Rocklands (DC - Georgetown)

Question: What to do when you have a dozen friends coming over on a weeknight, but you get home too late to cook for them?

Answer: Rocklands BBQ

A few weeks ago, my wife and I were getting ready for bed, when we realized that she had a dozen friends coming over for "book club" the following evening and we hadn't done a thing to prepare for it. After a few moments of frenzied recipe review, it came to me - we would outsource our cooking to Rocklands.

The next evening, she called in the order when I was on my way home from work and 30 minutes later, they had a big order waiting for me. Ten more minutes later, the girls were dining on ribs, BBQ chicken, cole slaw, potato salad and everyone's favorite, the macaroni and cheese.

I have always been a casual admirer of Rocklands - eaten in a few times - carried out occasionally for a quick weeknight dinner - but this was the first time that they had come to my rescue in a catering emergency.

As always, they were up to the task. I walked in, past the long line of people waiting to place orders, gave them my name, swiped my credit card and then they helped me to my car with a bread rack full of food.

At Rocklands, they slow cook the meat over hickory and then bring it up to temperature later, after you place your order. This ensures that your order is hot, but also still tender and juicy. They also go to the trouble of splitting the ribs and breaking the whole chickens into individual serving sizes before wrapping them up for you.

[NOTE: The one drawback of their reheating approach is that they tend to mop on a lot of sauce and apply high heat when they are bringing the meat up to temperature. What this gains in terms of preserving the texture of the meat, it loses by burning the sauce. Too often the overwhelming initial impression from Rocklands chicken and ribs is that of charcoal. If they laid off the sauce until after firing the meat, then mopped it on hot, they would get the same result, without the charring.]

With respect to side orders, I am partial to the applesauce, braised collards (with just a bit of bacon tossed in) and Texas corn pudding, but on this particular evening, the macaroni and cheese prevailed.

This is a sinfully rich, creamy version of the classic dish, made with large shells and what appears to be Velveeta. During the cooking process, some of the cheese on top browns. This is later broken up and arrives on your plate as incorporated crunchy, salty morsels. I could eat a pint of this stuff on my own if I had no fear of heart disease.

Next time you are in a pinch, expand your horizons (and your waist line) with some help from the guys at Rocklands.