Home Team ‘Racks’ Up Accolades with Ribs

Charleston has been called many things. The Holy City. Chucktown. Tennis Town, U.S.A. America’s Most Friendliest City. West Ashley has also been called many things that aren’t near as flattering. Well, the snooty ol’ peninsula can keep its nicknames, because West Ashley just have earned a new moniker, thanks to Fiery Ron’s Home Team BBQ: “Rib City.”
Take that, West “Trashley.”
Pitmaster and owner Aaron Siegel, who seven years ago converted an old service station on St. Andrew’s Boulevard into a world-class barbecue joint, has garnered so much national attention for his ribs, that even he has a hard time keeping them straight.
“Yeah, just the other day, The Daily Meal, a national foodie blog, ranked us as having the fourth best ribs in the country,” said Siegel, a UGA and Culinary Institute of America graduate.
The review raved: “It’s just about impossible to get through a rack of these without groaning for joy at least a few times.”
Last year, Esquire magazine, home of the nation’s coveted annual best new restaurants rankings, named Home Team as the home of the “most life changing ribs” in America in its “Eat Like a Man” series.
In a reader’s survey for the national magazine’s ranking, Home Team’s ribs garnered 40 percent of the vote, severely smoking all but one of the other competitors.
And even more recently, Southern Living magazine named the entire restaurant atop of its list of “best rib-sticking joints.” The gushing: “… [W]hen it comes to ribs, he’s a purist: red oak, a simple dry rub, no basting, no sauce. Simply put, it works.”
Editor’s Note: The best way to enjoy Home Team’s ribs is by cutting them apart, one at a time, and then rotating the “bark” side up and down, so that with one rib, the dry rub hits your tongue first. The next rib, muscle sheath side down, lets you enjoy the tenderness of the meat. It’s science.
The restaurant, which opened a sister location on Sullivans Island four years ago, also serves a wide range of food other than ribs — smoked meat wraps, wings, salads, and nachos with some of the best salsas around. All are available with a host of traditional barbecue sides – slaw, beans, red rice, collards, and the like.
But when Siegel talks about what may become his signature dish, he downplays the hyperbole. It’s a simple St. Louis cut — the center of the spare ribs, with the “flap” trimmed off.
The Memphis-style spice rub sounds almost too-basic, with brown sugar and chili powder forming its cornerstone, and with flares of “other” spices finishing the rub. But, somehow the alchemy of those simple and few spices, combined with 225-degree smoke for six hours, produces pure southern gold.
There’s a lot of magic in the air around the West Ashley location, built like an old style Mississippi juke joint. Burned out by the haute cuisine world’s infernal hours, Siegel wanted a place that brought together food, good atmosphere, and music.
Just about any night of the week, there’s something going on besides the food at Home Team, from live bands to trivia. Where traditional barbecue restaurants rely on a single style of chow, Home Team marries Memphis style ribs, with Texas style brisket, and Lexington (N.C.) style pork butts.
Editor’s Note: North Carolina chopped barbecue is far better than the mustard-sauced yellow soup preferred in many South Carolina barbequetariums. TV pundit Stephen Colbert, God bless him, is just plain wrong. (Heck, he prefers Sticky Fingers.)
It’s more than alchemy; it’s gestalt. To that point, it’s “cooking by committee” in the kitchen; no one person is responsible, and everyone lends a hand. As a result, the number of local awards the restaurant has won is downright silly.
Which award has meant the most to Siegel? All of them and none of them, at the same time. One of his employees, whispering, said, “I have felt the impact of that Southern Living review,” the weariness of longer lines etched in his face.
Things are hopping at Home Team this week. Siegel spies more new faces in the kitchen to handle the upturn and expansions. Last year, he teamed with another group to begin offering food downtown at The Alley, which combines bowling and his non-smoked fare in a hip former warehouse.
Editor’s Note: Sundays are half-priced wings at Home Team, and have been coated with the same rub as the ribs at a fraction of the cost. Order a dozen for the table, and a second dozen to “take home to Mom” … or for the car ride home.
Siegel said national food companies have approached him and his three partners. “But we’re not going to be a cookie-cutter, 220-restaurant chain. That’s not who we are,” says Siegel. “That’s not what we do.”
Home Team, will continue to evolve, he says, but with a focus on quality ingredients, classic technique, and good people. Just like West Ashley.
 
Home Team BBQ is located at 1205 Ashley River Road. For more information call 225-7427 or visit www.hometeambbq.com.