Everybody and I mean every single person is either travelling to the great big United States of America, has recently returned from a trip there or is planning to go there in the next few weeks.

Maybe I exaggerate with the everybody part, but it’s god damn close to the truth. I’ve had people at work gushing about their engagement in the Big Apple to their upcoming trip to visit Central Park.

Foodies galore have recently made the trip abroad and my instagram is full of NYC jealousy (I shall not name names, but you know who you are o’hunky dory fun happy people!). 

I’ll admit it. I am jealous. I am so jealous that they have made the effort and saved enough cash and annual leave to go. 

So I’ll make the best of what I have here. Here, by which I mean, Melbourne. Not quite NYC, but still on the other side of the world for someone wishing to travel here 😛 (pathetic, I know :'()

The next best thing for us my fellow sad friends who have not had the luxury to head over to the US of A, is to enjoy my round-up of the American onslaught that is hitting us hard! First they came at us with the burgers, then the hot dogs, now it’s the meat attack!

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Rockwell and Sons – Collingwood, Vic

We first heard of Rockwell and Sons from my daily morning coffee catch-ups with my Bookish Friend who couldn’t get enough about the Southern Fried Chicken available on exclusive nights (I still have yet to get my greedy hands on them!).

It wasn’t long before a bunch of us meat hungry fiends (yes, with no “r”) got together for a meat extravaganza. The usual suspects of Raz (before baby), Lky, Azz, Al and us gathered one weekday evening. 

I think Lky was about to order everything on the menu, so Azz and I took the matter into our own hands and proceeded to order 5 sandwiches (burgers really), one appetiser and a couple of sides. Hah, we showed him!

We did get a couple of drinks as well but this post shan’t focus on these minor details (also I’m a bad blogger and didn’t take notes :P).

The first sandwich we had on our list was the Maine-style Tiger Prawn Roll ($12.00), which had in it, prawns in a Kewpie mayo sauce, topped with capers and pickled celery in a sweet brioche like bun. It kind of reminded me of the New England Lobster Roll from Golden Fields. Kind of.

What’s an American meal without a sinful mac & cheese dish? So we complied and ordered a serve of the Berkswell & Cheddar Mac & Cheese ($9.00). It wasn’t the best I’ve had and I would be more inclined to the mac & cheese balls from The Bottom End.

The Fried Chicken Sandwich ($12.00) with Buttermilk Dressing, Iceberg Lettuce, Kaitaia Fire and the Double Patty Smash Burger ($10.00) with Kraft, Special Sauce on a Seeded Bun were the next two sandwiches to follow.

I really liked the fried chicken sandwich here. Reminiscent of the KF-Club Sandwich from The Merrywell. With the second one, I can only go with what Lky said. He had all the boys in the group agreeing with his statement though. That it was a bigger and better quality version of the Bic Mac 😛

 The next two sandwiches were the winners of the sandwiches. The Pressed Rib Sandwich ($9.00) with BBQ sauce, dill, fennel and onion and the Poon Boon Lamb Sandwich ($12.00) with harissa slaw, smoked eggplant were bursting to the seams and begging to be bitten into.

We also ordered a serve of the very good value (IMHO) Confit Duck Wings ($10.00) with red dragon sauce, scallions and sesame. It was very David Chang with the red dragon sauce theme.

We also could not go pass the Hickory Smoked Onion Rings ($7.00) with Dr. Pepper BBQ Sauce. We had two serves (why, not?), but I wasn’t a fan. Though crisp, I found the batter to be a little on the over flour-ey side of things.

Overall, I think as a group, we really enjoyed our visit to Rockwell & Sons. Now to organise a comeback when those Southern Fried Chickens are in!

For another take on this meal, visit:

Off The Spork

*Disclaimer: All food ratings & review are purely based on my own experiences and how I feel about the service, food and quality at the time of visit

Food/ Cuisine: American
Dining Style: Casual Dining

Opening Hours:
Monday, 12:00pm – 10:00pm
Tuesday, Closed
Wednesday & Thursday, 6:00pm – 10:00pm
Friday, 12:00pm – 11:00pm
Saturday, 10:00am – 11:00pm
Sunday, 10:00am – 10:00pm

Address:
288 Smith Street
Collingwood VIC 3066

Tel: (03) 8415 0700

Website: http://www.rockwellandsons.com.au/

Twitter: @rockwellandsons

How to get there:

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Big Boy BBQ – Caulfield, Vic

Now, I’m not sure why, but we heard about Big Boy BBQ from someone living on the other side of the West Gate Bridge. Uhuh. Someone from the West Side had to inform us about this meat joint that was sitting in our back yard.

Shame on us!

Big Boy BBQ is a typical fast food burger joint without the typical fast food service or food. Expect gigantic burgers, ribs, fries, refillable soft drinks and 4 types of BBQ sauce (if you need more) to squeeze onto your platter should you choose to dine in-house.

