Just past the hustle and bustle of downtown Long Beach is a little yellow house that is cranking out a fantastic barbecue smell that permeates the peninsula. Though the restaurant is a bit nondescript and easy to miss, CCR’s Smokehouse is producing some quality barbecue entrées.

Let’s start with the baby-back ribs: with a tiny pricetag of $12 (plus tax), these are both tasty and an incredible value. The meat was so tender it was literally falling off the bone. It also had a rich, smoky quality that I appreciated. I do wish, though, that the flavor could be enhanced somehow. I cannot attest to how the ribs are prepared, but if a spice rub is used in their preparation (as if often the case with ribs), the addition of more sweet, savory and spicy elements would enhance the overall flavor profile.

Next, although I thought teriyaki chicken a rather odd entrée for a barbecue place to be offering, I must say that it was very tasty. I might suggest that the restaurant offer a teriyaki chicken sandwich with pineapple, with a different cole slaw as a side. I still don’t understand how teriyaki coincides with barbecue, but I found it delicious nonetheless.

I was not as impressed with the pulled pork sandwich. As I have written in the past with regard to pork shoulder, it can sometimes be tricky to prepare. Any home chef who has cursed over tough pork chops knows what I’m talking about. The “low and slow” rule for temperature and long cooking time usually required for a pork shoulder must be followed, and often, chefs will impatiently raise the temperature to cook the meat faster, resulting in tough meat. Again, I don’t know the manner in which CCR’s prepared its pork, but I found the meat to be tough overall. The sandwich was a bit too chewy for me, so I went to work on the sides instead.

I have yet to find a restaurant where the barbecue sides are as tasty as the barbecue itself, but in my mind, the sides are just as important. The ways of preparing baked beans are numerous; I myself have several recipes that I like for different occasions, and none of them require a terrible amount of work or many unusual ingredients. I didn’t find the beans at CCR’s to be especially tasty or especially noteworthy. They were, in a word, “okay.” They were also lukewarm, which didn’t help matters. Adopting a house recipe for beans would be incredibly simple, and would, in my mind, elevate the menu. I’ve known barbecue restaurants in other cities that serve beans so delicious that they also serve a larger portion of them as an entrée with a big hunk of cornbread.

I found the cole slaw better than the beans, and I would call it your “standard, American variety” cole slaw, with shredded cabbage and a semi-sweet, mayonnaise-based dressing. In general, I don’t usually find cole slaw “tangy” enough for my liking, so I will often add salt and vinegar when making it at home. Still, this is just my personal taste, and I would imagine the cole slaw at CCR’s will have broad appeal.

Finally, I found the potato salad similar to the cole slaw: traditionally prepared, classically flavored, but a bit bland and uninspired. I think some inventiveness with regard to the side dishes at CCR’s would go a long way and wouldn’t require a lot of extra work or cost.

My favorite dish of the day was a tri-tip steak sandwich. I love tri-tip anyway, and the version at CCR’s is delicious, with the meat being beyond tender. Our server told me that the buns used in the restaurant’s sandwiches are homemade, and they have a rough, rustic texture about them that “fits” barbecue and soaks up sauce tremendously well.

Speaking of the sauce, CCR’s homemade sauce is everything a good barbecue sauce should be: sweet, savory, spicy and rich. The restaurant should consider bottling and selling it.

With a few minor tweaks to the menu, I think CCR’s Smokehouse could become a really good barbecue place. I would suggest also punching up the décor a bit, maybe establishing a good logo for a sign, and doing something to the house exterior to suggest that it is, in fact, a restaurant, and not a house.

Overall I was pleased with my visit, and I am interested in seeing how the restaurant will grow.