Little Paul's Gibson Barbecue

Quest Log No 34 – Little Paul’s Gibson Barbecue
Huntsville, Madison County

There are some strange places where you can set up shop for a BBQ restaurant. A former jail might qualify as mildly funny, some old barn on a country road in the middle of nowhere would probably not raise even one eyebrow, and an airport concourse could even be seen as innovative.

But across the street from a hospital emergency bay? That has to be the most morbid place ever. Imagine, sitting there, munching on your pork sandwich while a steady stream of ambulances, with lights flashing and all, disappear into the big grey building on the other side. And then, imagine the BBQ place crowded with hospital people in their green uniforms, some even still with those paper hair caps and masks on. Scrubs meets pulled pork.

Of course, on the other hand it is a very clever move to have a BBQ place at such a place - who needs soul food more than nurses, doctors, surgeons, and relatives of the patients? My guess is that Little Paul’s Gibson Barbecue in Huntsville, across the street from Huntsville Hospital’s emergency bay, is a gold mine.

And the equally clever move to incorporate “Gibson” into the name of the restaurant will not hurt business either. After all, everybody knows about the Gibsons here in the Tennessee Valley – they are for BBQ what the Kardashians are for the reality show industry.

Well, if I wanted to be cynical, it would be easy to say that this place combines a live reality show with a unique dining experience – like a TV diner, but only real and with better food.

But since I am not cynical, only sarcastic at times, this is not how I would describe the place. Actually, the interior is quite nice; it has a certain 1950s charm with tables covered with black-and-white checkered cloths, shelves full of quirky BBQ and food related stuff, fans on the ceiling and a tiny cross above the counter.

At this counter, you order from the quite extensive menu, pay and receive a sign with a number on it. Not that the place is actually so big that the servers would be lost without this numbering system for the orders. It has seating for about thirty customers, but I guess when it is really hectic during the lunch break of the emergency room people, it can help.

The food is then brought to your table – in our case, we only had to wait a couple of minutes, but we were there after the typical lunch time.

As usual, I had a (large) pork plate with potato salad and (vinegar) slaw. My wife had a two meat plate with brisket and chicken and baked beans and creamy slaw as sides. The plates come with a cornbread muffin and a tiny cup of sauce. At the table, there is a different sauce in a big bottle, and of course ketchup and some kind of hot sauce.

The pulled pork had a good smoky taste, and it was very tender. I found a few strands of fat in it, but not to an extend that it bothered me much. On the other hand, the pork was a bit on the dry side, so I was grateful that my wife relinquished her cup of sauce to me.

The sauce that came with the plate was a very simple mixture of vinegar, water and (cayenne) pepper. Not very spicy, but with some delightful kick nonetheless. And sour. But I actually like it that way, and it went very well with the smoky aroma of the pork.

The potato salad there is listed as “mustard potato salad”, which describes the flavor you get quite well. Also on the sour side, smothered in a mustard infused mayonnaise, I enjoyed it very much. The vinegar slaw, however, was a bit watery and of the sweet-and-sour variety. Not bad, but also not top notch. On the other hand, a third component that was “just sour” would have been probably too much, and so it was a welcomed diversification.

I am not a big fan of cornbread, but my wife is, and she assured me that the cornbread muffin that I traded for her sauce was excellent. And so was the chicken – tender and very flavorful, clearly the best meat of the three we had on our plates. Because the brisket, while also tasting very good, was a bit dry and without the layers of fat inside would not have been easy to chow. Of course, she could have poured the tiny cup of white sauce that came with the chicken over it – but that would have been pure barbarism. Plus, the white sauce was not so special, but merely okay. It needs the very flavorful chicken to shine, not the other way around.

The baked beans were a bit sticky and very thick – a clear sign that they had been sitting in the pot for more than just a couple of hours. But the taste was great, not very sweet but savory, without cinnamon but with some strands of meat in it.

The creamy slaw was crunchy and had a very good flavor.

Together with sweet tea for both of us, this meal for two cost us a bit over twenty-six Dollars. Not exactly cheap, but the food was very good, although not really outstanding. We did see some hospital personnel in the restaurant during our time there, but there was no ambulance that disturbed our meal with its sirens. And quite frankly, I do not believe the emergency room is something I ever want to connect with BBQ in my mind – let alone in reality.

Uncle Kenny's BBQ

Non-Quest BBQ No 24 – Uncle Kenny’s BBQ
Clermont, Florida

During my occasional travels, I try to sample BBQ at those near and far away places outside the Quest area. I just really, really like that stuff ... 

Why everybody who won a trophy at some BBQ cook-off does think opening a Restaurant is somehow a must then?

Usually, those folks win their trophy for a certain aspect of BBQ – for the meanest sauce, for the juiciest ribs, for the most succulent pork, for best garnishment, for most authentic cooking utensils, for the most crazy team name and so on.

