NVM Review

By Warren Rojas

Don’t let all the random sports paraphernalia plastered on the walls—for the record, we support the Stephen Strasburg tribute 100 percent, are 50/50 on the Dwayne Wade pic and couldn’t care less about the Lakers—fool you. Moley’s is not a sports bar that dabbles in barbecue.

This is a bonafide barbecue joint with frosty beverages to boot.

Though somewhat funky, as evidenced by tables splashed with surreal animal prints (splotchy reds and yellows), Moley’s is a family-run place seeking to attract more of the same. And they seem to be succeeding. Extended families occupy the booths most nights, with everyone from 20-something couples to ‘cue-sharing seniors rounding out the attendance.

The kitchen sticks with pit barbecue basics (pork and beef ribs, brisket, pulled pork, smoked chicken) and presents everything accordingly. So expect your sides in plastic cups, your mains parked on plain white bread and your meals served in wax paper-lined plastic baskets.

Beef ribs are huge, each strip of meltingly tender meat dripping with homemade barbecue sauce stirred by onions, molasses, tomatoes and smoke. Pork ribs were surprisingly lean, and subsequently much drier than their bovine counterparts. A Carolina-style sauce restored some pep, blasting the bones with vinegar, crushed red pepper and mustard.