Dish on Dining: Looney’s Smokehouse

Southern-Style BBQ Spreads in the East Bay
5319 Martin Luther King Blvd., Oakland
North Oakland neighborhood
PH: 510.652.1238
Breakfast buffet, lunch and dinner daily
Reservations, major credit cards accepted
www.kenlooney.com

With grilling being a big summertime affair, I was excited to hear from my neighbor Joe that a new barbeque joint opened up in the hood. Turns out, it’s the second location of the popular Looney’s Smokehouse in Berkeley, which was voted “Best BBQ in Alameda” (as prominently mentioned on its Web site) by KRON-TV’s “Best of the Bay.”

I have to admit, I never heard of Looney’s so I was suspicious when Joe and I pulled up at the new MLK location. The spot is under the BART and highway overpass and sits pretty much alone in this quiet part of town that borders Berkeley.

When we walked inside, the place was totally empty except one table of what looked like old-timers (or they were just old people). Plus, the décor was simply orange, which I guess is someone’s attempt to complement the BBQ sauce.

Looney’s serves up your typical barbeque fare, which means lots of ribs and smoked things, along with sandwiches, burgers and fried stuff.

Joe ordered the North Carolina Pulled Pork Sandwich ($8.95) along with additional sides of macaroni and cheese and corn. North Carolina refers to the particular type of BBQ sauce used when cooking the pork.

Looney’s offer five particular styles of BBQ sauces, including the aforementioned North Carolina, Texas, Kansas City, South Carolina Spicy Mustard, and something called “Girly Man.”

I wanted to get the full experience of Looney’s BBQ so I ordered the combo plate (choice of two kinds of meats for $18.95) and got the baby back ribs and BBQ chicken with the Kansas City sauce, which our server recommended as the best Looney’s sauce to try for a newcomer.

Joe’s plate was filled with pulled pork and a lot of French fries, but his sandwich looked sad with just the two ordinary slices of bread keeping the pork together. His mac n’ cheese had a strange texture to it, tasting a lot like something that came out of a box. His tiny corn on the cob was lukewarm.

My plate came with garlic mash and cole slaw, and it kind of threw me because the plates looked like they came from a Chinese restaurant. The chicken was shredded, which surprised me. My server apologized for not warning me that this is how the BBQ chicken is served. If you buy the chicken dinners, then you get quartered pieces of chicken.

Both the chicken and ribs were drenched in the Kansas City BBQ sauce, which was slightly spicy and sweet. Our server brought out squirt bottles (oddly in a Budweiser six-pack container) so we could try the other BBQ sauces, but my plate had so much sauce I didn’t even bother.

The chicken was all right, but the ribs seemed slightly dry. It tasted like it was smoked earlier in the day and then just left sitting waiting for the dinner crowd. While the meat was tender, it just didn’t seem to make my mouth water.

Side note: We had an incredibly charming waiter who was friendly, helpful and courteous. He really went out of his way to make our stay feel homey.

I hear Looney’s original Berkeley location is often packed, so if you’re tired of the crowds you can always go to the Oakland location because there’s plenty of room. Although I wonder if Looney’s tasty reputation has lost some of its charm when moving to MLK.

Single guy rating: 2.25 stars (Filling but unspectacular)

Explanation of the single guy's rating system:
1 star = perfect for college students
2 stars = perfect for new diners
3 stars = perfect for foodies
4 stars = perfect for expense accounts
5 stars = perfect for any guy's dream dinner



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Asian-style BBQ Pulled Pork Sandwich recipe