Uncle Kenny, who “participates in BBQ competitions sanctioned under the Florida Barbeque Association (FBA) and Kansas City Barbeque Society (KCBS)” seems to win his prizes mostly with the sauce – according to the restaurant’s web site, “Uncle Kenny's Original Sauce is Ranked 14th In The World!!!!!!!!! But 1st in the Country!!!!!!!!!” (Note: Exact number of exclamation marks directly transferred from the web site)

14^th in the world – I wonder who did this ranking.

Alright then, this I had to check out. But first I had to find this place. The street address I entered in my GPS led me on a wild goose chase, and I almost settled with some other BBQ place along the way, after I had searched unsuccessfully for quite some time. But then I remembered that the web site said explicitly “under the Citrus Tower”. So I looked for a water tower in form of a giant lemon. There was none. The only tower in the vicinity was a garish looking concrete structure with more antennas on top than a green man from Mars.

And sure enough, there it was, Uncle Kenny’s BBQ in Clermont, Florida, under the Citrus Tower.

Well, there are certainly more appealing surroundings for a BBQ place. The little strip mall under the Citrus Tower has certainly seen better days, and the outside of the restaurant itself is also not very likely to win any style awards.

On the inside, there is a big counter where you get your take-out stuff, and a somewhat small area with some booths and a few tables. On the walls hang Uncle Kenny’s framed accolades from various competitions. All not very cozy and special, but a nice atmosphere, nevertheless. Which is boosted considerably by the extremely friendly and attentive staff. I thought the counter would be the place to order, but instead I was seated and treated like royalty. They even refilled my drink for me, although I sat directly in front of the iced tea dispenser.

Because I was hungry and also had heard about the ribs being the best choice here, I ordered a two meat plate with pulled pork and four ribs. As sides I chose baked beans and potato salad. Two slices of Texas toast came with it additionally.

Yes, the ribs are the better choice. Very succulent and tender, dry rubbed, and with a distinctive oak aroma, the taste was wonderful. They did not fall off the bone, but were not tough at all, just a little compact. The first three ribs had a fair amount of fat with them, which could be easily avoided when pulling the meat from the bone. But the fourth rib was more fat than meat and so I the high praise from before in regards of the taste is becoming a little less enthusiastic towards the end.

The pulled pork was also tender, although somewhat dry, and it unfortunately came mixed with Uncle Kenny’s Original BBQ Sauce. So I have no idea how the pork actually tasted, but I know exactly what the flavor of the sauce is: dominantly sweet.

There are three sauces to chose from – the Original, the Spicy, and the Mustard.

As said before, the Original is overwhelmingly sweet, with nothing else worth mentioning. Sweet. That’s it. The 14^th ranked BBQ sauce on this planet is just a sweet, sticky, otherwise bland concoction. Again, I wonder who did that ranking.

The Spicy sauce on the other hand is just that – very, very spicy. And that’s it. Spicy. Like the label says.

The Mustard sauce on the other hand leaves the one dimensional flavor of the two other sauces behind - it is sweet and has a mustardy undertone. I did not dare to pour it on the pork, though, because that was already contaminated with the sweet Original sauce. My curiosity stops where I have to add sweetness to an already sweet dish.

And quite frankly, the ribs were so good that I did not even think about spoiling them with either of those sauces. But with the Texas toast, the Mustard sauce was quite excellent.

Unfortunately, that cannot be said of the sides. The potato salad tasted like something you buy in a large container at the next super market, and the beans were quite bland. I probably should have drenched them with the Original sauce to get some taste on it.

So, this restaurant has its highs and its lows. Would I pay over sixteen Dollars for that again? Guess not. From where I stand, they do not need to fix the GPS error anytime soon. There is better BBQ to be found more easily.

Hard Rock Cafe (Destin)

Non-Quest BBQ No 22 – Hard Rock Cafe
Destin, Florida

During my occasional travels, I try to sample BBQ at those near and far away places outside the Quest area. I just really, really like that stuff ... 

Loud Music. A sweaty shirt from the Beach Boy’s Brian Wilson. A golden record from The Who. Keith Moon’s nasal hair. Obnoxious T-Shirts for sale. Music videos from the 1980s on TV.

Hard Rock Café.

Well, I certainly never expected this famous franchise ending up on the list of BBQ places, but it is there now, and rightfully so.

The menu has five BBQ themed sandwiches on it these days, which is reason enough to swing by and try it out.

I opted for the South Carolina Sandwich, which is a bun with some pulled pork on it and “Tangy homemade South Carolina style mustard Bar-B Que sauce with crispy slaw and crispy cayenne onions.”

It is hard to tell how good or bad the pulled pork is, because the sandwich arrives smothered in the above mentioned BBQ sauce. Every whiff of smoked pork flavor that might exist is effectively blanketed by the sauce. Which is, by itself, not too bad at all.

Tangy and a bit spicy, with a nice full mustard aroma – I had much worse.

The combination of tender and lean meat, the mustard sauce, and with the onions and the slaw, makes this a very tasty sandwich, indeed. Not necessarily your typical BBQ sandwich from the shack down the country road, but a totally acceptable creation for a middle-of-the-road chain restaurant like the Hard Rock Café.

