ROMANCE BARBECUE

Hoppen Hierarchy: ★★★⭑

Texas-style BBQ

Perfect For: Lunch; Casual Dining; Takeout

Standout Dishes: Ribs; Sausage Link; The Sandwich

Styles of barbecue tend to be deeply territorial and defined. Central Texas ‘que is all about beef and slow and low cooking. Kansas City is known for burnt ends and its sweet, thick sauces. Memphis is all about pork, while North Carolina is committed to smoking the whole hog.

But in recent years, we’ve seen a healthy blending of styles and an acceptance that a joint doesn’t have to be defined by one specific protein or cooking method. And the idea of fusing together multiple styles is embraced heavily by Romance Barbecue, a pop-up in Omaha.

If it had to be identified, Romance Barbecue would classify as Texas-style barbecue, with a heavy emphasis on brisket, sausage, and simple rubs. But their menu also has burnt ends and Asian-inspired side dishes, creating a blend of styles that, in the wrong hands, could end up with some very confused plates.

Fortunately, that’s not the case at Romance Barbecue, which is run by two Omaha restaurant veterans who’ve honed their craft at restaurants all over the city (most notably at fine dining destination Au Courant). They combine their various experiences and techniques they’ve learned with a love for barbecue to create plates and sandwiches of smoked meats unlike any in the city.

As a pop-up, Romance Barbecue moves around Omaha, setting up shop in various bars, restaurants, and other locales. It has made appearances in several food halls, including the Inner Rail Food Hall and now defunct Switch Food Hall.

On a menu that sells brisket, burnt ends, and sausage by the pound in addition to several sandwiches, the Spare Ribs are the standout. They’re enormous, and I’d be willing to bet a plate of four bones comes with 3/4 pound of meat. The salt/pepper bark on the outside is delicious and provides awesome texture contrast to the tender, silky meat, and the pink smoke ring is quite pronounced. This meat needs no sauce to taste great.

The ribs are smoked perfectly; the meat clings to the bone and doesn’t fall off, but separates cleanly with a slight tug. They’re among the best ribs you’ll have in Omaha.

If barbecue sandwiches are your style, go for the one with the simplest name in the book: The Sandwich. Romance BBQ takes its tender, fatty cubes of burnt ends with their perfectly crusty bark and loads them between two pieces of buttery, toasted bread with pickled onions and kimchi. The funk and acid of the veggies help cut the richness of the fatty meat. If the sandwich were on a better bread (maybe a brioche bun?), it would be even better.

The Sausage is a real standout, too. Romance BBQ cases its own links, giving the exterior a firm consistency and a good snap with tender, meaty insides. Peppery and with a touch of heat, these are very solid sausages.

The sides are where Romance Barbecue steers into a completely different line than you’ll find at any Omaha barbecue joint. The names of the dishes are familiar, but you’ve never had beans or coleslaw like these.

Beans: Whereas most BBQ beans are swimming in sugar and molasses, Romance Barbecue’s are more take a savory, smoky, citrus nod. The beans are creamy, and the cup is chock full of that delicious sausage.
Coleslaw: Cole slaw is normally forgettable, but this slaw has plenty of bite from freshly cut cabbage, and it’s lightly dressed. Rather than being mayo-heavy, the main flavor profiles are that of lime and chile.
Seaweed Salad: This chewy, salty side of greens is the perfect complement to the rich, heavy nature of the rest of the meal.

And in a final nod to Korean cuisine, each plate comes with a side of kimchi and pickles. The flavor of each could be punched up several notches, but they add a nice acidity and lightness in what can be a gut buster of a meal. Think of them as palate cleansers between bites.

As a pop-up, the future of Romance Barbecue isn’t certain. Ideally the guys would like to open a food truck or find a permanent space, and for their sake, I hope it happens. The barbecue is good enough that it deserves a place to take roots; just don’t expect it to fall into one of the traditional barbecue buckets.