RESTAURANT REVIEW:

The biggest compliment I can ever give a chain restaurant is that when I eat there I had no idea it was a chain.

That doesn’t happen too often, some tell-tale signs usually give it away, but with Dickey’s Barbecue Pit I was fooled through part of my meal.

This restaurant on Beach Boulevard near Garfield Avenue, has been open since December, but its first establishment premiered in 1941 in Dallas. Its philosophy is to provide quality barbecue, but at a fast-food-type pace. Meals are ordered at the counter and a plastic number given, then a plate quickly delivered to the table.

When I showed up with my friends Mark and Diane recently, we honestly had never heard of the place. Some signs on the grass along Beach Boulevard had attracted us. It is tucked into a strip mall and can’t be seen from the busy boulevard.

Customers, though, have found it and when we arrived about 7 p.m. there were several diners.

The immediate attraction is the service. The quickness of the food preparation is very appealing, especially at lunch. We ordered and couldn’t have waited more than five minutes for our meals to arrive.

The menu is simple — sandwiches and plates. The sandwiches are either served on a roll or a bun. The hoagies, served on a roll, are smaller than the regular sandwiches, but have the same meat choices; barbecue beef brisket, polish sausage, pulled pork, smoked chicken breast and smoked turkey breast.

The plates are either one-, two- or three-meat portions, featuring the same selections as the sandwiches in addition to sweet pork ribs.

The pork ribs are slow-cooked and really tender, full of flavor that comes right off the bone, but is definitely not overcooked.

What did seem a bit overdone was the brisket, surprising since it is supposedly the restaurant’s specialty. It was just a bit dry. The turkey breast was pressed, but was smoked and flavorful, as was the chicken breast.

The sausage was one of the best meats they offer. It is smoked and full of spices. The last meat offered, the pulled pork, was also done very well. It was very tender and seemed to be the most generous portion of the meats served.

Picking side orders may be as difficult as choosing your meat. My recommendation would be the potato salad, macaroni and cheese, beans or the waffle fries. The potato salad was smooth and had a decent amount of dill. The macaroni and cheese was my favorite. It was cooked with shells and was so creamy and filled with cheese that I could have had that and been satisfied. The beans are pretty standard, but good and the waffle fries are a unique cut of the fry variety, but thin enough that they aren’t too heavy.

My biggest problem was with the barbecue sauce. The regular sauce was too sweet and the hot sauce was extremely spicy. I kind of solved the problem by mixing the two, but spent most of my meal dodging the sauce whenever possible.

The highlight of the evening was the free vanilla soft-serve ice cream. It was a welcome end, though with the generous portions of food we ended up sharing a small cup.

This restaurant isn’t going to supplant Smokin Mo’s or Lou’s as best barbecue in Huntington Beach, but it might make a more convenient choice, especially for take out. The website shows that the company is planning on two more locations, so this might end up being the fast food barbecue of the area.

Dickey’s Barbecue Pit

ADDRESS: 18900 Beach Blvd., Huntington Beach

PHONE: (714) 962-0008

WEBSITE: www.dickeys.com

CUISINE: Barbecue

SPECIALTY DISH: Three-item meat plate

ALCOHOL SERVED: no

ENTRÉE PRICE RANGE: $2.79 to $14.99

FAMILY FRIENDLY: yes, special children’s menu and free ice cream

Credit cards accepted: American Express, MasterCard and Visa

RATING: ***

JOHN REGER reviews local restaurants and may be contacted at Nolimepublishing@aol.com or P.O. Box 2984, Seal Beach, CA 90740.