East Bay Barbecue – Carmen & Family, Hayward

This is a belated post filling in the details on the barbecue tasting Ruth mentioned in her message linked below. We were on a mission to round up local ‘cue, concentrating on places not entered in last year’s mega-barbecue tasting.

Our first stop was Carmen & Family in Hayward. On “A” Street, west of the freeway, the boarded up storefront was somewhat daunting, but for the “open” sign.

We got a combo dinner of pork ribs and beef brisket. The counter lady carefully trimmed off the fat from the beef, and ended up giving us a few extra slices to make up for it. She was about to toss the trimmings, but we said we wanted it in the box. We got medium and hot sauce on the side. A scoop of potato salad and wheat bread completed the package. When we asked how long the meat was smoked, the cryptic answer was “depends on the meat”.

Image: [BROKEN LINK REMOVED]