Family Dining in Marin: Roadside BBQ in San Rafael
Finding decent barbecue in the Bay Area and especially Marin County can be a challenge. That's why we were really happy when San Francisco's Roadside BBQ opened up a branch last year in the recently remodeled Northgate Mall in San Rafael. It's a great place for family dining and delicious Southern-style comfort food.
The first thing you notice when you walk up to the restaurant is the smell of wood smoke in the air—a good sign. The rustic interior is decorated from floor to ceiling with old advertising signs for agricultural supplies, tobacco, beer, and other rural staples, and wagon wheel light fixtures overhead add to the ambience. Tables are all set with giant rolls of paper towels; a good thing, since barbeque isn't a cuisine noted for its neatness.
Walk up to the counter and place your order. The menu is posted on the wall behind the counter, and features a variety of smoked meats, including baby back ribs, pulled pork, beef brisket, chicken, sausage, and even salmon, as well as salads, sandwiches, stuffed potatoes, and homestyle sides like mac-and-cheese, fries, potato salad, grilled corn-on-the-cob, and more.
Drinks are served down-home style in mason jars, and the sound system plays blues and country tunes. Instead of the usual crayons and coloring sheet placemats, kids are handed a small pack of Wikki Stix, which kept everyone occupied until our food arrived. There's a small patio eating area with a few picnic tables available for outdoor dining, too.
On our last visit grownups opted for the Memphis Pulled Pork and Mr. Brisket sandwiches ($8.95 each, including one side dish), while the kids had the Mini Rib Plate ($5.50) and Jr. BBQ Sandwich with pulled pork ($4.95) from the "Little Wranglers" kids' menu. Sandwiches featured tender slow-smoked meats topped with cole slaw (the non-mayonnaise kind) on a crusty toasted bun, with a minimal amount of barbeque sauce. The kids' meals included a side (choose from fries, mashed potatoes, mac-n-cheese, broccoli, or corn) as well as a mini corn muffin. For some reason nearly all of us chose mashed potatoes and gravy for our sides, with the dissenter ordering brisket baked beans, which were really really good. The ribs were a hit, too—smokey and falling-off-the-bone tender. Needless to say, everyone ate everything.
Additional barbeque sauce and other condiments are brought to the table in a Shiner Bock beer holder. Be warned that the hot barbeque sauce is really hot. Really good, but really hot, too.
We've also ordered up their food to go, which is available in family packs ($23.95 and $43.95, depending on size) featuring smoked meats, a selection of sides, and corn muffins.
Roadside BBQ is a great addition to the family dining scene here in Marin. It's located in the Terra Linda area of San Rafael at 5000 Northgate Mall #135 (near Kohls). Visit www.roadsidebbq.com for menus and more info, or call them at (415) 479-7200. Roadside BBQ has another location in San Francisco's Richmond District at 3751 Geary Boulevard (at 2nd Avenue).
