Famous Dave's Barbeque - Five Meatball Ribs in North Olmstead, Ohio

Fox News’s morning program, Fox and Friends, has been featuring Barbeque on the Plaza periodically over the past few weeks. The fixin’s and yummies were provided by Famous Dave’s Barbeque, a chain of more than 180 restaurants in over 37 states. Dave is a hoot, and the ribs looked absolutely delicious. He grilled those suckers right there caddy corner from Radio City Music Hall, and gave me hankering that would not go away.

Now I am particular about my barbequed spare ribs. The best ribs I have had were at the Royal Oaks on Oak Street. An historic dive bar with the Ohio Pig Factory barbeque recipe, the owner smokes the ribs for hour and hours, and then serves 'em up with some terrific barbeque sauce. But you have to call in advance to see if they have them, then get there in a hurry before they are gone. Another local favorite is Charlie Staples. Me? Not so much!! Staples uses a vinegar based sauce. I prefer a sauce with honey or molasses. But other folks swear by ‘em!!

I am also picky about the texture of my ribs. I am not the fall off the bone type. I like the ribs to be meaty, and with a little chew to them so you can bite them off the bone without all of the meat falling off forcing you to eat the ribs with a fork rather than your fingers. But that’s just me. Unfortunately, other than the Royal Oaks, I haven’t been able to find ribs around here that fill the bill. Most of the places either simply grill the ribs, which makes them tough…or steam the ribs first, which makes the braised. And the sauces…some places should just stick with spaghetti sauce.

So after watching Dave cook his famous ribs on television a couple of times, I got on the internet to see if there was a Famous Dave’s around here. The closest I could find was in North Olmstead, Ohio, which for those of you who have never left Youngstown, is west of Cleveland off of 480 about five miles past Cleveland Hopkins Airport. It’s about 80 miles from my house…do-able if nothing you can find satisfies your craving. So I fired up the Acura, and headed west to North Olmstead burning some premium gas.

Oh Lordy…was it worth the trip. I found barbeque nirvana. Now I know why Famous Dave is famous. I absolutely did not expect this quality of food from a chain. Outstanding!

The restaurant itself has been there for awhile and is larger than it looks. It has a large bar area and three different dining rooms. It is decorated in early “barbeque yahoo” with lots of tables and booths. Here’s the thing. The place is packed. It is kid friendly, not usually a good thing for me. But it absolutely civilized and one of the quietest restaurants I have been in in a long time, allowing my wife and myself to have some conversation not having to shout over a din of noise and/or music. I was pleasantly surprised given the wait was over an hour when we left.

The service is friendly and knowledgeable and prompt. The place offers six or seven different types of barbeque sauce from Devil’s Spit (atomic) to Georgia Mustard (that vinegar sauce thing) to Sweet and Zesty to Rich and Sassy, and our favorite Texas Pit which had a black pepper kick. You are given a small bowl of potato chips to allow you sample the sauces, and they will fix the barbeque anyway you want with any of the sauces.

And those ribs…I died and went to pig heaven. They are smoked for 8 hours. They are HUGE and meaty like I have never seen before, and perfectly grilled before bringing them out to the table. Watch the full slab…you could feed an army. My wife and I and each got a ½ slab, and neither of us could finish our dinner which included a yummy corn muffin, corn on the cob, and we chose baked beans (best out I have ever had out) and cole slaw. It was absolutely perfect!!!!!!! We finished dinner with a huge bread pudding made on premises which was totally smooth…almost like a cake…served with ice cream and a praline sauce with toasted pecans. Lord, you can take me now!!!! And if I eat much more like that…he probably will.

Famous Dave’s is located in a huge shopping area akin to what is in Niles, except on steroids. It doesn’t have an address that is picked up on either Google Maps or Mapquest. If you decide to go, use the directions you can get from the web site…but mostly you turn right off the freeway…then left at the major intersection just past the mall…then down a long boulevard past the Home Depot. Famous Dave’s will be on the left.

This place gets five meatballs for best in class…and best in barbeque spare ribs. If you come across one on your travels, give it a go.

Famous Dave's Barbeque
26410 Great Northern Shopping Center
North Olmstead, Ohio 44070
440-777-0200