Texas beef brisket at Zeke's Smokehouse

Let me just begin by saying that this isn’t a completely fair comparison. (How’s that for a lede?) Mr. Cecil’s California Ribs and Zeke’s Smokehouse offer totally different styles of barbecue. But I liked different menu items from each of these places, so I thought I would pit the two against each other — in a friendly BBQ cookoff in my mind, of course.

First up is Mr. Cecil’s. I ate at the mini chain’s newest location in Manhattan Beach (there are also West Los Angeles and Sherman Oaks locations). My favorites included the buffalo wings, which were tangy and spicy, and grilled shrimp. The beans with bacon and the cole slaw are good, too. The bacon gives the beans a nice flavor, and the cole slaw isn’t overly creamy.

Buffalo wings

Grilled shrimp

Baked beans and cole slaw

I also enjoyed Mr. Cecil’s ribs, which are marinated then grilled, not smoked. Grilling the ribs give it a nice crust, if you will.

Ribs

And one of the most important parts of barbecue — the hush puppies. Mr. Cecil’s is made with scallions, which was a pleasant surprise.

Hush Puppies

Now on to Zeke’s. I ate at the West Hollywood location (there’s also a Montrose one, too). We started off with some sweet potato fries, onion rings and hush puppies. All were good, but the hush puppies were my favorite out of the three. Zeke’s are made with onion and have the perfect fluffy texture. The deep fried okra is respectable, too.

Hush puppies (left), sweet potato fries (center), onion rings (right)

Hush puppies

Fried okra

We then moved on to Zeke’s Build Your Own BBQ $9.95 special, which gives you a choice of two meats and two sides. The plate is huge! Take a look at my meal with pulled pork, pulled chicken, collard greens and potato salad:

Pulled chicken (bottom left), potato salad (top left), pulled pork (bottom right), collard greens (top right)

Here’s the full list of options for the special, which is available Monday through Thursday from 3:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. and Saturday and Sunday from 11:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.:

Meats: pulled pork, pulled chicken, a quarter of dark meat chicken, smoked ham or hot link.

Sides: baked beans, collard greens, mashed potatoes, green beans, potato salad, cole slaw, applesauce, kettle chips or fries.

I liked the pulled pork and potato salad, but my favorite meat was the Texas beef brisket, which unfortunately isn’t offered as part of the $9.95 special.

Texas beef brisket

Zeke’s also carries Sprecher root beer, a Wisconsin specialty, and on tap, no less. It’s not too sweet, which is welcomed considering root beer tends to be overly sweet for me. Speaking of sweet, I liked all of the restaurant’s desserts that we tasted: bread pudding, brownies and pecan pie. The bread pudding was more bread than pudding, which I preferred; the brownies were very chocolatey; and the pecan pie was more pecan than filling, another welcome trait.

Bread pudding

Brownies

Pecan pie

So who wins my imaginary barbecue showdown? Well, neither. I would rather pick and choose specific items from each: Mr. Cecil’s for ribs, appetizers and sides; Zeke’s for brisket, hush puppies and dessert. Maybe I’ll have to get take out and create my own meal.

Note: Both of these meals were media dinners.