A few months ago, Kensington and I took a big risk. We were on an adventure down off US 1 to meet up with some Cubans who deal in various items labelled as contraband by some (all) people, and meet up with some wild Colombian women.
Anyway, back on point.
We got near Gainesville, and having been on the road for several hours, we were hungry. We figured we had rode far enough through the wiregrass of north central Florida, plus we figured all the truck stop women we had seen would make the Florida Co-Eds pretty (come to find out the Co-Eds were the truck stop women…). Kensington had done his homework, and thought this Adam’s was the place.
One thing of note- Adam’s has two locations, both on 13th St, which can lead to confusion. We chose the one near the UF campus, deep behind enemy lines.
The inside of the joint is about as close to the pits of hell as I hope to ever get. For example, scenes from all of the games of the 1984 gata schedule are painted on the ceiling. Typical jean-short wearing clientele, not dignified enough to walk on sawdust. We noticed we were getting funny looks, I looked at my shirt and noticed a proud bulldog on my left chest and power G’s on my belt. Suck it Florida.
We each ordered the combo plate. Kensington chose ribs and pork, and I took the ribs and chicken.
Despite these peoples poor life choices, hair gel, and double-first-cousin spouses, the rascals can cook some ribs. Not too sweet, meaty, and with a nice char. The flavor was great, and definitely does not need sauce, mostly because the sauce is God awful – it’s called vinegar…look it up. I was so blown away that everything I ate for the next two days was sub par.
Next time you are stuck behind enemy lines, give Adam’s Ribs a try. It’ll give you the strength to get back to Georgia.
*Just a note – I’m the Kenny Powers of the group. So….Hide Ya Kids, and some material may be NSFW. I don’t know where you work, so I don’t know.
First of all, I’d like to apologize for the long delay on my first post to TGT. What I have been doing is making late-night tweets about CORN, sports, Ted Cruz, and BBQ on my TGT twitter account (@Dawgs4CORN). This is a great outlet for many things, especially driving my main man Corbin crazy. Thanks for understanding.
I recently made a trip out Missoura Way. I wasn’t sure what to expect, but as a fan of all things CORN, I expected there was a reason they put the name “Kansas” in Kansas City. I was expecting CORN as far as the eye could see, with 0 trees, 0 hills, and an unforgiveable arctic climate – I was wrong on everything but the climate.
I’ve always heard three things about KCMO: steak, BBQ, blues. Three pretty good things in my book.
Upon arrival, I decided to take in the steak aspect of the city. I’d done my research, everyone talks about the Hereford House, the Golden Ox (which is closed BTW), and many more. I decided on The Majestic Restaurant for several reasons, but mostly the fact that its downtown – I didn’t fly halfway across the country to Uber to the suburbs and eat in a stripmall (mild pet-peeve of mine), they have live blues and jazz in the basement, and it looked FANTASTIC…..and was.
One thing I learned about KC was that it is a fantastic beer nerd city. One thing you will learn about me is that I’m on a life-long search to find beer that I don’t like (at this point, I’ve had one). The city has several good breweries nearby (which will be discussed in detail later), and numerous craft beer bars that have good specials ($3 local pints on Sundays…). These are all positive things for my inner beer-nerd.
One day of my trip was dedicated to tourism, specifically Boulevard Brewing, Arthur Bryant’s BBQ, and Arrowhead Stadium (home of the Kansas City Chiefs).
My itinerary for this trip was backwards, but it led to an awesome day. I’ll be blunt, I don’t eat breakfast, so a trip to a brewery at 11:00 AM can lead to one of two things:
1. Mid-day tears
2. Mid day grumpiness
Boulevard Brewing was founded by a struggling artist who had rich parents in 1989. It seems to me that this man was the original hipster. He has turned a simple hobby into the 12th largest brewery in the US, and has not sold out to Macro-brew ideals one bit. This is a man who uses all the money saved (a lot of money BTW) by recycling bottles to feed all of his employees from marketing to warehouse to custodial every Wednesday. Boulevard has done a great job of keeping the craft and local parts of their mission in tact while growing. When I say that the brewery is big, I mean it is BIG; we are all astounded by Terrapin and Sweetwater, but this is probably twice as big as those two combined…if not larger.