Why do I say, it does not have the typical fast food service? The last time we visited, there was a 45 minute wait for the burgers to be served. Make sure you either come early, or late. Avoid the 6:30pm-8:00pm crowd on weekends. Else, you’d be starving. It also does not come with a typical fast food joint price tag, but then what new American joint does these days.

The first time I visited, I decided to go big and order the Kansas City Style Dry Rubbed Pork ($29.00 for 1/2 rack) with sides of Onion Strings ($4.95). Boy, was this good. So delicious! I particularly enjoyed the Onion Strings. So crisp and crunchy.

What I didn’t like were the two slices of cheap white bread that came with this dish. I didn’t see a purpose for it and it didn’t add to the enjoyment of the meal.

The first time The Boy ate here, he ordered the “Zee” Man Inspired by Oklahoma Joes ($12.90) with sliced beef brisket, smoked cheese, fried onion strings & BBQ sauce. Sloppy goodness it definitely was!

I’ve also had the pleasure of trying their The 2 Meat ($13.90) with saucy pulled chicken and pulled lamb shoulder with lettuce, tomato and BBQ sauce. So so soooooo good. I cleaned the whole burger up in about 5 minutes and I’m not quite sure if it was attributed solely to the 45 minute wait I had to endure. I absolutely enjoyed it. Who knew? Chicken and lamb together would be so heavenly!

Plan ahead and plan well if you want to dine here, else don’t say we didn’t warn you!

*Disclaimer: All food ratings & review are purely based on my own experiences and how I feel about the service, food and quality at the time of visit

Food/ Cuisine: American
Dining Style: Casual Dining

Opening Hours:
Sunday to Wednesday, 12:00pm – 8:00pm
Thursday to Saturday, 12:00pm – 9:00pm

Address:
764 Glenhuntly Road
Caulfield South VIC 3162

Tel: (03) 9523 7410

Website: http://www.bigboybbq.com.au/

Twitter: @BigBoyBarbeque

How to get there:

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Meatmother – Richmond, Vic

The most recent meatapalooza we had was with Azzie and Tazzie at Meatmother. The name itself should be a strong indication to you that there are absolutely no fresh green things served here.

If you want vegetables, they do have them. Just pickled. Picklesssssssss! I love pickles. Thus, I love Meatmother (the connection and logic is definitely there).

We got there so early we were first in line! Doors open at 6:00pm and we were numero Uno! We win! 

To reward ourselves, we decided to order us some cocktails (as you do).

Az had the Black Widow Tea (Sweet Tea Vodka, Lemonade and Chambord), Taz had the Bacon Sour (Bacon-infused Makers Mark Bourbon, Lemon, Bitters and Candied Bacon) and I had the Beale St Lean (Jack Daniels, Orange Syrup, Cranberry Juice, Dry Ginger and Lime). All cocktails are priced at $15.00. We each had a sip of each others and all agreed that the Black Widow Tea was the best out of the lot.

Meat Tray (One Meat & One Side served with Texas Toast): Pulled Pork ($19.00), Beef Short Rib ($21.00), Spare Ribs ($21.00) with sides of Mac & Cheese, Chipotle Slaw, BBQ Beans

The menu is pretty simple. You order the type of meat you want and decide if you want sides with them. If you do, you get the meat tray. If you don’t, you sit sadly by yourself in the corner wishing you had.

We ordered 3 meat trays for the 5 of us, checking with the waitress that this was indeed enough for us. She assured us that with the sides, we definitely had enough and if we wanted more, we could always order more later.

We didn’t stop there! We also ordered BBQ Chicken Wings ($6.00), House Pickles ($5.00) (pickleeeeessss!!!) and Hock Croquettes ($6.00). Everything was so good and tasty!

As we didn’t see anything in the form of a dessert menu, we weren’t sure if they were on some secret board. So I decided to bite the bullet and ask the question, hoping to god that I didn’t sound like a complete piggy (too late for that now). The waitress informed us that they did indeed have desserts.

For that night, they had a Frozen Lime Pie with an Oreo Base and a Sticky Toffee Pudding with Bourbon Ice-Cream. She had me at pickles 😛 So we ordered both and cut them up to share between the five of us. It was glorious. Just enough sweetness to end the night on a blissful note. 

Come alone, come with friends, come with meat loving hordes of people. No bookings are taken, so make sure you get there early. Seats are communal and can get quite cramped.

For the food blogging machine a.k.a. Azzie’s post on our dinner, read her blog Off The Spork.

*Disclaimer: All food ratings & review are purely based on my own experiences and how I feel about the service, food and quality at the time of visit

Food/ Cuisine: American
Dining Style: Casual Dining

Opening Hours:
{Dinner} Tuesday to Sunday, 6:00pm – late
{Lunch} Wednesday to Thursday, 12:00pm – 2:00pm
{Lunch} Friday to Sunday, 12:00pm – 3:00pm
Closed on Mondays

Address:
167 Swan Street
Richmond VIC 3121

Tel: (03) 9041 5393

Website: http://www.meatmother.com.au/

Twitter: @meatmother

How to get there:

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