The sides, BBQ beans, mayonnaisy cole slaw with raisins, and French fries, were totally middle-of-the-road, or in other words: bland and unassuming. The contrast to the flavorful sandwich could not be bigger. But at least I got an additional cup with the mustard sauce to dip the fries in with the plate.

So, would I return? Definitely – I just love that music from the 1980s.

.

Lillie's Q BBQ

Non-Quest BBQ No 23 – Lillie’s Q BBQ
Miramar Beach (Destin), Florida

During my occasional travels, I try to sample BBQ at those near and far away places outside the Quest area. I just really, really like that stuff ... 

This is one of the typical BBQ shacks you find at the roadside in the South – nothing fancy, just a small wooden building with no seating room inside, but with a roofed porch with some tables and a view at US Highway 98.

So far, so good. The atmosphere, if you don’t mind sitting just a few feet away from one of the busiest streets in Florida during summer, is actually quite charming.

Also, the Pit Master has won the 2007 World Championship at Memphis in May, so I was ready for a splendid BBQ experience far away from home.

Well. Let me make it short – just the thought of it has my skin crawling.

The pulled pork was greasy and oily – and it gave me serious heartburn after a while. I mean, stop the car at the next pharmacy and get me some industrial strength pink stuff, kind of heartburn. The taste was not even half as bad, but the sheer greasiness of the pork was just revolting. I have no idea how they treat their meat, and quite frankly, I don’t want to know. But this is clearly not the way we treat our pork here in the BBQ belt, no Sir! People got tarred and feathered here for lesser transgressions when it comes to BBQ.

As a general rule, one has to be very cautious if more than two different sauces are available. That is almost always a sure sign that the meat is so bad that they need to mask it with something else. Or, in some cases, it is the misconception that with BBQ, the meat is just the carrier for the sauce. Anyway, they have seven (7!) different sauces to choose from. I had the concoction that is called “Carolina Gold”, which is a zesty mustard based sauce. Not really spicy, but the mustard was clearly present – good stuff.

As sides, I had something that was called potato salad, and another thing that they dared to call slaw. Both tasted like fish. Dead, rotten fish. One bite and the greasy pork seemed like nectar of the Gods in comparison.

And it was not cheap, either. The whole plate with drab and murky Sun Tea – yes, not Sweet Tea, but Sun Tea – came to about twelve Dollars.

I’d say that might be a typical tourist rip-off, but apparently also the locals go to this joint for their BBQ fix. Oh, those innocent clueless Panhandle-Floridians – they just don’t know better, for the promised land of BBQ is a six hour drive away. They should probably better stick to what they can drag out of the big pond and leave the hogs to the inlanders.

David's Barbecue

Non-Quest BBQ No 21 – David’s Barbecue
Arlington, Texas

During my occasional travels, I try to sample BBQ at those near and far away places outside the Quest area. I just really, really like that stuff ... 

Since 1910, now in ownership of the forth generation of the family, David’s Barbecue in Arlington, Texas, serves Texas style BBQ. That means no pulled pork, only beef and pork ribs, turkey and sausage.

That’s fine by me, cows or pigs, I don’t care as long as it is good and tasty.

Still full after the big dinner at Bodacious Bar-B-Que the other day, I went for the two meat plate this time – only to find it to be just the same amount of food, only distributed on two instead of three different meats.

In case you need a refresher how Texas style BBQ works – it is like an assembly line. You grab a tray, and at the first station order the meat. Brisket and Links, please.

Then it goes on to the sides. Hmm, the potato salad looked kind of familiar – the also use caraway seeds as spice, so I passed on that and took the baked beans and the slaw instead. Last station, drinks and cash register. The sauce, which comes in classy glass carafes, stands on a little cart in the dining room, where you also find onions, pickles, jalapenos and the like.

The dining room is separated in two areas, which actually comes from the fact that at some time the original restaurant, which is located in an old, rather decrepit strip mall, was extended into the shop space next to it. Nevertheless, the atmosphere there is very authentic, a lovely mixture of country style and 1950s urban chic.

So, after finding a nice secluded corner to sit down, I dug into my meal.

The Brisket, although lean and very tender, did not have any discernable smoke flavor whatsoever. Same goes for the sausage links, which were not spicy but had at least a faint smoky aftertaste.

Clearly, here was some serious sauce action needed – and good Heavens, this action was provided by a delightfully sour reddish-brown concoction with just a hint of spiciness. That really rescued my mood from the unfolding disaster of turning into a foul and hostile creature.

But what truly really saved this meal were the sides. The slaw was crunchy and fresh, with a bold sourness to it. And the baked beans did not arrive in the sweet variety one is getting all the time, until all resistance and hope are crushed under the constant onslaught of molasses and cinnamon. This one was different – sour and a bit fruity. A new taste, indeed! Brave David, you have the moxy to liberate us from the death grip of the industrially acquired taste of mainstream baked beans.

You also get a Texas Toast with all that, which for about fifteen bucks including a fountain drink is not the cheapest deal, but the value received for that makes it a fair deal, indeed.

