Cajun fostered the same intratable thieving.

The owners of Bayou have been doing Cajun at Bella Panini for years, and the experience shows.

The deep-brown, spicy gumbo ($3.75), swimming with chicken and smoky andouille sausage simmered in a trinity of celery, bell pepper and onion, had an addictive richness that can come only from a slow butter roux.

"That must be a 45-minute roux," Mr. Barbecue said to the owner.

"No, it's an hour roux. We're back there stirring it every day," she said.

It was so good that even after we were nearly comatose from eating 'cue and sides and an excellent dessert of fresh-made bread pudding with rum sauce and pecan pie, Mr. Barbecue walked up to the counter and ordered a pint of gumbo to take home.

CONTACT THE WRITER: nathaniel.glen@gazette.com

details
Bayou BarBQ

*** 1/2 out of five (Great Cajun)

Phone: 488-2799
Address: 481 Colorado Highway 105, Suite G, Monument
Hours: Tuesdays-Saturdays 11 a.m.-8 p.m.
Entrees: $8.25-$17.95
Vegetarian: sides only
Liquor: beer and wine
Plastic: yes