Stickyfingers Meh

I hadn't been to Stickyfingers in maybe 6 or 7 years; before that I was a regular. I suppose this was initially because I went to PC and/or lived closeby, but then I became a genuine fan.
The menu was slightly different from what I remembered on today's visit. It seemed to me that the Mexican side of things had been minimized, and there was no separate sheet of daily specials. It all seemed somehow more polished and less homey. I don't know if the place changed hands because I never knew the owner. The man who greeted and waited on us today seemed like the owner and was certainly gregarious, helped by his own admission by an early afternoon of indulging in his friend's homemade limoncello!

The jukebox is still cranking, too.
The food was good, mostly. It was not great, and certainly not what I remembered.

We decided to start with the Rocky Mountain Oysters, because we'd never had them and we've been watching an awful lot of Anthony Bourdain's and Andrew Zimmern's adventures involving these treats. What a surprise when they arrived - instead of resembling their, uh, original form in situ these were little fried bits. The Dinnerman thought they tasted like liver; I thought they tasted like little fried bits of nothing, or anything, or air. Meh. The horseradish dip they were served with was just, well, prepared horseradish. It wasn't a dip. Not even a sauce. Just horseradish.

Chips and guacamole came simultaneously. Double meh. This was one thing I really enjoyed at the Stickyfingers of my past. The chips, salsa, and guacamole were fresh, flavorful, and clearly homemade. The salsa in particular was a standout. It was on the thin side, made with plenty of roasted tomatoes, onion, chilis, and cilantro.
Today the guac was ok, but not really possessing any flavor beyond avocado. It seemed to have jarred jalapenos in it. The chips did not seem to be handmade. The salsa was from a jar and it sucked.

The regular pork ribs were not available at the time of our visit, since they had run out the night before and the new batch was still smoking. So the Dinnerman got a combo of baby back and beef ribs. I got a quarter chicken/baby back combo.
The ribs were ok. Nothing like what we love at Wes's! Of course, we were comparing apples and oranges here because we always get the regular ribs at Wes's...we're not much baby back fans - so that's probably an unfair evaluation.
But, the chicken was dry. I always get a quarter chicken at Wes's, and it is without fail so juicy and delicious. At Wes's it has a wing attached. At Stickyfingers, it was dry and wingless. And not hot and kind of shriveled up. Here's where I really started to wish I had gone to Wes's, our go-to place for bbq.
The Dinnerman said the beef ribs were good, but by now he had started to feel queasy...

...and he is still feeling rather queasy. The differential on that is a mile long, and probably has nothing to do with eating Rocky Mountain Oysters at Stickyfingers any more than it has to do with today being Saturday. But I know I will make that association heretofore. I will eat testicles again, however. I hear they are creamy. I want to taste creamy; I want to be texturally challenged. I never again want to taste fried bits of meh with prepared horseradish.

It also kind of pissed me off that the owner balked when I ordered my margarita on the rocks with salt, and proceeded to tell me that I had to try it without first so I could really taste how good a margarita it was. Um, what? I went along with it. This drink definitely could have benefited from salt because it was too sweet and I hate sweet margaritas. Is this a ploy to get people to order a second margarita so they can have it the way they like it?

Go Pats!