And so, after this experience and that with Bodacious Bar-B-Que the day before, I have to admit that, yes, there is decent BBQ in Texas. Just avoid the dreadful chains and trust your car’s navigation system to lead you away to some hidden corners, and you will be able to find the occasional gem. 

Bodacious Bar-B-Que

Non-Quest BBQ No 20 – Bodacious Bar-B-Que
Arlington, Texas

During my occasional travels, I try to sample BBQ at those near and far away places outside the Quest area. I just really, really like that stuff ... 

The name – Bodacious – is a bit misleading. There are no tassels involved, no pole and no red lights. Just extremely well smoked red meat, spicy sauces and tender butts.

There is no TV, just some good ol’ country music radio station for entertainment, sweet tea that comes in a (plastic) jar, instead of a dispenser, wagon wheels and cow’s horns as decoration, and a not so subtle country style atmosphere in the dining area. Classy and classic, veritably old school.

And when in Rome … or in Texas, for that matter, do as the Texans do. So I decided to go all out and had a three meat plate with Brisket, Links and pulled Pork. A manly sized portion in most parts of the continental US, but here in Texas that’s probably what a ten year old gets for breakfast each day.

The Brisket was just short of heavenly – very tender, lean, with a distinctive but not overwhelming smoky taste. Best brisket ever for me – but also only the third or fourth time I had that, I have to admit. So the measuring stick was not too big in this case. But anyhow, a very delightful experience.

The sausage links had a good spiciness on them, which suppressed the smoke flavor for the most part. There was a hint of it, but only if you really wanted to find it. No matter, they too were absolutely delicious.

The pork was also very tasty, but not due to the faint smoke aroma they sported. Very tender and very lean, you needed the sauce to support the flavor, which was absolutely not necessary with either the Brisket or the Links. 

The sauce, which you got out of a pot at the counter, was red and thick, fruity and deliciously spicy. I am more a fan of the vinegar-pepper sauce variety, but if it has to be a thick red sauce, than this offering from Bodacious would be on my short list.

Too bad that the sides could not hold up to the lofty standards set by the meat and the sauce.

The cole slaw, though crunchy and fresh, tasted a quite bland. And the potato salad came with little dark speckles that could have been mistakenly identified as ants, but in reality it was caraway seeds. Funky tasting, to say the least. Not really bad, but also not what I would classify as “must have”. I took one bite and the affair was already done before it begun.

But all in all, because of the excellent meat and the overachieving sauce, and certainly because of the very homey atmosphere of this place, I wouldn’t mind to dine there again during one of my next trips to the region. With almost sixteen bucks for the whole meal, it sure ain’t cheap – but if the alternative is to spend half the money at one of those chain restaurants, it is a no brainer. Quality beats cheap every time, at least in my BBQ world.

Corner Pit BBQ

Non-Quest BBQ No 19 – Corner Pit BBQ
Dellrose (Bryson), Tennessee

During my occasional travels, I try to sample BBQ at those near and far away places outside the Quest area. I just really, really like that stuff ... 

I fought a hard fight with myself, and then I decided to not incorporate Lincoln County, Tennessee into the Quest Area. One reason against this would be that it is, well, in Tennessee and not in Alabama. On the other hand, it borders on Limestone County and they have a BBQ place there which would be ranked in the Top 5 – if it was in the Quest area (which is the counties of Limestone, Morgan, and Madison in North Alabama).

And so, Corner Pit BBQ in Dellrose, Tennessee hereby receives the honorary title of “Best Alabama BBQ outside of Bama”. And that by a wide margin, too.

The place is located on a small rural highway, which leads you through rolling hills with farms here and there, lots of green trees, grass and bushes, and a population density not much different from the Moon.

Then the highway bends, and in the corner there it is. To the left is a big red shack were the smoker resides, and to the right the very spacious restaurant.

The inside is a mixture of typical country eatery, with the metal and red faux leather chairs, the round laminated wood tables and the fans on the ceiling. There is even a big flat screen TV at the end of the dining room.

But there is also old farm equipment hanging on the walls, old advertising signs and car number plates. An old rusty gasoline pump stands in one corner and another corner is occupied by a rack with T-Shirts, which have the logo of this place on it: a Pig that says “Our pigs are dying for you to eat!”

Of course, I bought one of those.

The whole atmosphere in that spotless clean place is very homey and comfortable. They have eight tables there, but the place would also be spacious enough to hold double that number. But given the somewhat remote location, there is probably no reason to prepare for such a rush anytime soon.

This is also fine by me, because I like the place as it is right now - not only for the atmosphere, but first and foremost for their most excellent food, of course.

As usual, I had the pork plate with potato salad and slaw, which cost me six bucks and was a lot of food.

The pulled pork, although it was maybe a tad more dry then it had to be, was very tender and lean, and it had a very nice smoky flavor. Lots of bark in it, too.

They have three sauces to go with it, but the mild one is really nothing special. It’s a semi-thick reddish concoction with a fruity-sour taste.

