Deep South Goodness at Famous Dave’s
Everyone loves a rags to riches story, and Dave’s got one hell of tale to tell.
From experimenting with different BBQ rubs and making a smoke pit out of garbage cans 25 years ago to now running a global barbecue empire, there’s good reason for Dave to be famous.
From Mighty Quinn’s to the Blacksmith, American BBQ is really starting to make it’s presence felt in Dubai and with the arrival of Dave - with more than 700 awards stuffed in his back pocket, Famous Dave’s new joint at Festival City was always going to be something I needed to be a part of.
The restaurant shouldn’t be too hard to find at the exterior facade is absolutely massive. Upon entry, the oversized sense of scale gives way to a series of different seating areas from booths to regular tables, all of which are bathed in a neon glow courtesy of another massive gesture - the huge FAMOUS sign mounted to the ceiling. As far as the interior design goes, you can expect the expected in the form of wood, concrete and black n’ white graphic art.
Once seated your friendly server will no doubt take through the sauce line up as they draw a smiley face with everything from Devils Spit to Rich n Sassy, it’s a good bit of fun and a great little intro.
The menu runs through all of Dave’s classics and starts with Sliders which is an affordable way to tackle some of the tastes. The sliders look good and eat well with the The Manhandler (AED 29) and the Almost Famous (AED 25) both being excellent choices.
Turning it up a notch and skipping past the soups, salads and apps for the most part, I arrived at the truly impressive Burnt Ends at 59 Dirhams. What you get here is a piece of Texas Toast with some utterly umptuous cubed beef brisket topped with onion rings. The smokiness and the deep bbq flavors coming off this thing was an absolute delight to the point where ordering another right away was fast becoming a real option. Thankfully cooler heads prevailed and I hung in there to try an 8oz serve of the Texas Brisket (AED 99) which was soft and moist and quite lovely with it’s little sprinkling of sea salt but paled in comparison to the sensational burnt ends.
Off to the side, we opted for sweetcorn and a serve of the dirty rice. While the rice was okay, the sweetcorn was waterlogged and tasteless marking the only real low point of the outing.
In all, Famous Dave’s is a fantastic, family friendly (ie. Non Licensed) edition to festival City that really hits the mark with a clever and approachable menu and pretty good service. It’s an offer that let’s you sample the food without breaking the bank but then offers some elevated options for those looking to splurge.
And for those that are looking for something more substantial, don’t worry Dave’s got your back with his Famous Feasts or perhaps one of his Legendary Burgers. Including the Mains, there’s a lot to choose from and that means plenty more excuses to pay Dave another visit and I promise I’ll order something different to go with the burnt ends.