They also make a fantastic product. Missouri has much more effective beer laws than we in Georgia, allowing you to buy beer at a brewery (RADICAL concept). They make several beers that you can buy in Georgia, but I’d like to highlight one in particular – the Rye-On-Rye-On-Rye. This is a rye ale that is double aged in rye whiskey barrels. Weighing in at 14.6% ABV, this is a great breakfast for any growing dawg.
One note about the natives, they are CRAZY about their World Series win. Must be nice.
I then made the trek across the city to Arthur Bryant’s BBQ. It was started in the 1920s. From my research, it is the original KC BBQ joint. A note about the location, it’s in a rough area, but IMO that adds to the appeal.
They offer a wide variety of products, but the ribs are fantastic! They do serve regular pig ‘que, but all I can say is it ain’t from Old Clinton. They have sliced beef that is decent. Sides are decent. They like to brag on their fries, but they are pretty soggy and therefore not for me. The sauce is really heavy on paprika and light on vinegar, but to be honest is unnecessary. The environment is the best part of it, the floors are greasy in a way (better wear oil resistant shoes), great aroma, and if I remember correctly (brewery got me all dizzy) there is a picture of Morgan Freeman on the wall….or Danny Glover.
My friend Kensington told me to go to a joint in Kansas City, Kansas called Oklahoma Joes. It is in an Exxon station and the line wraps around the building multiple times at lunch. I really wanted to go, but couldn’t get the time.
Another admission; I don’t really follow NFL football, but the trip to Arrowhead was really cool. I learned a lot of history about the franchise. Coolest part of the tour was going down on the field and the trip to the locker room, where some of our favorite Dawgs get dressed. The tours are led by diehard fans (interestingly called the redcoats). The redcoats travel with the team, and are the ones who lead the team on the field on gamedays. I asked our Redcoat what he thought of Aaron Murray’s new MTV-themed haircut, and got this response: HAHAHAHAHAAH (but in a Midwestern old man voice).
All in all, KCMO is a great place to go. Give it a visit.
This weekend the wife and I made a short run up to Clemson to visit a good friend and scout out some barbeque before this weekend’s trip. I knew they would probably be too crowded this weekend and our friend kept telling me all summer that the Grit Tree better do a BBQ Post forThe Smokin Pigbefore the game. He kept saying that the Smokin Pig was worth the drive over but wouldn’t say more so not to sway my opinion. So who am I to turn down a BBQ invitation? And let me say, it was good. The best description of this place came while we were eating when he said you can find a joint that does one thing exceptionally well but this place does everything good.
The Smokin Pig looks like it may have been an old garage and has a nice waiting area outside with corn hole and tether ball, benches and a large menu board to contemplate while you wait. We might have waited five minutes and then were called inside to order in a line and then search for a table in a packed restaurant. Apparently we weren’t the only people who were thinking BBQ Saturday.
We must have hit the restaurant at a small lull around 1:00 because the wait outside was 5 minutes, no wait in line and we had our food within 10 minutes. But right after we sat down the place became swamped so I can see why our friend said we may have to wait a while. I decided to go with the pork, brisket and wet rib plate with a side of stew and okra. Among the table we also had some dry ribs, sweet potato fries and sweet potato crunch. If you go, get a side of sweet potato fries covered in honey and eat them as soon as they hit the table cause they’re much better hot.