But the other two are THE KILLER. The Original Pit Sauce and the Hot Original Pit Sauce are also of the same thick reddish consistency, also resolutely vinegar based and also kind of fruity, but spiced up with pepper. The hot variety is a bit more aggressive then the original one, but both give the pork a kick in the butt that generates a BBQ aroma which is nearly perfect. I even put the hot sauce over my potato salad, so good is it.

Not that the salad would have needed that kind of support – it can very well stand on its own merits. Silky-creamy texture, with white potatoes and mayonnaise, onions and a hint of vinegar – this is how you do it. I just could not decide if it the slaw was even better – I think it is just fair to declare it a tie. I just love it when the cabbage comes in big pieces, and not in those minced to oblivion varieties. It was extremely fresh and crunchy, with just a bit of salt and pepper and vinegar, so that you actually have a chance to taste the veggies in there. Amazing.

My wife opted for the chicken, which was also very tender and although not blessed with a very distinctive smoke aroma, also very tasty.

The predominantly sour and mild white sauce that they have goes perfectly with it, though, and together it makes a very fine dining experience indeed.

Adding to that were what looked like ordinary green beans, but turned out to be green beans with a very robust meat-broth flavor that complemented the chicken and the white sauce perfectly. Her baked beans, on the other hand, although not bad at all, could not muster up to that level of sheer bliss.

With sweet tea (the ice for it came out of a cooler next to the cash register) for both of us, the whole meal was about fifteen bucks. For that kind of quality food, quality atmosphere and quality people (we had a very nice chat with Kristen, the owner), I felt a bit like a thief. They could have charged double and I still would deem it a fair deal. Well, for a little bit of compensation I spent some more money, buying a T-Shirt. Too bad that it says “Tennessee” on the back – this amazing little BBQ place would fit right into Alabama’s BBQ belt.

Moe's Original Bar B Que - Providence Village

Quest Log No 33 – Moe’s Original Bar B Que
Huntsville (Village of Providence), Madison County

All Moe’s are created equal. We now have two of those in Huntsville, but if you know one, you already know the other, too.

The one in Providence Village is brand new, just opened two weeks ago or so, and has the same general layout as the other one – a sports bar where you can eat BBQ. Flat screen TVs in every corner, bar stools along the windows, loud music from the 1960s to the 1980s, metal frame tables and chairs, unpainted wood columns for decoration – you get the picture. Only at this here in the swank new Village, they don’t go overboard with the Tide paraphernalia.

Since we already had their pulled pork and ribs the last time we visited a Moe’s, and since all Moe’s should pretty much adhere to the same quality standard, my wife and I decided to go poultry this time.

So, we had the chicken and the turkey, with baked beans each, potato salad for me and Brunswick stew for her as second sides.

Wait a minute – Brunswick what??! Yes, stew. Hmm, although it was very tasty, with lots of meat and potatoes in it and some very laid back spiciness, I couldn’t help but wonder if my lovely spouse would not be stricken down by a bolt of lightning at any moment. Brunswick stew after April 1^st … that is almost as sacrilegious as putting white sauce on ribs.

Well, the BBQ gods exacted their revenge swift and promptly, by letting us choose the turkey. Which came sliced, drenched in sauce, with a very prominent layer of fat on the outside and virtually no taste at all. Cardboard. Okay, tender cardboard. Still, no taste. Even the sauce did not help much here, although by itself this condiment is one tasty conglomerate.

They just shouldn’t pour it over my meat without asking me first.

And of course, the chicken came drenched in it, too.

It was half a bird, squeezed into one of their little cardboard trays, which made it a pure mess to eat.

However, it was very succulent and tender, with a very nice smoky flavor. We just shared it and left the turkey untouched after the first initial bites.

Good thing that we did not have to share the beans, too, because those were also very tasty. Lots of meat in it, with a very well rounded sweet aroma, and no discernable cinnamon in it.

The mayonnaise based potato salad was as neutral tasting as the last time, with lots of fresh, raw veggies like onions and celery in it.

With each plate, you also get a slice of rather dense cornbread, which tasted okay to me, but my wife did not like the sour aftertaste. That sourness did not appear in my piece, so I am guessing that the cornbread-making process lacks some homogeneity.

Just for kicks, we also had fried pickles as starters – which arrived after the lunch plates were already at our table. Although the taste was fine, we only could eat just the top layer, which was crunchy and firm, whereas the bottom layers got more soggy and spongy the deeper we dug.

For all that and two drinks, we paid almost twenty seven bucks, which is not cheap and also not a good deal if you take the quality of the food into account. I guess it serves us right – having Brunswick stew on April 27^th just has to provoke some negative cosmic effect.

Homestyle Bar-B-Que

Quest Log No32 – Homestyle Bar-B-Que
Hartselle, Morgan County

Conventional wisdom, or maybe just wishful thinking, or even only good advertisement, says that Decatur is the BBQ capital of the World. You know, with all the Trophies, TV appearances and the sauces you can buy at your local Kroger store.

