Lattuca Barbecue

«The early bird gets the worm»
This rings so true for this diamond in the rough.
If you like BBQ you will love it after visiting this place.

Lattuca, lattuca BBQ… After 4 months of anticipation, I finally got to sample the BBQ.
The meats they offer are beef brisket, beef short rib, pork ribs, and pulled pork.
If you choose 1 meat out of the 4, it’s 17 $, 2 costs 19 $, and the trinity (3) costs 23 $. Which led me to ask, why is there a 2 $ difference between 1 – 2 choices, but a 4 $ difference between 2 – 3 choices?
Being a big fan of southern BBQ, I ordered the trinity (beef brisket, short rib, and pork rib) with mac n cheese and kansas style beans as sides.
The Jack Daniel’s World champion brisket is made texas style. No surprise, if Texas had a holy BBQ animal, it’d be beef. Looking at the crust, I’m thinking they used a dry rub consisting of pepper, salt, paprika in equal parts. I saw a good pink/​purple smoke ring surrounding the extremities of the brisket. The flat was a little dry and lacked in seasoning however. I didn’t get the chance to sample the burnt ends and money muscle, but those were good apparently.
The beef short rib has a nice smoke ring, and had the same flavour profile as the brisket, but it was a bit undercooked (parts close to the bone was still bloody). As the meat was still rigidly attached on the bone, I used a knife to scrape it off (cutting motion alone wouldnt do the job).
The pork rib (yes, one single rib) was made kansas-​style, I suspect. In terms of taste, it was ketchupy sweet and very flavourful (onion powder, garlic powder, salt, pepper, cayenne, etc). Probably the best single rib I had at a restaurant in Montréal, but who the f**k orders 1 rib at a time? If I had a half rack or more, I’d be able to judge it more thoroughly (the ribs on the sides are often burnt and dried out).
Mac N Cheese: pretty good mac n cheese, comparable to the one at Smoke Signals Q down in Lake Placid. I liked the idea of sprinkling a little bit of pork dry rub for enhanced taste.
Kansas-​style Beans: very tasty but not very smoky. It had chunks of scrap meat and a hint of celery (that was very nice).
What was good about Lattuca’s BBQ is that it doesn’t come bathed in a heavy complementary sauce and it doesn’t need one. The meats are obviously fresh so the taste of the meat alone was enough.
The downside was… I was secretly hoping to taste contest level meat — kinda disappointed because I can reproduce this pretty easily in my backyard (it was 6 celsius yesterday) at a third of the price I was charged.
Overall, Lattuca serves hands down the most legit BBQ in Montréal, so if you haven’t had southern american BBQ, you gotta check it out.

Best bbq in the city and in many US states I’ve had the pleasure of eating southern comfort food.
The brisket is melt-​in-​your-​mouth tender. It’s the highlight of the menu considering everything else is also excellent.
The beef ribs are huge! The bark has the right amount of saltiness and crunch.
The pork ribs and pulled-​pork are very tender and fall-​off-​the-​bone. They have just the right amount of sweetness if you like more of a dry-​rub style BBQ.
The sides are good, but not the stars of the show. Although, the baked beans was excellent with smokey bits of bacon and brown sugar.
The staff is also very friendly and the owner is very passionate about his BBQ!

I rarely give 5 stars… But this place deserves them all. The chef and owner John his behind the bar/​counter when you enter, giving love and cutting his meat for the night. He explained to us last night that unfortunately, (for the resto but not for us: P) due to the weather many people canceled their reservation for Valentine’s Day, and since he smokes just the day before, and only the quantity required based on reservations, he had too much meat. Thus, we had incredibly generous portions, and the chef even passed at our table to offer more ribs. How awesome is that? Lattuca maintains a very strict high quality standard and you can be assured that the what will be served in your plate is the tenderest, juiciest, and most savoury Southern-​style barbequed meat ever. Smoked the day before during 14 hours (the waitress explained that 14 hrs is for the brisket, not sure if its the same for their ribs…), and served the next day only. Will be be back.

Best BBQ I’ve had in Montréal. No sauce needed the meat is super tender and flavorful.

I came here tonight with a group of six people. We made a reservation for 5pm and the chef only got there at 6pm. On top of that we had to wait 45 minutes for our orders. The servers were unprofessional and got the orders wrong. The sides are too small and there aren’t too many options. The BBQ once you actually receive it is ok, but go to Blackstrap BBQ in Wellington instead — superior service and they have mac and cheese cubes.

I like this place a lot. Flavourful and tender BBQ with beans make me feel very good on a winter night. They have pulled pork, beef ribs, pork ribs and brisket. This shop won some competition with their brisket but they were all sold out the night we were there.
My favourite was the pork ribs. The pulled pork was a bit dry. Their BBQ sauce was pretty awesome as well, very different than the store bought ones for sure.
For less than $ 30, you get three choices of meat and 2 choices of sides.
This will be my go to place when I feel like trying out some ribs.

We found this place while walking through old Montréal. Oh boy was it good. Brisket sandwich was just the right amount of tenderness and sweetness. We were in Texas earlier in the year and this is equal to what you get down there.
Mac & Cheese side is good — has a nice light and spicy kick to it. Coupled with a cold beer — was just awesome.

I’m a big fan of southern style barbecue. Nothing beats deliciously tender, well seasoned meat that has been smoked for hours. I’ve had barbecue in Kansas, South Carolina, Georgia and Florida (amongst other places). Well, I can say that John Lattuca has nothing to envy from the most famous pitmasters!
His brisket was one of the best I’ve had in my life. Seasoned to perfection, it was tender and flavourful. So much that I didn’t need to drench it in sauce.
His beef ribs were awesome as well. I’m not usually a big fan of beef ribs, I prefer babyback pork ribs. I think that’s because most places I’ve had them, they are not tender and hard to eat. Here, it wasn’t the case. They were melting and simply perfect.
I had taken the Trinity, but unfortunately that day I couldn’t taste the pork ribs, they weren’t ready. Sadly, I’ll have to go back :-)
My only complaint would be the sides that came with the Trinity plate. The barbecue beans were excellent, the mac n’ cheese however was fairly blend and uninteresting. I would have preferred a slaw, for a fresher/​brighter note with the meat, and a little bun (because bread).
But overall, an excellent meal, with a generous portion of meat, for a very reasonable price. It was well worth the 30 minutes roundtrip from the office. I’ll be back!