UPDATED!Top Notch BBQ - aptly named food truck

Look out Hog's Heaven, you have competition!

Before this week, I had an unshakeable belief that the best barbecue in Las Vegas was to be found at Hog's Heaven. Why? Because the meat tasted good, even without sauce. Since I have recently been on a food truck binge (and will be featuring only mobile eateries for about a week or so), I found Top Notch BBQ as a place I should try. Boy was I glad I did.

Finding Top Notch BBQ took some doing. I will discuss the finer points of finding a mobile eatery in another post. Suffice it to say, I found it and grabbed a friend - we'll call him the Fountain of Youth - FOY for short. FOY was ready for lunch and after confirming he had cash, we headed up Charleston to find Top Notch.

When I mapped Top Notch, it looked like it was near Valley View. Turns out it was past Decatur. No big deal. When we go there, here's what we saw:

However, this photo does not show what we heard. They must have had some pretty hefty speakers under the trailer, that were pounding out some serious, soulful music. It sounded like some modern day Barry White. The lyrics were hilarious. Here are some excerpts:

"Girl, may I kiss your toes?"

"There's gonna be some lovin' up in here tonight!"

It was subtle, sophisticated stuff.

With the atmosphere set for "stun", I was ready to order. "What's your best thing?" I asked. "Our ribs are the best, and the pulled pork comes in second."

I ordered a rib dinner. It came with two sides. I chose green beans and sweet potato casserole. It took about five minutes for the food to be ready.

First, here the overview:

Now, take a look at these ribs. I swear you can see the flavor. This meat tasted amazing. It was thoroughly flavored and was quite tender (Hog's Heaven might be more tender). I was almost embarassed by the sounds I was making while eating, except that FOY was making the same ones. The fact that the meat was well flavored, was no surprise. The reason I selected Top Notch, was that they advertise their food by saying "The sauce is on the side." That tells me that they are taking care of the meat, first. It was sublime.

What about the sauce, albeit on the side? Well, I can tell that by focusing on the meat, it frees Top Notch up to be take risks with the sauce. The sauce is spicy. I loved it. You might not. You can actually see the red pepper seeds in the sauce. Aside from the heat, the sauce is good. It does not, however, taste like you would expect a bbq sauce to take. No matter, it's delicious.

How about the sides? Take a look at those beans. That's smoked turkey in there with the beans. Awesome.

Sweet potato casserole? Amazing. I felt like I was getting dessert. Great texture, perfect flavor, good tempeture.

Toast? Of course, and it was delicious.

I gotta say, Top Notch has really impressed me. It's not cheap (my meal plus a soda was $13), but it is delicious. Track these guys down. I will be asking them for more ribs, but I won't be asking them for the name of the guy singing about kissin' yo' toes.