Well, not so fast Paula Dean – your buttered-up gravy train obviously never made a stop in Hartselle. Granted, this lovely small town of fourteen-thousand people is just a few miles south-west of the big town, and might look like an outskirt of Decatur from thirty-thousand feet above. But here on the ground, where we mere mortals try to live and survive a certain TV personality’s onslaught of so-called “southern cooking” on TV and in books that uses fat and sugar as its main ingredients, it is a whole different vista.

There are three BBQ places in Hartselle, which gives this town a decent ratio of 1 BBQ per 4700 people (just for comparison, the numbers have been calculated by using data available on the Internet: Huntsville has 1 BBQ per 12800 people; Decatur has 1 BBQ per 6200 people; Madison has 1 BBQ per 5700 people; and Athens has 1 BBQ per 4000 people). What stands out here, though, is the uniformly great quality of the BBQ – all three serve top notch food.

And the third and last place on my list turned out to have the best food of the whole bunch.

Homestyle Bar-B-Que has been in business just next to the Jet-Pep gas station at I-65 Exit 328 since 1996. It is strictly a drive-through establishment, but there is some adjacent space nearby where you can park your car and eat your food in peace and quiet.

As usual with such a typical southern setting, the friendliness and cordiality of the owners is just refreshing every time.

Since I was very hungry, I ordered the large pork plate, and my question about what sides they had to choose from, I got the answer: “Don’t worry, it comes with everything”.

Which meant potato salad, baked beans, slaw, and two rolls. Together with the large portion of pulled pork, it was a huge amount of food. To say it forthright, I was not able to finish all of it, regardless of how badly I wanted, because it was so very good.

My wife also ordered her usual, a slab of ribs, but was told that due to the extra effort of smoking ribs, they would only have them on the weekends. Oh well, then how about a chicken plate? Sorry, dear, the chicken is not ready yet, was the answer (we were kind of early, close to 11 AM). Well, but the turkey is done and is sure is yummy.

So, turkey it was – and of course, it also came with everything described above.

We parked the car in the shade of some trees at a little gravel spot near the BBQ, and dug in.

The pork was lean but succulent, very tender, with a wonderful smoky aroma to the superb pork flavor. That meat clearly ranks very near the top of all pulled pork I’ve ever had. Also, the turkey was of the same mold, and amazingly it was not dry as it happens so often with that meat, but is had a very nice moisture to it.

The potato salad, always a critical piece for my wife and me, because we both come from a tradition of great potato salad makers, was made with yellow potatoes and mayonnaise, with little pieces of egg and pickles. The flavor was wonderfully creamy and balanced, with just a hint of tartness.

The baked beans had meat in them, which is always a good sign, and just the right amount of cinnamon to give it a little kick. They were not very sweet, more on the savory side of the flavor spectrum.

The slaw was very fresh and crunchy and made with just the cabbage, vinegar, salt and pepper. It was straight sour, without any hint of sweetness, and a refreshing change to all those standard sweet-sour slaws.

For the sauce, you have the choice of mild and hot – I opted for the hot one. It was a creamy red concoction with an underlying fruity tomato taste and with some well rounded peppery spiciness. Not too hot, just the right kick in the butt to get the best flavor out of the pork.

My wife had the white sauce with her turkey, which was predominantly on the sour side, and really quite the only part of the meal that did not find our unreserved applause.

Everything else was just outstanding, and for just under twenty-one bucks, with two sweet teas, it was a phenomenal deal.

Surely, we need to come back one weekend to try the ribs. Good thing that Homestyle Bar-B-Que is located just next to the Interstate, which makes it a short thirty minute drive from our home – to the new BBQ capital of … my world. 

Full Moon Bar-B-Que

Non-Quest BBQ No 18 – Full Moon Bar-B-Que
Birmingham, Alabama

During my occasional travels, I try to sample BBQ at those near and far away places outside the Quest area. I just really, really like that stuff ... 

On my way from the Barons vs Stars game at Regions Park in Hoover to Vulcan Park in Birmingham, I had to eat something. At the ballpark, they had only those disgusting cheese nachos and other similar things, so by the time the Barons had finished their rally and beat the Stars 4-2, I was really hungry.

There are numerous BBQ places in Birmingham, but I thought, well, Full Moon is something you might expect a chop suey place named after, but not necessarily a southern chopped pork one, so I was anxious to check this out.

Full Moon Bar-B-Que is a franchise with eight locations in and around Birmingham. The business started in 1996 with the original place in Downtown Birmingham, but I went to one of the satellite stations at Valley Avenue, near Vulcan Park.

Well, the short story is, it is a family restaurant/sports bar that serves BBQ. Big screen TV’s all over the place, sports memorabilia, like a signed game shirt of Joe Namath on the walls, general layout and furniture like every other place with like an apple or a red pepper in its logo - the atmosphere of a streamlined eating culture.

But I was there to sample their food, although a nicer atmosphere would not have hurt my feelings.

They have a specialty there which is called “chow-chow”. Yes, like the furry dog with the blue tongue. It is a pickled cabbage dish that, according to Wikipedia “… found its way to the Southern United States during the expulsion of the Acadian people from Nova Scotia and their settlement in Louisiana.” So it is Canadian by origin, has a Chinese name and is served in Birmingham with BBQ.

