Putting the BB in BBQ
Smackin' Lips At Robb's Ribbs
by Larry Greenly, Photos by Sergio Salvador

It was his destiny.  As a child, Robb enjoyed the barbecue of "old man Cooper," a barbecuer with a pit on South Edith.  After Cooper died, Robb experimented with meats and sauces, pursuing the elusive flavor he missed, until he perfected the blend of ingredients still used today.

Robb built his first smoker at a welding shop where he worked, and he fired it up once a week to feed the neighborhood kids.  From that small beginning, he expanded until finally turning pro in 1989.  Once, while typing menus for Robb, a friend serendipitously misspelled "ribbs" and - voila - Robb's Ribbs was born.  Robb likes to say, "If you're not eatin' ribbs with two Bs, you're just gettin' BS"

His first restaurant venture was disastrous.  After three months of researching locations, buying  equipment and handling swarms of related details, his financial backer disappeared.  He leased space anyway, in a former Cajun restaurant on Zuni and set up his smoker.  Unfortunately, he says, "One day it was go, the next day, it was no go," and he was forced to move.

Next, he spent two years at a space at a catering kitchen on Juan Tabo, and during that time he was promoted by Bloomingdale's stores on the East Coast who sold his New Mexican products.  After another move to San Mateo Place, where he spent another 15 years continuing his smoky craft, Robb's Ribbs finally moved to its present location on Candelaria and San Pedro.

It looks like any typical barbecue joint: white walls, intermittent artwork, exposed air ducts, high ceilings, fans doing their thing; a sort of semi-industrial look.  But Robb's followers know it's not typical. Everything is cooked to order, meat is smoked in a massive wood smoker, and nothing languishes on a steam table.  Robb buys only the finest ingredients, like Beeler St. Louis-trimmed spareribs, pork legs and pork shoulders - antibiotic-free.

Robb dismisses many other barbecue places, which he says are too concerned with "trying to be a certain image."  He explains, "They're barbecue out of a barrel.  They put their ribs in a special cooker, add a little liquid smoke, finish them on a grill, add sauce, and call it barbecue."  Robb's way?  "Take time and don't smoke too hot."  His beef brisket cold-smokes for at least 12 hours.  He usually uses a blend of green oak, hickory, apple and pecan - with oak being his favorite.