Why did it take so long for someone to tell me about this?

 Those of you who know me, understand that I enjoy going to zoos all over the country.  Here in Phoenix, one of my favorites is Wildlife World Zoo and Aquarium out on the west end of the valley.  I enjoy that I am able to get nice and close to the animals on exhibit.
 Just be careful and don't get too close to the llamas because they do tend to spit.  And I wouldn't recommend sticking your finger in the fence the pet a sleeping jaguar.

Last summer we ate at the restaurant, Tiburon, inside the aquarium.  The food was so-so at best but we loved the atmosphere.  Since there was no one else there we had our pick of tables next the shark tank.  This week, my co-worker, Mikey D. recommended we try Dillon's BBQ and when we checked the locations, learned that it had taken the place of Tiburon.  Wow!  What an incredible difference!  We headed over towards the restaurant in the early afternoon, hoping to miss the lunch rush and beat the dinner crowd.  I'm glad we missed the lunch rush because at 2pm we still had a 30 minute wait for a table.  

We were surprised to be extremely lucky to get one of the few tables right next to the shark tank.  This helps out in two ways, one it provides a nice conversational topic for you and your dinner partner and two it gives off a blue ambiance lighting which helps soften the mood in a busy restaurant.  If you are not sitting right next to the tank, don't worry, one of the things I enjoyed in the restaurant was the mirrors on every wall.  No matter which direction you are facing you get some of the view of the tank.

I was happy to hear that I was able to get my Coca-Cola fix.  The appetizer we decided to start with was the beef quesadilla.  A smoked beef brisket in between two grilled flour tortillas with cheddar and monterey jack cheese, served with salsa and sour cream.  This was a great starter!  The cheese was a great compliment to the smokey beef brisket.  The tortillas were grilled to perfection.  I saw another table order the portabello mushroom and spinach dip which looked extremely appetizing.  I think I will try that next time.

Patti ordered the two meat combo platter with pulled pork and pulled chicken.  It comes with two sides and she opted for the heart unhealthy loaded mashed potato and the coleslaw as she knew she would be sharing it with me.  Unfortunately, it turns out she ate most of the potatoes without me.   We had a choice of three barbecue sauces to try.  Being the wimp she is, she opted for mild.  She was pleasantly surprised that the chicken was extremely moist.  Most barbecue chicken experiences have been dry and chewy at best.  This was not the case at Dillon's.  The pulled pork was smoked and perfectly seasoned.  The loaded potato was amazing!  Topped with sour cream, cheese, and bacon, it was smooth, creamy and just melted in your mouth.  No wonder she didn't want to share.  The cole slaw was one of my favorite sides.  It was a lightly creamy dressing accompanied by freshly cut cabbage.

I had the 50/50 entree which is a half rack of baby back ribs and a half-rack of St. Louis ribs.  It also came with two sides.  I opted for the BBQ baked beans and the potato salad.  The potato salad was obviously freshly made, creamy potato salad.  I enjoyed being able to actually taste the hard boiled egg that was part of their recipe.  But since I am somewhat known for my own homemade potato salad, I am still partial to my own recipe.  The baked beans were great cowboy beans.  The flavor of the sauce had a little extra kick which made them special.  The waitress asked me for my preference of BBQ sauce for my ribs, I was a little skeptical because I tend to be very particular about sauces covering up the taste of the meat.  So I asked for a little bit of all three types of sauces on the side.  This gave me the opportunity to taste all three.  The first one I tried with the "Sweet Heat", this is a very sweet sauce with a little bit of a spicy kick.  A little too sweet for my taste and a little too spicy for Patti's taste.  The next sauce was the mild, which was the same as Patti had chosen.  The mild is very good barbecue and is a always a good safe bet if you are unsure or unadventurous.  Last but not least, I tried their Cajun.  The thought of a Cajun BBQ sauce did not initially appeal to me.  I don't typically think of Cajun when I think of BBQ.  Boy was I wrong!  This is the sauce that I recommend and the one I will be choosing in the future.  It has a deep smoky flavor with just enough of the Cajun spice kick to accompany the flavor of the ribs.  The ribs themselves were deeply smoked throughout and fell off the bone easily as all good ribs should.  The meat was tender and juicy and it was almost a shame to put sauce on it all.  I've been to many BBQ places.  But I think I found a clear cut winner here in Phoenix.  Move over Bobby Q's, Dillon is the King!  What really tipped the scale in Dillon's favor was the side dishes complimented the meal and were not just a filler like other BBQ places.

Since we were going to walk around the zoo for a little bit longer, we decided we could afford more calories to burn. <wink, wink> So we took a look at the dessert menu and Patti swayed me to get the Chocolate Fudge Walnut Brownie.  Warm rich, chewy brownie covered with high quality vanilla bean ice cream, whipped cream, drizzled with chocolate sauce and caramel sauce all topped with a single maraschino cherry.  How can you go wrong when there is a cherry on top?  I think it is a bad habit I am getting into by ordering desserts.  Do I look fat to you?  Be honest.
So if a guy named "Mikey" tells you to try Dillon's don't walk,...RUN and try it now!  Thanks for the recommendation, Mike!