Once, Twice...Three Times...

They say the third time's a charm...

One of Bert's good friends also shares a September birthday. Since their birthdays were just days apart, we met up for lunch at Coop's this past weekend...

Their specials that day...

Using an older (and undated) coupon from the reader, we got $2 off our now favorite combo plate, the Kit and Caboodle (4 meats and 2 sides) = $16.99. This was more than enough for us three. Our meats were ribs, brisket, smoked sausage and pulled pork (underneath all that). You're not allowed to double the meats (it's on their sign too) unless you pay extra. Our sides were baked beans and this time we tried the red beans and rice. I thought of the classic Sir Mix-a-Lot ode to the uh, female form, "Baby Got Back"

Here's the reference:

"Give me a sister, I can't resist her...Red beans and rice didn't miss her"

Forget the chicken here! Just bring on the brisket and ribs!

Their brisket was cut a little thicker than before today. I like it a little thinner.

This is the other birthday guy, the husband of Robsessed (we'll call him RH). His t-shirt was a gift two years ago from the Sexy Nurse when we went to Lil Piggy's BBQ in Coronado for his 40th. Worn with vintage 70's flared maroon polyester pants he bought from the swap meet (he also has it in white and mustard yellow). According to R, he once wore his mustard polyester pants with a vintage Hawaiian shirt that was half unbuttoned. He's pretty comfortable wearing anything and likes to wear his shirts on the smaller side to show off his muscles.

R's family plate - They got the same combo but with jerk chicken, sausage, ribs, and brisket. Same sides too. Both of our combo plates came with a big piece of cornbread (the only thing that isn't made in house).

We sampled their different pies: the Sweet Potato (at 11 o'clock), next to that, Buttermilk, and in the styrofoam cup, the peach cobbler. My personal favorite was the sweet potato pie. None of us ever had buttermilk before and that was different. It was really smooth but didn't have as much flavor as the sweet potato. The cobbler was served warm. I didn't really like it because it was warm but also because I don't like my pies to be all mushed together either. But that's just picky old me.

The bday guys.  Too bad Coop's doesn't have a liquor license. Not sure if they are working on getting one or not, but man, if they did...watch out.

Speaking of liquor, this was the variety of beers we got for RH for his bday. We had a field day at BevMo picking these out. Alcohol is always a failsafe gift for a dude. One of our favorites, Rogue Chocolate Stout (from Portland), Big Daddy from San Francisco (we got it for the name) and Samichlaus (from Germany). The Samichlaus is listed in the Guinness book of records it is the Strongest Lager Beer in the world, with a 14% alcoholic content. According to their website it's only brewed once a year on December 6th and aged 10 months before it's bottled. RH will have to let us know how that one goes.

The Krusovice is from the Czech Republic, the Okocim from Poland (Bert had one of these in Chicago a couple of years back), and the Longboard is from Hawaii.

It was a great meetup for lunch and hopefully we can all try another bbq place for another occasion or better yet, come back here!