All in all I was very happy with the que. The wet ribs had a very nice crust on the outside and were not sloppy sauced while the dry ribs were good but I still preferred the wet. The pulled pork had a good smoke flavor but did need a little sauce. On the table was a sweet molasses which I wasn’t a fan of, a Carolina gold which was very good, a hot which was just the sweet with red pepper but the pepper improved the sauce greatly and a vinegar sauce which fit the pork perfectly. After we finished eating I was told there is an extra hot sauce that is very good but you have to ask your waitress for this. Next time I’ll know. The Brunswick stew was a thin tomato base with pulled pork added which gave it a great smoke flavor but had a tad too much corn for my liking and I know Corbin would refuse to eat any because I found a hunk of potato sunk to the bottom. Now my wife’s favorite part was the brisket. It was so slow cooked that it tasted like roast beef but if you get a bite with the fat cap and burnt seasoning on the outside it couldn’t be beat. Oh and they serve all the plates with a damn good yeast roll.
My Clemson friend asked that I grade the barbeque just to give an idea of my opinion. Keep in mind I also love MAC football and hate wearing shoes so takes these numbers with a grain of salt.
Pulled Pork: 6.5/10 Great smoke flavor but not terribly juicy
Wet Ribs: 8/10 Great crust, moist and not overpowering sauce
Brisket: 8/10 Extremly tender with nice burnt end crisp and fat
Sweet Potato fries: 12/10
Facial Hair: 10/10 Now this place is staffed by all college kids and when we were done eating my friend asked our waitress, who kept our glasses full the whole time which I think is key to a good restaurant (BTW she did not have a beard), about tailgate options. Well she sent over a young guy who looked like Grizzly Adams with a man beard to give us the low down on the catering menu. Very nice guy and when we were done sealed the conversation with a strong hand shake. What more can you ask for?
So if you are passing through the Upstate and have time, I’d definitely recommend the Smokin Pig.
Granite
*So I was an idiot and took a picture of the table instead of my plate so here’s a picture off their facebook page.
This past weekend the wife and I made a short trip south to see Corbin and his new “pup” and let me say to everyone and especially BuyPropertyUcheeDawg, she is as sweet as her mother and did not cry once while we were there. But back to the reason why everyone came to visit us from Dawgbone; if I was going to be meeting up with Corbin we had to have some barbecue for lunch. I had planned the trip earlier in the week to get to Macon around 1:00 and stop for BBQ at Holcomb’s in Greensboro but Mrs. Corbin asked that we come a little earlier so I had to save Holcomb’s for another day.
Once in Macon and after visiting with the pup, Corbin and I ventured out to pick up BBQ and bring it back home to the ladies. Our first stop was at Satterfield’s but they are only open during the week so Corbin suggested that we try the Macon favorite of Fincher’s. Now, either because he was looking out for his guest or values his own life, he took me to their location on the Gray highway and not the original location on Houston Road. Fincher’s has the look of an old fast food diner with the kitchen in the back, counter at the front and a few tables to the side. Not too much inside seating but that’s okay. We got the family pack which was two pounds of pork, a pack of buns, stew, and a side of slaw and headed home. This was very reasonably priced at $25.
The stew was good, as you can see from the picture it was a little runny but if I would have had it in a bowl with balls of white bread it would have been great. Poor planning on my part. Now to the BBQ. As my wife says, I was way too harsh on this que. It was moist, had some smoke flavor but not too much, pulled nicely but they killed it in sauce. They didn’t smoke this pig, they drowned him. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a decently good sauce with vinegar and mustard flavors but I hate when restaurants sauce their meat before serving it to you. All in all we enjoyed the BBQ. Fincher’s is the type of place that is good, I would eat again if offered to me but I would not drive from Athens just to try again. It’s BBQ that I would eat for lunch on Friday but I can’t in good faith crown it the best of Macon. So Macon readers, how far off was I in my assessment?
Saturday the wife and I had some time to kill before a full day of running around town and neither one of us wanted to fix lunch at home. So I thought that was a perfect reason to get out and try the new BBQ joint just off downtown in Athens. Honestly, anytime is a good excuse to go eat BBQ but it makes the sale easier if I can come up with a reason. Pulaski Heights BBQ is located on Pulaski Street just north of downtown and St. Joseph’s Church. Go down through the little neighborhood until you reach the train tracks and the Leathers Building will be on your left.
