5/18/2013 - The Pit

I'm honestly a little nervous to discuss what I'm about to because this restaurant currently seems to be a bit of a hidden gem.  Luckily, 90% of our readers seem to be from 8,000 plus miles away so its probably fine, but one can never be too careful.  About a month ago we were really in the mood for some BBQ, but didn't really have it in us to journey across town to the one place we knew about.  We've kind of gotten to the point that if we can't take a direct bus or subway line somewhere we think twice about going.  I don't know what we're going to do when we move home and someone asks us to drive 20 minutes to visit.  We may settle for a facetime conversation.

Anyway, whenever we go to Holland Village for one of our weekend nights out we always take a right when the road splits. To the right are our favorite Mexican, Mediterranean, Pizza and Asian Fusion places..... to the left, well we knew there was a Subway and a Kenny Rodgers chicken, neither of which really gets you excited.  It really was the road less traveled.  Ironically, one night after what had probably been too many noodle cup dinners, Sarah was grabbing Subway on her way home from class.  Out of the corner of her eye, at the end of the road, a sign caught her eye..... The PIT.

I know all you Oregon Duck fans out there are wondering how your beloved basketball arena migrated 8,000 miles.  Given I just got done watching the Malaysian Dragons finish off the San Miguel Beermen in triple overtime of an ABL (Asean Basketball League) game, and no, I did not just make those two names up, it would be outstanding if Mac Court magically had landed in Singapore.  Considering those two teams compete with the Slammers and Slingers, part of me wonders if a certain college roommate of mine was allowed to name the teams in this league after entering some late night contest.  As usual, I digress.

The name was interesting enough, but when she caught a hint of a normal, smoky BBQ smell (if you've been in Asia long enough, you realize how rare this is) she officially got sucked in.  3 days later when I got home, we hopped on the Circle line (one stop direct to Holland Village) and took a left down the road to see if this place was legit.  After a dozen ribs, an actual hamburger, some jalapeno poppers.... jalapeno poppers!!!! we  were on board.  We went back a few weeks later to have a pulled pork sandwich and nachos that even had real and fake cheese on them.  You know, the slightly neon orange goo that comes out of a squeeze pump that you know you should never eat because its not a naturally occurring substance, rivals a Twinkie in terms of longevity, probably is the cure for and cause of multiple ailments, but tastes great?  Exactly.  Somehow they always seem to have the local microbrew on happy hour when we are there, even better.  Its nothing fancy, a concrete slab with a lot of fans, a killer bar with Forest Gump license plates and a hidden smoker cranking out some solid BBQ, but its our new favorite place for comfort food.

In the words of the How I Met Your Mother gang, if there is a Barney out there that might try to ruin the bar for us, just take a right when you're in Holland Village.  However, if you want to watch some community college level hoops while making a mess eating ribs, come grab a bar stool with me.  I might even be willing to share some nachos.