On the ball

Red’s Broken Bat is the newest addition to the Freight House District, playing off the ballpark theme with a dose of old timey kitsch and a ton of decorations hanging on the walls and from the rafters.

Red’s is all about barbecue, serving smoked chicken, brisket, pork, ribs and flank steak in various guises. Six housemade sauces range from super sweet to nicely spicy.

My dining companions for the evening led things off with a cup of posole soup ($5), home run jalapeños ($8), and johnnycakes ($7). The soup was not a cup but actually a pretty decent-sized bowl of pork, hominy and cilantro in a classic meat-and-tomato broth. The broth was rich and spicy, with a ton of tasty meat. Next up to bat were the jalapeños. There were three of them—stuffed with chopped rib meat, and Oaxaca and jack cheeses, then wrapped in bacon, deep fried, and finished with a dose of sweet Nashville sauce.

So far so good, but the johnnycakes really knocked it out of the park—a stack of large, fluffy cornbread pancakes, stuffed with layers of pulled pork and agave syrup and topped with mango tequila sauce. The combination was fantastic.

We moved on to platters, starting with chimichurri-marinated flank steak ($14) with sides of Mexican coleslaw, charro beans and house pickled veggies. The slaw and beans were served in fried tortilla bowls, adding a nice bit of optional crunch. The steak itself was tender and well seasoned, the pickle nicely sharp, and the beans were exceptional, served with a sprinkle of queso fresco. The slaw was the only letdown, tasting mostly of cabbage and cilantro with little seasoning.

St. Louis-style ribs ($17, eight bones) were served with those great beans, a big square of cornbread with honey butter, and a choice of slaw. The sides were good, with bacon blue cheese slaw illustrating that almost anything’s better with bacon and cheese. The ribs had a decent rub and plenty of smoke, with meat that pulled easily from the bone. A double play pork platter ($18) paired four bones with a bowl of moist, smoky pulled pork and the same choice of sides. A serving of cilantro lime slaw didn’t have much going on and was surprisingly dry.

In addition to the platters, we ordered a “big ass” taco combo ($9) and roasted chile relleno ($11). The tacos are indeed pretty big—featuring housemade tortillas—and you can mix and match. The Alabama smoked chicken taco was topped with creamy slaw, smoked queso fresco and Alabama white sauce, while the smoked brisket version had pickled red cabbage slaw, smoked queso fresco and Nashville sauce. The chicken was on the dry side, but the other ingredients picked up the slack. The moist smoky beef brisket taco was much better, with vinegared cabbage that provided a good contrast to the sweet sauce.

The large roasted pepper of the relleno was full of smoked Oaxaca cheese, portobello mushrooms, southwestern-style rice and roasted tomato chipotle sauce. It was surrounded by a delicious black bean, corn and hominy succotash, with dark chili sauce and melted cheese. It was unlike any chile relleno I’ve had, and I liked it a lot. The char on the chile was a welcome change from an egg or masa coating, and the filling was like a Mexican-spiced risotto. The whole plate just plain worked, and I didn’t mind having no room for dessert.