Syracuse Sandwich: Ale 'N' Angus's BBQ Pork Tenderloin Sandwich

Who: Ale 'N' Angus What: BBQ Pork Tenderloin Sandwich
Where: Harrison Street, Syracuse Phone: 426-9672 Website: Ale 'N' Angus

Parking: Street Accepts Credit Cards: Yes Take-Out: Yes Delivery: No   

     In my Christmas stocking, I received two tickets to this past Saturday’s Crunch game. Since I was getting out of work an hour early, Christine and I had time to grab dinner out instead of eating over priced food at the War Memorial. The first place that came to mind was the Ale N’ Angus Pub because it’s kitty corner to the war memorial and we had great food the last time we were there. Learning from our last trip, I made a reservation just to make sure we could get a table. I’m glad I did because they were packed as they usually are before all Crunch games. Christine went with the chicken fingers and I was tempted to get the fish and chips for my meal but when the waitress mentioned the special was a bbq pork tenderloin sandwich, I just had to partake. The sandwich comes with the choice of one side so I opted for their homemade potato chips, a choice I would later regret because they we’re bland as all get out.

     I had taken a picture but it came out so dark because of the lighting that I figured it was a waste to post it. I didn’t want to use my flash since we were sitting in the middle of the cramped dining room. When the waitress dropped off our food I was kind of bothered to see nothing but barbequed meat and bread sitting in front of me. Now I’ve had plenty of pulled pork sandwiches that consisted of nothing but meat and sauce but I was kind of hoping that it would be dressed up in some way with some onions or slaw. Plus this wasn’t a cheap cut of meat I was eating, its pork tenderloin! I guess it was my fault for not asking if anything came on it but I expected they’d kick it up a notch since they were using an expensive cut of meat. The French bread tasted just as good as it did with the prime rib cheese steak that I had just a month or so before. The bbq pork tenderloin on the other hand was lacking in more ways than one. First off, the barbeque sauce while there was the perfect amount of it, had little flavor. It offered the moisture needed to go with the bread but didn’t have any zip to it at all. Secondly, the pork wasn’t sliced nor pulled but almost chopped or crumbled. Pork tenderloin crumbles into small pieces when it’s over cooked. So when I saw the small pieces I thought it might be kind of dry and it was. What disappointed me the most was the execution or lack there of, if the pork was cooked correctly I could have gotten over the bbq sauce or even if the bbq sauce was amazing it could have masked the over cooked pork. But two wrongs don’t make a right and since there were no other ingredients to fall back on, this sandwich fell flat on its face. The rating I’m about to give is only because I think this was a matter of execution, on a slower night it may have tasted better.

Rating: Satisfying – I finished it so there’s something to be said for that.