Syracuse in winter can give you cabin fever. When I complained about having it on Friday night, Lonnie had the excellent idea of making a jaunt over to the west side of Syracuse for some barbecue. I usually don’t say no to barbecue, unless I’m just finishing my third portion.
No serious discussion of barbecue in Syracuse can take place without mention of the Dinosaur, which has become the de facto standard of Syracuse BBQ. Its excellence is taken for granted, and we go there a lot. I don’t even bother to mention it much in my blogs, as it has mountains of publicity already. But, as Yogi Berra might have said, it’s so crowded that no one goes there anymore. So on this particular night we decided to try something new.
I had heard of the Limp Lizard, but didn’t know much about it – we don’t tend to get over to the west side all that often, (and when we do, it tends to be Eva’s or the China Pavillion). The building seems to have been converted over from a previous restaurant occupant, which, judging by the style, may have been a fast food joint. The decor was fun, actually very similar to the chaotic, humorous, and bikerly style of the Dinosaur. It seemed like a neighborhood crowd, quite laid-back.
We arrived to a friendly welcome, always a good sign. We had to wait for a table, but it wasn’t too long. We were served by the lovely and friendly Lauren, who was delightful. I had the pulled pork sandwich, and Lonnie opted for a quarter-rack of ribs. We were very impressed with the flavor of the meat and sauce, Lonnie possibly even moreso than I. She found the meat to be more plentiful, tender, and tasty than the Dinosaur’s, which is saying something. She does enjoy the Dinosaur, but after many meals, she has found the quality to be occasionally uneven. So we ended up with a delicious, quite filling meal for around$20 for two – not too bad!! They have live music, too – a band was setting up just as we left. There doesn’t seem to be much room to dance there.
Contrary to my expectation, the Lizard really gives the Dinosaur and run for its money. Though any barbecue joint in Syracuse will be compared to the Dino, in a sense the Lizard isn’t competing with it directly, because they are a considerable distance from each other. If I were a westside resident, I would probably become a regular at the Lizard. We might anway. 
Interesting. I think that consistency may be an issue at Lizard just as it is at Dino. On my one visit there the service was terrific but my friend’s ribs were average at best (not nearly as good as Dino’s in his opinion and after trying them I agreed). I had a pulled pork sampler with four small samples of pulled pork entree items. In of them the pulled pork was spot on – great texture and plenty of smoky porky flavor. The other two were bland, insipid and mushy – truly mediocre.
My overall assessment was that I’d go there if I happened to be in the neighborhood but wouldn’t drive across town to dine there. But prior to and since that time I’ve heard some very favorable reports (including yours). Seems like a consistency issue to me.
Owen,
Cool, man. Do you mean inconsistent and mediocre in a negative sense?
Oh no… I’m just not a negative guy because negativity flattens the foam on my cappuccino. I get really excited about inconsistency and mediocrity because
1) I truly never know what I’m gonna get.
2) If it rises to above average I’m thrilled at the exceeded expectations.
Life then continues to be one big surprise – as it should be
both lizard and dino have consistency issues,which can be frustrating when you spend good money on mediocre food,find cooking BBQ at home is the best way to go,too many BBQ chains are giving the wrong idea what bbq really is,I go to my buddy’s site,he does alot with a small place in ft myers florida and offers lots of advice on any type of grilling,there is no charge to get recipes off his site,many of them are from competitive grilling competitions
http://askabutcher.proboards.com/index.cgi
BTW,best BBQ ever had is behind an old shop in Fla.where the guy cooks the que in an old barrel cut in half and sold out by noon
Great idea, Tom.
I’ll have to look at that site. Yes, I envision the best barbecue being somewhere out in the middle of nowhere in Texas (or insert other state here) where there’s one cook in a place that looks nondescript, but people still make an effort to head out there and line up, so you know it has to be incredible. I can almost smell the fine aroma now!
Lonnie has had occasional issues with Dinosaur food consistency, and though I love their food, if I’m being honest, I’ve experienced that sometimes, too. We haven’t gotten out to the Lizard often enough to get jaded yet.