How does it taste? Sour and spicy, with a nice crunch to it. I made the mistake of ordering it as a side dish, because I wanted to try it and the guy who took my order did not mention that it was included anyways. So, I ended up having a lot of chow-chow on my plate, plus baked beans, a freshly baked biscuit and the pulled pork. With a fountain drink, it came to just under thirteen bucks.

The pulled pork came with sauce on top, which I still find borderline criminal. Just let me choose what I want to put on my meat – I am a big boy and don’t need to have my plate fixed like a five year old. So I picked some sauce-free strands of the meat from the pile to get a taste of the flavor. Not bad, tender and moist, but also a bit on the fatty side. A hint of smoke flavor, not really a strong underlying meat aroma, though. Middle of the road pork, at best. The sauce on the other hand was just a one-dimensional thick red conglomerate, with spiciness as its main characteristic.

Better to take the chow-chow as sauce, which was also spicy but had a very distinctive hint of sourness, and some nice mustard aroma to it, as well. It was kind of like having a vinegar-pepper sauce mixed with a vinegar based slaw, plus some mustard.

The baked beans had quite a funky taste, which reminded me of onions. Never had that aroma in baked beans, and don’t need that ever again.

So, again the common wisdom that – generally, there are a few exceptions - you can’t get really good BBQ in franchise/chain places was confirmed. All you might get is okay BBQ with Canadian pickled cabbage.

 

Jailhouse BBQ

Quest Log No31 – Jailhouse BBQ
Somerville, Morgan County

From 1819 until 1891, Somerville was the county seat for Morgan County. Back then, it had a cotton gin, a cabinet maker, a law office, two hotels, a college and a male academy.

The old courthouse from 1837 is still standing there, and also the former jail building.

But the cotton gin, shops, hotels, and colleges are long gone and today this little town is home to about 350 people – and one killer BBQ place.

Located in the vicinity of the old jail, in what appears to could have been an annex of the jail back then, it oozes old southern charm and hospitality.

When I arrived there, I could only spot a walk-up window on the porch as the means of getting BBQ. Well, I thought, it surely is a most beautiful spring day, and I would not mind at all taking my lunch on that porch, which has a handful of wooden tables with benches on it.

So I approached the walk up window, where the owner took my order. After I answered his question “for here or to go?” with “for here”, he asked me if I not rather wanted to sit in their dining room. Well, sure, I would be delighted. So, said the man, come around, I meet you half way.

So I left the porch, trotted around the small backside of the building and sure enough, there was a tiny handwritten sign that pointed out that there actually was a dining room.

And what a splendid room that is – all wooden walls on three sides (the fourth side next to the kitchen is of corrugated metal), wooden ceiling, a ceramic tile floor, wooden furniture (about half a dozen tables for four), nicely decorated with old pictures and signs, with some whimsical pieces of BBQ culture (meaning pig sculptures …) sprinkled in.

And the people in there, the owner and his serving help, are just so nice and friendly people that one might think that by entering that dining room, you might step through a door back in time, to those better old days 150 years ago.

I ordered my usual pork plate, with potato salad and slaw on the side and was regaled to an almost perfect BBQ lunch.

The pork was chopped and utterly flavorful, with a perfect mixture of meat and smoke aromas. Although it had a small amount of visible fat, it nonetheless was very tender and had just the right amount of moisture. I probably ate half of it right away, until I remembered that I also probably should try the sauces. Quite frankly, the meat did not need any sauce, so I poured just a tad of the thick brownish-red sauce on it. Fruity aroma, no spiciness, just a good sweet BBQ sauce. The other sauce is based on vinegar, but also with no spiciness worth mentioning it is just sour. Mixed together it provides a very nice conglomerate, but as said before, using this with the formidable meat is not a must at all.

The potato salad, also home made as everything on the menu, was nothing short of phenomenal and ranks in the Top 3 in that category. Mayonnaise based with a very refreshing tartness, it complements the BBQ meat perfectly.

Also on the sour side, the slaw is certainly very tasty as well, but in comparison to the meat and the potato salad, it does not play in the same league.

Usually I shy away from having dessert in BBQ places, because that is generally not their area of expertise. But this time, after the waitress assured me that the lady who makes the pies for them knows what she is doing, I ordered a lemon pie.

Should have ordered two pieces – very fluffy, with distinct lemon flavor, not too sweet, just great.

For all that, including an unlimited supply of sweet tea, I paid a bit over twelve bucks. And another fourteen bucks for one of their T-Shirts (it has a pig behind bars on it … you got to have that if you are a BBQ person …).

So, this place is surely a cut above most of the rest, and the only drawback is that they are only open for business from Friday ‘til Sunday. Well, that and the fact that Somerville is not exactly a place where you could do any other business, recreation or just would hang around for a while, and then go to lunch at the local BBQ. Once you have seen the old courthouse, and maybe the new post office, you are done there and need not come back. But for that kind of BBQ experience, I would travel there for that sole reason. 

