A ‘Riblicious’ Meal at Izzy’s

Izzy’s Brooklyn Smokehouse Kosher BBQ now has a location in Miami, Florida.

My wife, Dossy, loves ribs, so she “made sure” that we got to try this restaurant while on vacation here in Florida. Of course, she ordered her favorite BBQ Back Ribs as their menu says: “finished over our woodshow grill and covered in our BBQ sauce.”

When we got to the restaurant, I approached the gentleman behind the counter and asked if he was the owner. He acknowledged that he was one of them, and I let him know that we were in town and that I was interested in doing a review of their restaurant for my blog on TOI. He nodded seemingly uninterested and went back to his focus of preparing the various meat and chicken dishes on the grill and serving up the sandwiches through the looking glass counter.

We ordered the ribs for my wife and she was in seventh heaven just waiting for them to come. There was no bread or appetizer put on the table and when the ribs came they were just that, ribs covered in thick brown BBQ sauce with a sprinkling of pickles and purple cabbage on the side and a cup of ketchup. There was no doubt that this meal was all about the ribs and that virtually nothing else mattered. Looking at my wife’s happy face, I can almost forgive them for the various service snafus.

It was nice of Izzy’s to let me take so many photos with no questions asked, and overall the ribs were pretty amazing! The meat was browned and well done and so soft, it practically fell off the bone. The taste was a zingy intermingling of salty and sweet hot BBQ sauce that gave a satisfying jolt to the taste buds. The thick sticky sauce ended up all over our hands, but it didn’t bother us a bit.

Overall, we were happy foodie campers and it was reminiscent for me of when we dated back in NY and I used to pick Dossy up at work every day and gladly take her to the one and only, Schmulka Bernstein’s, on the Lower East Side, which had the best kosher ribs at the time. (This was one of my ploys to get her to marry me.) Like then, today she ate them all, and left me only a little taste. But, it was wonderful to see her so happy for her favorite food.

Thank you to Izzy’s and may you keep up the meaty meat meals for a Jewish audience that savors the taste of real southern BBQ, keeps kosher, and enjoys a quality dining experience.