A little background first. Pulaski is owned by the former executive chef at Five and Ten but does not have a coat and tie feel to it. The restaurant is located in the Leather’s Building which used to factory so the inside has an open feel with exposed beams and wood, concrete floors and just the right amount of Athens townie. They also have a nice area outside for when the weather gets warmer and a nice large bar. The wife and I got in just before any of the lunch crowd so we decided to sit upstairs which has huge glass and a nice view.
We both decided to go with the pulled pork and I got mine with a very large fresh baked roll and she got her’s with a corn tortilla. Honestly, the roll was so large and the bbq so good it didn’t need to be on a sandwich but she said the corn tortilla was just the perfect amount of bread to meat ratio. Now the BBQ was great. I’d say the best in Athens. Nice burnt edges. Great smoke ring. Very moist, and really doesn’t need any sauce. If you want any, doesn’t need it, they have two sauces; one a sweet ketchup base with just a little kick and a oil and vinegar sauce with spices. The two combined are good but once again, not needed. As for the sides we got smoked cauliflower which wasn’t great, potato salad which was pretty good and the stew which was just tomato based with pulled pork and corn. Not bad but would choose something else next time. This place does meat and does it well and when I’m looking for bbq that’s all I really care about. Now they do serve all the pork with a few house made pickles which are great.
So all in all, the best BBQ I’ve had in Athens, I’d recommend it to anybody and as soon as I can I plan on going back to try their ribs.
When we started the Grit Tree, our original goal was to provide UGA Football commentary, but also present a different take on things throughout the year. We can only talk about basketball and recruiting so much. So we decided to have some BBQ Reviews of different joints across the state. Well, that has kinda of slacked off recently.
So in an order to help bolster our content AND make things more user friendly, we are having an open call to BBQ Reviews. If there is your favorite BBQ joint and you want the world to know about it, go there, order a plate, take a few pictures with that smart phone, write a review, and email us the review. In the review, include the resturant’s address and website. Email us at thegrittree (@) gmail (.) com. If you travel around the state, and want to send multiple reviews, that is fine. Don’t feel like there is a limit to the participation! Also include your name or screen name. We’ll post these as we get them on Thursdays each week. And if the place you go to is bad, it is ok to write a negative review. Don’t be afraid to speak the truth.
No doubt that many of our faithful readers will make the trek to Atlanta this Saturday to watch our Dawgs play Horse Mouth Moore and the Broncos from Idaho. I’m going to recommend a bbq joint, or as they call it, joynt, that you must put on your agenda for an early lunch.
Daddy D’z BBQ Joynt may be the best bbq in the state. It’s not at #1 on my list, but it’s up there. Many I talk to, including my beautiful mom, do have it at the very top. It’s hard to fault. The ‘cue is simply out of this world. Mouth watering, tender juicy meat, cooked by local Atlantan’s. I won’t give the typical review today; instead I’ll simply encourage you to try it out for yourself, either this Saturday or another time. It’s near the Ted, just google it and you can find directions. Easy to get to off I-75, it’s easily one of the gems of Georgia.
It may not look like much from the outside, but as we all know, that’s where you find the best ‘cue. This is true, southern style, soul cooked bbq. Instead of ranking everything on the menu, I’ll just tell you that it’s north of 4.5 out of 5 in every area.
And a view from inside…
And finally, I’ll leave you with a peak at their meat. If this doesn’t make you crave some ‘cue today, you’re not Southern.
Do yourself a favor and stop by Daddy D’z BBQ Joynt soon. You can thank me later. Go Dawgs!
Garden and Gun has ranked their top bbq sandwiches. They’re scattered across the greater Southeast, so I expect there are a lot of new ideas in their list. Either way, it should fuel your hunger for bbq on this hot Wednesday. Maybe we’ll rank our top 21 one day.
