I've long heard about Smokin' Monday at the Corner Pub, when the barbecue drum pulls up to the front door of the understated bar and pumps fragrant clouds of wood-scented smoke across Hillsboro Pike and the retail ganglia south of the Mall at Green Hills. But it seems I always hear about it on Tuesday, when my husband wakes up a day late and says, "Dammit, we missed Smokin' Monday again." This week, thanks to President's Day, we caught the event, which was enough to make me actually look forward to Mondays.
Let me start by apologizing to the gentlemen seated at the booth next to my family. Yes, I know you were out for a leisurely Monday night beer, and I inflicted my posse of toddlers on you. But let me say, you were more than gallant, and I am very grateful. Never at any point did you, the other guests or the staff of Seth Rogan understudies make me feel like my ankle-biters shouldn't be there. I don't know if Corner Pub meant for this to happen, but it might have just become our newest favorite family-friendly restaurant, at least on Mondays.
First of all, it took about 26 seconds for our food to arrive fresh from the pit. Second, that food was smokin'. We ordered the full rack of ribs ($18) and the Poo Poo platter ($20), which may as well have been the Fred Flintstone brontosaurus special. There was so much meat piled up on those two plates, it sated five of us and filled a to-go box that will feed us through Wednesday. Like a pack of tiny cavemen, my kids ripped into the tender ribs, pulled chicken, pork loin, shaved sirloin and smoked wings, dipping the meat into a hot and tangy red sauce and chasing it with sweet-hot beans, slaw riddled with celery seeds and a deck of paper-thin slices of cheddar cheese to cut the sting.
It was a carnivore's dream. We'll be back often. Now that we know what we've been missing, I doubt we'll forget about Smokin' Monday again.
Corner Pub is located at 4109 Hillsboro Pike.
