Last weekend Jake and I went to try a new joint near his house called Union Smokehouse BBQ. It’s over in the College Area, right next to Smashburger with Tea Station around the corner. We noticed Union Smokehouse BBQ a few weeks ago when we were in the area and I decided it was high time for us to check it out. Jake only had a little bit of time before he had to head off to work on a Saturday (boo) but it gave us enough time for a bite to eat!
We got there right when Union Smokehouse BBQ opened,
Cute inside. This used to be some kind of …. bowl place? I think? Roboto something something? I don’t know, we never went when it was Roboto something something.
I dig the menu on butcher block paper. Nice touch.
If you check in on Yelp and show it, they’ll give you a free krispy treat. Easy score.
They’ve got three different BBQ sauces to try. Carolina sauce, House BBQ, and a Spicy House BBQ.
The Carolina sauce is quite vinegary. At least that’s what Jake said and then I didn’t touch it because sorry, but screw that vinegary stuff. I knew I wouldn’t like it. There was a really thin line between the flavors of the spicy and the house bbq sauce. I used both. One tasted slightly spicier and peppier. I preferred the house but honestly I would have liked it to have a little more sweetness for my little old taste buds. It wasn’t terrible though!
FREE KRISPY AWWWWW YEAH
I even shared it with Jake. Aren’t I a nice girlfriend?!
We started off with the 6 piece Smoked Wings [$10.99]. You have the option of getting the smoked wings sauced up in a variety of ways but the guy suggested we get em naked style, or well, as a more civilized person would say “Union Original”.
NAKED!
I quite enjoyed these sans sauce. They’ve got a lovely rub on the outside that is packed with a ton of flavor! You don’t even need any sauce! This way you can taste the rub, the smokiness in the meat, and you maintain the awesome crispy coating that I love oh so much. Winner winner chicken dinner!
Jake and I also shared the “Pick Two Plate” which comes with two sides and your choice of two meats for $13.99. We chose the garlic mac and cheese and after a discussion about pickles, I also chose the potato salad (which is PICKLE and RELISH FREE YASSSS).
A lot of times we’ll go to a place and only one of us will like the mac and cheese. It’ll be creamy but not enough flavor or yadda yadda. BUT I am happy to report that we both LOVED this mac and cheese. It had the creaminess, it had the flavor, it had an ooey gooey loveliness about it and overall it just packed a ton of flavor! Very enjoyable side dish. I recommend it.
Jake’s not much of a potato salad guy but I am a potato salad snob and I was quite happy with the version here at Union Smokehouse BBQ. The potato salad is creamy, no pickle crap, good amount of mustard and other bits in it. It gets an A from me! Jake thought it was too mustardy but I didn’t get that a lot. But then again, I like mustard more than he does. He’s a savage that puts ketchup on his hot dogs!
For our two meats we got the Prime Brisket and the Smoked Sausage. One piece of the brisket was a bit more tender than the other. I thought it had a nice smoke ring on it and a good flavor. Jake found it to be a bit dried out in parts and said he prefers chopped brisket instead.
We both agreed that the smoked sausage was amazeballs! It was tender, juicy, and it had a nice level of smokiness that just made me want to eat it more. It was great plain and dipped in a little BBQ sauce. Whenever we visit again, the sausage will definitely be making its way onto our plate again! Yum!
Union Smokehouse BBQ
6061 El Cajon Blvd, Ste 2
San Diego CA, 92115
I like the look of the chicken wings but the brisket looks to be on the dry side…
Hi Soo – Jake thought the brisket was dry. Sausages and chicken wings are the way to go! I want to try their pulled pork and ribs sometime.
Roboto Tokyo Grill it once was. Never even heard of it, but I did a search, ha ha. Those naked wings look good, with that spice rub. And I’m with you on skipping out on the vinegary sauce. I don’t go for that, ha ha. We’ll have to try the smoked sausage.
Yeah we never went when it was Roboto. But the name always cracked me up because I thought of that 80’s song every time I saw it! The naked wings were so good and so crispy! Jake tried the Carolina sauce but I knew it would be vinegary and skipped it after he made a face when he tried it. Heehee.