Laura Zastrow
The cheeseburger, in a quarter- or half-pound version, is a tasty sandwich.
The Pickle Jar BBQ storefront is a tiny little thing, half underground, down a few steps from the sidewalk on Butler Street. It’s where Cafe Costa Rica and Layla’s each formerly did business. The name comes from one of the owners, John Pickle, who operates the eatery with his spouse, Jennifer St. Cyr; the two launched it as a food cart in 2014.
I would not have predicted that barbecue would become so contentious in Madison as to result in two separate neighborhood spats — Monroe Street with Double S, and Willy Street with That BBQ Joint — and ultimately two restaurant closures. Pickle Jar seems content in its almost hidden location, and it’s no shocker (if you’ve set foot in the tiny restaurant) that the meat smoking is all handled off-site.
This is a mostly Southern-style affair, with some upper Midwestern accent marks. The ’cue itself hews to no particular region, with Alabama white sauce on what is essentially Texas brisket, mustard-based sauce on the smoked chicken, and sweetly smoky tomato-based sauce on the pulled pork and ribs. This kind of scattershot approach is sometimes a warning sign that there’s no passion for any one style, but Pickle’s and St. Cyr’s enthusiasm puts that concern to bed.
I’ll come back for the smoked chicken, which like all of Pickle Jar’s meats is offered as a sandwich or a plate. The smoke is deep and honest, without drying out any portion of the bird. Simple sides like vinegar slaw and extremely gently pickled red cabbage are best with a smoky standout like this.
The pulled pork sandwich looks ominous, like there was no way I’d be able to pick it up and bite without losing half out the other side, but it held together admirably. The meat is highlighted in a lovely spectrum of textures, from fatty to tenderly meaty to crisp and frizzled. Ribs are available from full racks down to single bones, though if the St. Louis cut is gone when you visit (as it was for me), you may receive two baby back ribs in the single bone’s stead. My baby backs were overdone (a meatier bone might have helped avoid this), but the flavor was solid.
Brisket, which has been fine when I’ve eaten at Pickle Jar’s cart before, was not right at the restaurant. Surely cooked too hot and too fast, the connective tissue held and stretched like rubber, and there was no smoke ring to be seen. But the bark on it showed promise. And the flank steak in the Wisco Cheese Steak special, smoked tenderly, suggests that future brisket gambles are likely to pay off.
For the record, that Wisco Cheese Steak with its Swiss cheese, mustard sauce and sweet pickles, was neither Wisco nor cheesesteak, but it was a tasty sandwich. So too was the burger, available in quarter- or half-pound presentations. My quarter-pounder’s bacon was sadly forgotten, but for the same upcharge I’d probably just add the second patty next time instead. Add a block of cornbread to each and every order you place at Pickle Jar, for it may be the best in town — sweet and buttery, crunchy and cakey all at once.
Where Pickle Jar’s real southernness comes through is at breakfast. A restaurant that so far is only open for one dinner service a week (on Friday), but serves breakfast all day Monday through Saturday, better do breakfast right. The Johnny cakes, rough-milled corn flour pancakes, are definitely right. A half order of biscuits and gravy was plenty of food, and for a bargain-basement price, but needed salt and pepper to liven things up.
I’ll reconsider the pricey slices of pie when it’s fresh fruit season. Pecan and sweet potato were good, not great.
I wish I’d seen a pickle sampler on the specials board more than just once over the course of my visits, because a restaurant called Pickle Jar should serve cool pickles. And I wonder why there’s a CBD cold brew on the menu — it might be novel, but it’s not worth the cool $12 for a 16-ounce pour. But for smoked pork and Johnny cakes, I’ll head down those narrow steps in a jiffy. (Note, the dining room is not accessible.)
Pickle Jar BBQ
141 S. Butler St.; 608-405-5869; picklejarbbq.com; 10 am-2 pm Mon.-Thurs.; 10 am-8 pm Fri.,9 am-2 pm Sat.; $4-$12