We’ve covered BBQ in Athens before, but there’s one place that has become one of my favorites: The Butt Hutt. My roommate and his girlfriend ate there a few months ago, so I decided to try it then. All I can remember about my first time at Butt Hutt was that I had to come back. I went last week to have their full meal.
The Butt Hutt is located next to UGA campus on Baxter Street between Lumpkin and Milledge, located in the same building as Jimbo’s Gas Station. I think it has become so popular that they have opened another one in Elberton, Ga.
You can tell the pic is dated. We haven't had clouds & rain since March...
End of a Gas Station
The owners know their BBQ trinity of meat, stew & slaw, and they pull off all three really well. I ordered the BBQ pork plate so I could try all three, and it was excellent! The plate:
Meat 4.75/5
I like my pulled pork moist, with smoky flavor, and served plain. This meat was all three.
Stew 5/5
Like my fellow posters, I’m picky about my stew. A bad stew can ruin an entirely good BBQ meal, but that’s just my opinion. Butt Hutt’s stew was right on the money. It was a great balance of all the ingredients plus a little bit of kick. And after having it I loved the fact that i had more stew than BBQ meat (which is saying a lot).
Slaw 4/5
The Butt Hutt offers two different types of slaw, vinegar based and mayo based. I talked the waitress into getting me half of one and half of the other so I could try them both out. The slaw was made fresh. It was more cubed than rough chopped, which didn’t bother me. They were both good, but I was more a fan of the mayo based slaw. The vinegar based slaw with the vinegar sauce on the BBQ was just a little too much vinegar. All in all, the variety was nice, but I’ve had better.
Sauce 4/5
The Butt Hutt offers 4 sauces Sweet, Vinegar, Hot, Mild. Now, in my opinion sauces are good to have, but if the meat is cooked right you don’t really need it. All of the sauces were good and you could use them to mix and match. If you like all of your BBQ Vinegar, you can get the Vinegar slaw and use the Vinegar sauce– same with Mayo Slaw and Sweet Sauce.
Environment 5/5
Not to mention that you basically park a gas station, the Butt Hutt looks like a BBQ restaurant in Athens should. There’s only room for seating around 20 in the place, plus there is red and UGA stuff everywhere. The first time I went, Mike “Big Dawg” Woods was there eating and talking about about the football team with the waitress. Awesome stuff.
The Wall
If you’re ever in Athens around lunch or supper, check out the folks at The Butt Hutt. You won’t be disappointed.
I have traveled down Hwy. 257 south a thousand times in my life, passing Smoakies Bar-B-Que each time as I travel into Cordele on my way to I-75. For reasons unbeknownst to me, I have never stopped. Maybe it’s because I always stopped at AB’s in Hawkinsville, Scott’s in Cochran, or waited until Tifton or Valdosta to eat ‘cue. My wife has been on me to try this “cute little place outside of Cordele” for quite some time. It just so worked out that she and I could meet there earlier this week, and I will not make the mistake of waiting so long to dine there again.
Smoakies Bar-B-Que, referred to simply as Smoakies from here on out, is a small block building in the middle of nowhere outside of Cordele, GA on Hwy. 257. On the outside of this block building is a mural of a tree with a bear in it. There’s a rough parking lot with a billboard outside announcing you’ve arrived. If you’re not a native, it’s probably an easy place to cruise on past. That’s probably the main reason I’ve never stopped before. The smokehouse is out back and you’re greeted by two palm trees in big pots as you enter. There’s also a Pepsi machine outside, though I’m not really sure why. As I sat in the parking lot, or whatever you call it, I couldn’t help but notice the amount of folks pulling in and out. I thought to myself that we must be in for a treat.
