Review: Wildwood BBQ in St. Pete Beach offers a vast array of regional 'cue

By LAURA Reiley

Times Food Critic

ST. PETE BEACH

I went to barbecue school. About six weeks ago, I got certified as a Kansas City Barbecue Society barbecue judge. I learned a lot. Some of it was weird arcana (if the garnish is red curly lettuce, the contender is out), but a lot of it was invaluable information on what constitutes good 'cue, cut by cut. It was helpful in my first visit to the new Wildwood BBQ & Burger, which took over the restaurant space in the old Travelodge, now Postcard Inn on the Beach.

I'm saying it up front, the service is still figuring out its game and the dining room is clean, pleasant and bare-bones (pun semi-intended). But what corporate pitmaster "Big Lou" Elrose is trying to do (the flagship restaurant is in NYC) is savvy: Bring multiregional spins on barbecue, each exactingly rendered, to the same table.

A former motorcycle cop, Big Lou ended up on the national competitive barbecue circuit. It obviously served him well: Kansas City babybacks, carefully smoked and juicy with chipotle barbecue sauce ($12.95 half rack, $22.50 full); Memphis-style (same price) with its spare but zingy dry rub; and Flintstone-sized, super-marbled St. Louis-style (home of "low and slow," yo!; same price) caramelized pork ribs.

Each effort has that succulence of slow smoking, plus the just-right smoke ring (a pink discoloration from the outer edge of meat), no cheating with liquid smoke or Tabasco heat escalation. Then Wildwood enters into the vinegary territory of the Carolinas, with a pulled pork sandwich on plush potato bread ($11.50) and a smoked chicken ($11.95) shimmery with apricot barbecue glaze (best part, the plate's pickled jalapenos, looking so docile over there in the corner).

I think Wildwood will have legs. Yes, because the parking lot has that come-hither 'cue aroma, but also because all the ancillary features are attended to with class. When was the last time you had crisp-edged, oven-roasted Brussels sprouts just faintly perfumed with bacon and sweet onion ($3.25)? Whatever your answer, it's not recently enough.

And I haven't gotten to the second half of the restaurant's name. The burgers are solid ($5.75 to $7.50), meat not overly handled or compressed, freshly ground and topped with enough novelty (want it on a crevice-laden English muffin or with mild green chilies?), and the house chicken wings are the stuff (opt for the textbook "Franks red hot sauce"; $7.50).

There's a full bar and progressive beer options; vegetarians may be sequestered in the salad-or-fried-veggie zone. That said, it still seems to be an inclusive menu, with enough for the timid, the baby-toothed and the serious 'cue aficionado to sit affably at the table together.

Laura Reiley can be reached at lreiley@sptimes.com or (727) 892-2293. Her blog, the Mouth of Tampa Bay, is at blogs.tampabay.com/dining. Reiley dines anonymously and unannounced. The Times pays all expenses. Advertising has nothing to do with selection for review or the assessment.