Unk Steve's BBQ

Current location:
6100 S. Lewis (Northwest corner)
Westlake Hardware parking lot
2237 E. 61st St. So.
Tulsa, Oklahoma 74136
Summer Hours:
Open: Wednesday, Thursday, Friday & Saturday 11am - 9pm
www.unkstevesbbq.com
Equipment: custom smoker (built into trailer)
Motto: "the smoke stops here with ol skool flava"


There aren't very many BBQ trailers in or around Tulsa, but I had driven by Unk Steve's trailer at 61st&Lewis several times without stopping. Last Friday I had some time over the lunch hour so I went to check it out. Located in the parking lot of Ace hardware the "war wagon", as owner Tammara Olden calls it, is a grey concession trailer with a matching pick-up truck. Two smoke stacks stick up from the roof slowly releasing the aroma of hickory in blue whisps of smoke.
For a concession trailer Unk Steve's has a fairly extensive menu of traditional (or "ol skool") bbq fare, and offers a daily special as well. When I arrived there were four or five other customers ordering or waiting on their order. When it was mine turn to order I quickly decided on the pulled "pork samich" and the beans. Everyone has there favorites, but I believe you can learn a lot from a BBQ joint by sampling those two items. While there was a table around back, I wasn't sure if it was for the customers or for the owner. So, I took my order to go. Back at my office a few co-workers inquired about my brown paper bag that smelled so much like smoke. I took it back to my desk to analyze the food. The aroma of smoke was very strong, and it carried over in the taste of the meat. The pork was pulled into big chunks (just the way I like it) and not shredded like you'll get at some restaurants. The meat was as good as most BBQ restaurants around here, my only complaint was that I tasted more smoke than pork. Some people say you can't oversmoke meat, but I believe you can and this pork was on the verge of being to smokey.
The beans were underwhelming, tasting like some doctored up canned beans. They were too sweet in my opinion, and the texture was mushy like a canned bean.
The "pork samich" had promise and I would go back to try other items. All in all Unk Steve's was a good experience and I had to put on my critic hat to find some complaints about the food in general. If you are around the 61st and Lewis area, stop by for some ribs or a sloppy steve's samich.

Ratings: 7 ribs (out of ten) I don't feel like I sampled enough to fully rate this place so for now it gets a 7/10. I'll go back for another try and follow up this review.
Price: $1/2