Review: J.B.'s BBQ Chick N Chop in Fulton, New York

Recently my girlfriend decided to take me out to lunch, and we decided to stop at J.B.'s BBQ Chick N Chop at 720 West Broadway Street in Fulton, New York. We have passed by the spot on many occasions and discussed if the pulled pork often advertised on their message board might be better than other area locations, but we had never stopped before.

The diner type eatery appears rather dingy from the outside, but the parking lot was clean and ample, and we parked our vehicle and headed inside. The clean, sunshiny dining room contained small square tables seating four each along the windowed walls, and several long tables seating more in the middle of the room. There were only a couple of other groups dining there during our visit. Most of the tables were topped with place settings consisting of paper menu placemats and silverware, but the table we wanted (by a large street facing window) was bare. We took the liberty of moving a couple of the place settings and made ourselves comfortable.

It was only a minute before a friendly waitress came to ask if we'd like something to drink. The restaurant serves coffee, tea, juice, and a variety of sodas all for under a dollar. I requested a cup of coffee and my companion had a Mountain Dew. The menu stated that coffee came with only one free refill, which worried me as I am a big coffee drinker, but my coffee was served in a mug instead of a cup and two would have been plenty. Diana was brought a can of cold Mountain Dew and a glass.

We were hungry and rapidly made our selections from the menu. We had arrived at about 11:15, and the diner stopped serving breakfast at 11:00 which was a slight disappointment to me as I love diner breakfasts, but one of their specialties is a haddock dinner, another of my favorites, so I ordered that. Diana had her mind set on the pulled pork sandwich even before we went in. The haddock dinner was $5.95 and included French fries and coleslaw. The pulled pork sandwich was $4.95 for just the sandwich. We also ordered an appetizer of mozzarella sticks for $2.95.

Our waitress was attentive, promptly taking our order, and five mozzarella sticks, along with a small cup of marinara sauce for dipping, were soon on the table. They were fresh and mild, and a great start to the meal. After we had ample time to sample the sticks, our waitress brought our meal. My plate had a large fried fish fillet, a generous portion of hand-cut French fries, a small cup of coleslaw, and a very small cup of tarter sauce. Although I enjoyed the fish and the fries, they weren't quite right. They both had a home cooked, slightly greasy flavor that gave me the impression that they might not have been fried at the right temperature. The coleslaw and tartar sauce were ordinary. All in all the fish dinner was adequate for the price, but nothing special.

Diana's plate had a large soft bun with an ample scoop of pork mixed with barbecue sauce on it. Some of the pork was charred in a way that makes us think it wasn't traditional pulled pork, but yesterday's leftovers chopped and mixed with sauce. There was no problem there though. It was delicious! The bun was soft enough to be easy to eat, but firm enough so that the sauce didn't soak through, and it could be eaten easily. The meat and sauce were flavorful and delicious. We are not sure that it lives up to its claim as the best around, but it was definitely good!

Overall we enjoyed our visit to the Chick N Chop and plan on returning again.