by Vera Chen
Blisters BBQ is a small joint serving smoked slow cooked
food out of the Shell station north of Rexburg. They specialize in foods like
pulled pork, brisket, and tri tip. They also have the shrimp poor boy and
hamburgers for those who want something different or familiar. They seem to be
pretty new at what they are doing, with just two people taking orders and
cooking. The place seems very laid back with not many tables for customers to
sit and eat. So take out is definitely a must if you want to eat in comfort.
However takeout has its drawbacks too. The food gets cold pretty quick and the
bun gets soggy if you got the pulled pork or chicken because all the juices run
to the bottom. There seems to be a pretty stable flow of customers, so they are
constantly busy it seems. However, that also meant that tables were not wiped
down regularly, and the trash was overflowing. Food is priced per item, with
sides like sodas and waffle fries costing $2 each. They have a combo where you
can add on two sides to your sandwich for $3 which is not bad, but when a
sandwich is costing about $4 - $6, it makes the meal a little expensive for
college students but affordable to the community. They do have specials, which
would bring the price down to about $3.50 to $5 for a sandwich depending of
what the special is for that day.
I went on a Wednesday afternoon at about 1pm and it took me
a total of 15 minutes to place my order and get my food. So they are pretty
quick. The food, on the other hand, is mediocre. I got the bacon wrapped hotdog
with baked beans and a deep fried pickle, and the new pulled chicken sandwich
with waffle fries. The bacon wrapped hotdog is normal; with nothing special
about it other than that it is a bacon wrapped hotdog. The beans were very sour
on the first bite, and then you could taste the spice after that. They had
hotdog pieces in the beans which seemed to be just an extra that they do with
their overcooked hotdogs. The pickle had good breading and flavor. It was not
too sour like other places. The pulled chicken was a little disappointing
especially after all the other raving reviews on it. The portion was huge, but
the flavor left a lot to be desired. The chicken seemed dry, and the bun was
soggy and fell apart after I took it home, 20 minutes later. There also did not
seem to be enough sauce on the meat. It could have used thicker and more sauce
to add flavor. The waffle fries was battered and had good flavor. I liked that
it was waffle fries and not the regular cut fries. They had a sauce with the
fries, which was tangy, definitely different from the common fry sauce found in
this area.
All in all, not bad for what you can find in this area but
not great either.