Wes’ Rib House

To me the most satisfying of all dining experiences is barbecue. I think it goes back 1000s of years, to when our ancestors would gather around a fire, and really chow down at night. That's why I'm excited to try the barbecue at Wes' Rib House in Providence, Rhode Island This looks and feels how a barbecue restaurant should, it's got high ceilings, a bar right in the middle wood floors, brick, all kinds of interesting pictures on the walls, and of course, that smell of barbecue.

"Wes' Rib House is a Providence institution. It's been here about 50 years now. There's people who've been coming here for decades."

Dave Bertolini may have an Italian last name, but this man knows his barbecue.

"We have a smoker.  We’ve got a giant smoker. We can cook off about 500 pounds of pork butts at a time. Racks of ribs half chickens, sausages, all sorts of different stuff goes in there. We use a hickory wood it gives it a nice flavor and a nice bark,  especially on the brisket."

Wes' offers three meats with two sides or two meats with one side. They all come with cornbread. I say come with three friends. Get three meats each that way you get to try nine things. That's barbecue algebra.

The litmus test of any great barbecue restaurant are the ribs. The ribs here are extra long, extra meaty, you've got that wood-smoked pork flavor and the sweetness of the barbecue sauce in that house spice all mixed together. Everything I love in one bite.

"Our ribs I think are special, because they're very big. They're called what are five point twos and down. Which means the entire rack is five pounds. So People know ribs, that's a pretty big rib."

I'm getting the meat sweats just from looking at this.

I think the best side for an order of ribs is baked beans, here they make the beans with a lot of meat. This thing could almost be an entree in and of itself.

"The beans are not for somebody looking to stay on a diet. I mean,  they're there to fill you up and get you warm inside."

There's a couple of delicious appetizers you may want to try here. One is the BBQ nachos. This is topped with pulled pork and it's got some jalapeños to add some spice and then one of the stars of the menu is Wes' BBQ bites.  This place has a 50-year history of being a late-night hangout and this is just classic late night food.

"Wes' barbecue bites are kind of a throwback to the original Wes’, so, they were kind of known for waffle fries. So we use a waffle frie and  we top them with the meat of the day, which could be brisket, pork, chicken. So everytime you come in it’s gonna be something different.  You get that crispy, smoky flavor from the meat and the barbecue sauce makes it nice and juicy. If we took them off the menu, I think we'd get some outrage."

I find BBQ restaurants tend to do a great job with chili and it's delicious here. The original owner here was from Missouri where they work a lot with tomato-based sauces and in this chili you can really taste that tomato flavor.

"Very traditional style, spicy, tomato-based. We use ground beef , gets all the fixings on it. sour cream, cheddar cheese, scallions. Our chili is delicious!"

I'm from the North Shore of Boston where we pride ourselves in our roast beef sandwiches, and of course everybody gets it three way. That means bbq sauce, cheese and mayonnaise, preferably on an onion roll. So, I'm really excited that this sandwich moved all the way down to Providence in bbq form, I think it's worth the drive just for this sandwich.

"We just thought it'd be kind of cool to take a roast beef and smoke it. So that's the twist on the three way. We smoked that roast beef to give it a smoky flavor slice and then get it on that roll with the mayonnaise with the American cheese and our house barbecue sauce. You should try to drive south, get some Wes' in your mouth!"

For dessert, try this. It's a peanut butter mousse top with whipped cream and a cherry held together by a waffle cone bowl.

"If you love peanut butter, this is what you want to eat. It’s phenomenal!"

If you go upstairs you can see the original Wes' and it's kind of a honky tonk. They've got video games and a bar and a stage for live music.

"Live music on the weekends, all different kinds of band."

The motto here is put some South in your mouth, and I will gladly do so.

"You should come because the food's good. the staff’s great, it's a fun environment. We’ve got great drinks coming off the bar and you can eat family style. Like that's what barbecue is all about families they come they sit down to get the platters of food and they share and they talk and they have a good time."