Dining out: Q4U

As we stepped into Q4U, I thought I glimpsed the ghost of Jake Blues stroll around a corner, heading to a table crowded with four fried chickens and a Coke.

Of course, it was crowded on the recent weekend evening that we stopped by for dinner, but this is the kind of place Jake would love: It's unpretentious without being kitschy (notwithstanding the silk flowers twined over everything), relying on good meat and good service to keep customers coming back.

It's almost de rigueur for barbecue places to trumpet the awards they've won at this or that competition, or from this or that publication, and Q4U is no exception. And even though I'm sometimes a contributor to those plaques and things on the walls, I don't think they matter nearly as much as any one diner's experience.

On that score, Q4U mostly passes the test. We were seated quickly, drink orders taken and a basket of bread appeared on the table. Frankly, I could have done without it: The bread was dry and tasteless, as if it had been sliced and left sitting for a while, and the spread that came with it was margarine. Better bread and some butter — or no spread at all, the better to sop the crusts in the various tasty sauces that were to come — would have started things off better.

Things looked up from there. I had a hard time deciding what to get: I was tempted by the catfish sandwich, for example. But we did what we usually do at barbecue joints: order a bunch of stuff and pass it around.

Meat-wise, we satisfied ourselves with the sampler and rib tips platters, plus Q4U's barbecue sundae — more on that in a minute. The sampler was an ample grouping of three ribs and big mounds of pulled pork and beef. All the meats were good, though the beef, chewy and juicy, was my favorite. We asked for, and got, both of Q4U's sauces with it: a standard dark, tangy sauce and a bright-red sauce with a nice kick to it. I won't say the hot stuff is my favorite barbecue sauce in Utah — that honor belongs to the mango-mango sauce at Layton's Holy Smoke BBQ — but it's right up there.

The kids liked the rib tips, meaty and moist with just a little bone in them, and they laughed delightedly at the barbecue sundae. In a clear 16-ounce cup were layered pulled pork, baked beans and a "froth" of vinegary cole slaw studded with celery seeds. It was fun to eat, and the flavors mixed in unexpected ways.