Restaurant of the Week: Dickey's Barbecue Pit

This week's restaurant: Dickey's Barbecue Pit, 9670 Haven Ave. (at Trademark), Rancho Cucamonga.

Dickey's opened recently in one of the new buildings just north of the aloft hotel at Haven and Fourth. It's in the same modern-minimalist style as the hotel with steel and big windows. The interior is done in orange, burgundy and chocolate; you order at the counter and everything looks clean and shiny.

Of course, a purist will argue that barbecue should only be consumed in a shack with a corrugated tin roof and a smoker out back that looks like a piece of a steam locomotive. I can empathize, and you are hereby directed to Red Hill BBQ, across town but a world away in ambience.

But back to Dickey's, which if it has a barbecue pit, as the name indicates, it's probably tasteful and scrubbed clean twice daily. They have six meats -- brisket, Polish sausage, pork ribs and the like -- and prices are for a sandwich with zero, one or two sides or for a plate with two sides and one, two or three meats.

I got the pulled pork sandwich with two sides ($8.59): cole slaw and mac and cheese. The meal arrived switfly. Some would say the pulled park was too fine in texture, and perhaps that a 4-oz. portion was too small. But I enjoyed it, and with the two sides, it made for a filling meal. It's convenient to our office and I would go back. *

Drinks come in one size only, in a yellow plastic 32-oz. cup, for $1.99.

Free with each meal are pickles -- serve yourself from a giant jar -- and soft-serve ice cream, a nice touch. And kids eat free on Sundays.

Dickey's is a family-run chain started in Dallas in 1941, according to its website. The original Mr. Dickey probably never guessed his descendants would one day have a restaurant in Cucamonga.

* Update: I've gone back repeatedly, largely due to the convenience factor. The restaurant's gas oven did a terrible job on the rib plate the one time I made the mistake of ordering something more ambitious. Go to a real BBQ joint (i.e., an actual barbecue pit) if you want ribs. Stick to the sandwiches, which are pretty good.