The Deluxe Combo Platter has BBQ Baby Back Ribs, BBQ Pulled Pork and Texas Beef Brisket, plus sides of baked beans and coleslaw.

PROVIDENCE — There are no pretensions at Rick’s Roadhouse, even though its backers — John Elkhay, Rick and Cheryl Bready — are the team that brought you XO Café, Ten Prime Steak & Sushi, Citron and the Chinese Laundry.

Emblazoned across the front of the menu is the description of “Providence’s Only One Star Restaurant (if that).”

It’s a down-home kind of place with a log fence that corrals in the hefty wooden picnic tables at the entrance. Two pool tables await their cues inside the door. The bar is crowded and patrons can play Keno. Country music twangs from the sound system. On the dining room wall are big signs for 7-Up and Phillips Petroleum as well as a giant-screen projection TV, showing a game at Yankee Stadium the night we were there.

The layout hasn’t changed all that much from its previous incarnations as the Cactus Grille and Big Fish, the latter operated by the same management team, although there’s a two-steps-up dining area where the bar was when it was Big Fish. This section, with big lone star cutouts along the railing, overlooks an expanse of tables on the lower level, a big open kitchen and that big TV screen. It dominates a side wall, an antlered deer head watching silently from across the room. Considering that Monday is usually such a slow day for restaurants that many don’t open at all, and what with what seems to be a daily dose of bad economic news, it was a surprise to see the joint really was jumping with more than half the tables taken and the barroom near capacity.

Well, why not? It’s not only that you can satisfy your inner Southern child with the likes of Buzzsaw Steak Chili, Pig Pile Nachos, Hillbilly Punch, Carolina BBQ Pulled Pork and BBQ Baby Back Ribs on the menu (the ones we tried were delicious and in many ways better than a more celebrated BBQ joint we’ve frequented). It’s that the prices are wallet-friendly when a menu designed by chef Walter Sosa, the original Ten Prime Steak & Sushi chef.

At the end of our very good tummy-filling (and then some) meal, we decided that two people could easily eat for $31 here if they ordered Rick’s Poo Poo Platter ($11.99) — with hearty servings of three items from the appetizer menu — and the Deluxe Combo Platter ($18.99) — BBQ Baby Back Ribs, BBQ Pulled Pork and Texas Beef Brisket, plus sides of baked beans and coleslaw. Toss in a couple of beers, the tax and tip and it would still come to a very filling and tasty meal for under $45.

Getting into the spirit of the place, I couldn’t resist the Hillbilly Punch ($6), a refreshing sweet-sour mix (though more sweet) of white rum, Peachtree Schnapps, Amaretto, cranberry juice, citrus juices and Sprite. My dining companion’s frozen Texas Chainsaw Margarita ($6) arrived in a tall glass rimmed with salt, looking in all its pink shaved iciness like a glass of cotton candy. With Gold Tequila, Triple Sec, citrus juices and Grenadine, it was less sweet than many Margaritas, but got a heads-up from the drinker.

The Poo Poo Platter was a generous serving of three items that can be ordered solo from the appetizer list. There were four skewers of thin, tender, marinated steak in a bourbon sauce that was wonderfully moist and flavorful, with a side of a sweet vinegary sauce. There were four slices of Texas Eggrolls, a heady mix of smoked chicken, corn kernels, black beans and roasted vegetables, hand rolled inside a pleasantly chewy dough wrapper that our perky waitress, Missy, said was made in the kitchen. The eggrolls were not overly spicy and were accompanied by a cool avocado ranch dip. There were four Wings From Buffalo (two wings and two thighs, actually) and though I’m not a Buffalo wings person, I happily chowed down on a wing and a thigh, a Bleu cheese dressing on the side for dunking and a roll of paper towels on the table for insurance.

Not realizing how much food would be on the platter and in the interest of trying as much as possible, we also ordered a side of onion rings ($2.49), which were the big, puffy kind with a light batter and a lot of taste with a tomato-based sauce on the side.

We also shared a bowl of the Buzzsaw Steak Chili ($3.99), which the menu proclaims once won the Texas Chili Cook-off and a spokeswoman for the restaurant said was obtained from one of Elkhay’s friends whose cousin’s recipe it was. She added that the man was blackmailed in exchange for a picture of the friend and some goats. One bite and I could see why a recipe like this involved blackmail. I was an instant convert and wished I’d ordered a bowl all my own. Next time for sure. Besides a rich tomato flavor, it was extraordinarily meaty, spicy but not overly so and with just the right touch of shredded cheddar and chopped onion on top for a bit of added flavor and crunch. If you’re in rush, stop in and get some to go.

The Deluxe Combo Platter had good-sized portions each of very moist and tender strands of the pulled pork, a slab of the baby backs that were much meatier than they at first seemed and several slices of thin, tender brisket that was a bit on the dry side. The accompanying coleslaw was not soggy with dressing, allowing the full flavor of the cabbage to dominate; the baked beans were robust with a stick-to-your-ribs sensibility, and there was a small brick of not overly sweet cornbread as well. My dining companion, who loves sweet potato fries, couldn’t bypass a side of ($2.49) which were pleasantly limp, inexplicably salty and not crispy as one who hadn’t ordered this dish before might guess.

My 8-ounce Drunken Flat Iron steak ($13.99), marinated in bourbon barbecue sauce “and plenty of garlic” as the menu promised, wasn’t as boozy nor as garlicky as it was billed. In fact, it was a delicious cut of tender, but not-fatty, meat that had a subtly rich flavor, cooked perfectly to medium. On the side, were very good garlic mashed potatoes and a ramekin of collard greens, their slightly bitter flavor dressed up by bits of bacon and pork.

It sounds like a lot of food and it was. No question why we saw a couple of shopping bags filled with take-home containers going out the door.

Still, we were game for dessert (all house made) and ordered the insanely rich Nutter Butter Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Pie ($5.49), which sounded even sweeter than other choices which include a banana bread pudding, a hot fudge brownie sundae, campfire s’mores and “the best chocolate cake ever.” The peanut butter ice cream pie had a graham cracker crust, chocolate chips sprinkled on top and whipped cream on the side. I had planned on just a bite, but kept digging in for more.BILL OF FARE

Dinner for two at Rick’s Roadhouse might look something like this:

Texas Chainsaw Margarita…$6.00

Hillbilly Punch…$6.00

Rick’s Poo Poo Platter…$11.99

Deluxe Combo Platter…$18.99

Drunken Flat Iron Steak…$13.99

Nutter Butter Pie…$5.49

Total food and drink…$62.46

Tax…$5.00

Tip…$12.00

Total…$79.46

Rick’s Roadhouse, 370 Richmond St., Providence. (401) 272-7675. www.ricksroadhouseri.com. Casual. Handicapped accessible. Children’s seats. Reservations. AE, MC, V. On-street and designated parking; 99-cent valet parking Thurs-Sat. Full menu served noon to 10 p.m. Sun. to Thurs.; light menu to midnight daily; bar to midnight Sun. to Thurs.; to 1 a.m. Fri.-Sat. Appetizers $2.99 to $11.99. Entrees $8.99 to $18.99. Wines are served, but a better fit would be one of the many beers or cocktails.

mjanuson@projo.com