BBQ SAUCE OF THE WEEK: Montgomery Inn

It's another barbecue sauce from a famous barbecue restaurant, but this one is from...Cincinnati? Yep, it's Montgomery Inn, self-proclaimed "Home of the World's Greatest Ribs." I will admit up front that I have never eaten at the restaurant (I'm usually too busy loading up on chili or goetta when I'm in the 'Nati), but I have definitely heard of it.

The place was opened nearly 60 years ago by "The Ribs King" Ted Gregory in Montgomery, Ohio. They have since added locations in Cincinnati proper and in Northern Kentucky, as well as a location in Dublin, Ohio (hometown of one Lucas J Schneider). The place's notoriety has swelled to the extent that "every president from Gerald R. Ford to Barack Obama has enjoyed [Montgomery Inn's] ribs." Yes, it's that kind of place. And like so many of that kind of place (many of them located approximately 3 hours to the west of us), they now operate a booming mail order business, shipping frozen slabs of ribs to all corners of the globe (for $23 a slab, plus shipping). And they sell their barbecue sauce in grocery stores. Montgomery Inn is the only "restaurant" barbecue sauce available in Middle Tennessee that this not from a Memphis-based restaurant.

The sauce itself is about as basic and unadventurous as its label. It falls into the category of "spruced up ketchup." It's a little bit thinner than ketchup, but with the same smooth consistency. Its flavor is very tomato-centric, but sweeter and tangier than straight up ketchup. The sweetness does not have much personality, and quite frankly, neither does the sauce as a whole.

Grade: C+