Pig Stand Bar-B-Que

Quest Log No30 – Pig Stand Bar-B-Que
Hartselle, Morgan County

When you Google “Hartselle, BBQ”, there are two places that show up. But there is also a third place that somehow does not register with Google – Pig Stand Bar-B-Que. This is rather unfortunate, because this place is way above your average BBQ joint, even by the lofty standards we here in North Alabama are accustomed to.

My wife and I spotted this place when we drove home from a visit to beautiful downtown Hartselle, on Highway 31 towards Decatur just outside of town. And I came back two days later to check it out.

With its red roof that resembles a barn, white windows and brick walls, the building looks very country-esk. Inside, there is a window in the wall where you order, pay and pick up your stuff, and right next to it is a white board where you find the daily specials. The red checkerboard vinyl floor and the red chairs and alternating red and white tables have a distinctive 1950s charm. The dining room furniture seems to be fairly new and everything is well maintained and spotless clean. It is a very nice atmosphere to dine in, brightly lit through the big windows at the sides, and there is space for maybe thirty people to sit.

As usual, I ordered the pork plate – large this time, because I was really hungry – which comes with the three sides of slaw, potato salad and baked beans.

The pulled pork was very lean and tender, a bit on the dry side, but the taste was just wonderful. It was a very well balanced combination of meat flavor and smoke aroma and clearly was one of the best BBQ meats I ever had.

There is really no need to pour sauce over it to enhance the flavor, but since they have them on the table, I just tried them.

The red thick dark red/brownish sauce is very fruity and somewhat spicy. The clear vinegar based pepper sauce is not exactly sour, but tremendously hot. There is clearly more than the standard black pepper in it, and I thought that I saw some red chili flakes in there too. Mixed together, I ended up with a rather spicy conglomerate, which was still very spicy, but was more to my liking than those two sauces by themselves.

As for the sides, the killer here is the BBQ beans. Very savory, not really sweet but with some actual meat in them – that is the way you do beans!

Unfortunately, the potato salad was going in the same direction, with a distinctive bacon taste – not my favorite, I like the sour variety better.

That I had with the slaw, which marinade was vinegar based and quite sour, yet with a strong hint of sweetness.

All together, the mixture of hearty, sour, smoky, and sweet flavors of the meat and the sides works very well together and lets Pig Stand Bar-B-Que stand out of the crowd. Too bad that Google, and so I guess the rest of the world, does not find the place. But take my word for it and drive there when you are in the neighborhood – sometimes, having to share such a great place with the world isn’t necessarily a good thing. 

Southern Hickory Barbecue

Quest Log No29 – Southern Hickory Barbecue
Hartselle, Morgan County

There ain’t no inside seating, just a few old weather beaten benches in a little nook just next to the walk-up window to the side of the building. There is a big spacious drive-up lane that leads to the drive-in window, though. This place, Southern Hickory Barbecue in Hartselle, is clearly geared towards the pick-up crowd.

There are two more Southern Hickories in Arab and in Cullman, and I wonder if they have inside seating there.

But it was such a gorgeous April day that my wife and I thoroughly enjoyed our lunch at the porch. Two months farther along in the year and our enthusiasm might be vanishing a bit on the prospect of having lunch under the baking Alabama summer sun.

As usual, I had a pork plate with slaw, potato salad, and baked beans, and my wife had a slab of ribs with the same sides.

The pulled pork was just great, very tender and very lean and just with the right amount of moisture, and the taste was very hickory-y. There is really no sauce needed to enhance the flavor, but it also don’t hurt if you sprinkle a bit of the peppery vinegar sauce it comes with on the meat, because the added spiciness gives the meat an additional aroma. That is how you do BBQ the right way, let the meat stand on its own merits and make the sauce optional for those of us who need an additional kick in the butt.

My wife’s ribs were also very tender, but not especially lean with some fat on it. Well, the taste was good, but certainly nothing to exchange the pulled pork for it.

We both thought that the baked beans were of the open-a-can-variety, but at least there was no cinnamon in it.

The slaw was sweet and vinegary-sour, whereas the sweetness dominated too much for both our taste. The potato salad was of the yellow-mayonnaise kind and also sweet and sour, but I found it to be deliciously on the sour side, whereas my wife was not really satisfied with the taste, which she found to be too sweet. She generally does not like sweetness in her potato salad – it’s a cultural thing, where she comes from the potato salad is tart and sour and never with even a hint of sweetness.

One very special item was the rib sauce. It was extremely fruity, with a good amount of spiciness and tasted not like anything we ever had in the BBQ sauce area. It seemed to have an Asian influence, and could even have such exotic aromas as Mango or Papaya in it. Anyway, whatever it is, it goes fabulously with the ribs.

A bread bun and a couple of pickle slices complete the plates.

For all this, plus two sweet teas (what else …?!) we paid about twenty one bucks. That is certainly not very cheap for a place with no inside seating, no table service and Styrofoam to-go containers as plates. But the quality of the food justifies the prices, and on a beautiful spring day, there is no better place to have your lunch in Alabama.