The service at Smoakies was absolutely top notch. As soon as we walked in, a man, presumably the son of the original owner, greeted my wife and I and told us to have a seat. What stuck out to me was that this gentleman was wearing a starched white shirt and a tie, along with his blue jeans. He was a very gracious host, very kind and eager to serve. We had tea on our table instantly. He also mentioned that his mom makes a fresh batch of banana pudding every morning. I told him to go ahead and plan on bringing us out a large portion after we had the ‘cue. It seems that this is a multi-generational business, completely family run. I don’t know this to be fact, but that was the assumption I made.
After glancing at the menu, we ordered. I had the usual- sandwich, stew and slaw, while my wife opted for a plate of pulled pork, onion rings and stew. Lucky for me, I got to eat most of hers after I finished mine.
So…on to the meal. The food was brought out really quickly. The tea was just good ol’ South Georgia sweet tea. It wasn’t overly sweet, but just right. They offered a wide variety of sauces- a mild vinegar based, a mild mustard based, rib sauce and chicken sauce, both a little hotter. I had to try them all and decided that I liked the mild vinegar based the best. Purely personal preference; my wife liked the mustard based a lot.
The sandwich was very good. They did not have any sauce on their meat, which I like. Don’t mess with the meat, let the patrons do that. It was moist, tender, and very good. The sandwich was plenty for me, and I didn’t even order the large. I topped it off with a touch of the vinegar based bbq sauce and couldn’t put it down. While it wasn’t the absolute best bbq I’ve ever had, it definitely ranks up near the top. The meat was very fresh and seemed like it had just been pulled. Again, I reiterate that it was very tender. On my personal scale of 1-5, I give it a 4.5. Simply put, it was good.
The stew was almost as good as I’ve had. My wife raved on and on about it. I told her she could rank it, and she began by giving it a 5! I talked her down a little, because it’s hard to beat Mrs. Gayle’s stew, which is the only perfect 5 I’ve ever had, so she conceded and gave it a 4.5. I probably would have given it a 4.25, but that’s being picky. It was a stewy stew, mixed well and very consistent. I could have eaten more, given the chance.
I was also very impressed with the slaw. Slaw, when done right, can really compliment a bbq meal. This slaw was done well. It wasn’t runny, nor was it too thick. I’ll judge their slaw on a comparative basis- though it wasn’t as good as their ‘que nor their stew, it was as good as any slaw I can remember at a bbq joint. That said, I’ll gladly give their stew a 4.75, a really strong rating! It was the perfect complement to a sandwich, stew and tea.
After demolishing my plate and cleaning up my wife’s, our gracious host brought out the banana pudding. I am here to tell you, that was possibly the best banana pudding I have ever had (sorry, grandma.) You could tell that this gentlemen’s mother puts a little extra love and care into her desserts. It was simply outstanding. I rarely give out a perfect rating for anything, but this fine lady deserves a 5 of 5 for her banana pudding. If you are ever in the area, even if you’re not hungry, do yourself a favor and stop in for a bowl of her banana pudding. You’ll thank me later. I could go on and on about how good her pudding was, but you get the point.
Overall, this was a very enjoyable visit to a quaint little barbecue joint in rural South Georgia. The atmosphere was excellent, exactly what you envision when thinking about a small ‘cue joint in rural Georgia. Small block building, family run business, a dozen tables inside, it was ideal. Smoakies gets my overwhelming approval, and I strongly encourage you to make a stop by if you’re ever outside of Cordele. It’s not 2 miles away from I-75, Exit 102, so you don’t have to travel too far off the beaten path. However, it seems as if you’re in the middle of nowhere when you arrive. The service was perfect, and you could tell without a doubt that you were in the South. I can’t wait for my next chance to stop at Smoakies Bar-B-Que. Do yourself the favor and drop in when you can.
First of all, I’d like to apologize for the long delay on my first post to TGT. What I have been doing is making late-night tweets about CORN, sports, Ted Cruz, and BBQ on my TGT twitter account (
*So I was an idiot and took a picture of the table instead of my plate so here’s a picture off their facebook page.
The Grit Tree 