R.U.B.: Always Decent, Never Special

I ate at R.U.B. over on 23rd St. and 7th Ave. tonight for the first time in probably over two years. It was as I remembered it - solid, but not spectacular. It has a menu featuring a wider variety of meats than most of its competition, which is a nice touch, but it does not excel at any one thing offered on it's menu. This is a bit frustrating. I had heard the smoked pastrami was good, and being a bit unusual for a BBQ menu, I was looking forward to trying it. It was alright. Not Katz's, but obviously not what I Was expecting or looking for. Just tends to be my basis for comparing all pastrami in the world. Right or wrong, that is how I view pastrami. The bark could have been a bit more distinguished and flavorful. I found it to be bland. It was also very thinly sliced and I def prefer a meatier cut. The turkey was dry. The pulled chicken was pretty good and I enjoyed that. The brisket was too thinly cut and the bark was also lackluster. The pulled pork was solid. The ribs were OK too, but again, nothing that really stood out either. I had remembered the baked beans being delicious, and they were OK, but very, very sweet and full of probably an excess of brown sugar and molasses which caused it to be unusually thick, saucey, and sweet. The burnt ends in the beans were very good though. I also was hoping to get a burnt ends plate for the table to split, but they were sold out of that for the day, so it was not to be. That was another item I remembered being very good, but I did not have the opportunity to retry it and se if it still held up to my memory of it. That's really all I have to say about R.U.B. I don't think I would send some one here as an example of what really, really good BBQ is like, but then again if and when I am next in the area and looking for some solid food, I would not hesitate to go back inside and try again to see if there is something more than just solid here.