I tried out T&A Cafe BBQ akaKleinfelt Family BBQ. It was okay.
edit- I got the name wrong I APOLOGIZE it's Kleinfeldt
Recently there was a thread asking about good BBQ in the area. I was ready to jump in, as I have many times before, to say there isn't any. But people started mentioning a place I was completely ignorant of, the Tanimura & Antle Cafe has been taken over by a BBQ family and people are pleased with it. My brother, my dad, and I decided we'd see what we thought. The following is based on my personal opinions as someone who loves to smoke and BBQ.
First opinion is that it smelled great from the outside. As I stared at the menu everything spoke to me in a positive way as in I didn't see anything that looked like a bad idea. People I spoke to in line specifically praised the tri tip and the chicken. So we ordered a little of everything. A thing to note is this appears very much to be family run. As in most of the front of house appeared to be family, especially including Grandma Carol (might be Karol I didn't ask) who is this darling 83 year old lady with curly white hair and a big smile. We came at an off hour so she actually sat with us the entire meal to chat with us because ... she's just a happy fun person. I adored her.
In order of the pictures, the things we got were the whole tri tip sandwich with their version of "the works" which has a special name but I forgot. I got a side of Mac n Cheese.
The next is the 4 meat platter which included brisket, tri tip, chicken, a hot link, garlic bread, loaded fries, and the baked beans.
The last is my dad's bacon cheeseburger. Dad is not an adventurous eater.
We'll start with my tri tip. I loved it. Very juicy, tender, good crunch on the bread. Good balance of peppers that mixed it up. This is probably the best thing I tried. Would go back for the tri tip sandwich. Bread felt kind of like a Dutch Crunch almost like the ones from the Safeway bakery. It worked well in the sandwich because it held together and didn't get soggy. The Mac n Cheese tasted phenomenal. But, as you can see, the sauce has split. It's grainy, the noodles were almost mush, and there was a layer of grease at the bottom of the tray. But the taste salvaged it. Yeah, I'd probably even order those again. There's a nice amount of heat at the end, too. Technique could probably use some refining. All in all I was happy with my dish.
Next up the 4 meat platter. Tri tip excellent. No complaints there. The hot link had a nice slow burn of a little heat, not too much. The meat grind inside was a very fine grind. I personally like a coarser grind in a smoked sausage but that's personal preference. Also there wasn't much of a snap to the casing. So yeah it was a fine hot link but didn't stand out in any way. The brisket was a disappointment. You can see it in the top left. It looks like there's a bark but it doesn't really taste of smoke and pepper that you'd expect a good bark to have. Also, in my opinion, it was a little dry and bland. They offer a sauce to go with it which you can see in the little plastic cup. I did not care for the sauce. It just tasted like molasses and brown sugar. It cried out for balance from vinegar or another acid. I would pass on that sauce in the future, and since the brisket needs a sauce I'd probably pass on brisket going forward unless they've got some other sauce options. Chicken was great! Good level of smoke, good level of juicy. They're doing things right with the chicken. Beans were a miss. Very watery and just crying out for onions and peppers. Would not order beans. Could not taste any hint of garlic on the garlic bread. Would not order garlic bread again. And the loaded fries... it's like they spooned the beans over them. Which instantly made them soggy and taste like the beans I didn't like. Would not order loaded fries again.
Finally, the burger. I didn't try it because dad only orders well-done burgers. My brother took a bite and said the bacon was a good thick cut and balanced well. I'm being picky but I kinda hope a BBQ place might make their own pickles. These were straight out of Sysco along with a kind of sad generic tomato/red onion/lettuce thing. The fries were very crunchy and seasoned nicely.
Unrelated, but if you or anyone has ADA needs it may be tricky to get in because it's actually a fairly high curb from the ground to the sidewalk, so keep that in mind. All in all I would go back and explore more of the menu. Definitely would try some of the smoked chicken sandwiches, and also anything tri-tip.
