A couple of weeks ago, I wrote about a date night that initially served as our anniversary, because we were not certain we’d get any time to ourselves on the actual date that we tied the knot. Well, fortune moved its huge hand and we did indeed get just about a whole day to play. We started just after the lunch rush at Burnt Fork BBQ in Decatur. It had been on my to-do list longer than any other barbecue place in the Atlanta area, so we drove over here. Continue reading “Burnt Fork BBQ, Decatur GA (CLOSED)”
Tag: barbecue
One Star Ranch, Atlanta GA (CLOSED)
Through the late 1990s, Atlanta was home to a pair of barbecue restaurants called The Rib Ranch. They each went in for Texas-themed design and big plates of ribs, and, without a lot of foodie fuss, had a small legion of fans. Today, they are owned by different relations within the same family. The Marietta store, which we wrote about in the spring of 2013, is still called The Rib Ranch. The one in Buckhead, on Irby Street, changed its name to One Star Ranch in the early 2000s, and branched out to an additional location in Alpharetta that lasted from 2002-2011. Continue reading “One Star Ranch, Atlanta GA (CLOSED)”
Lovie’s BBQ, Atlanta GA
Lovie’s BBQ has been open for about six months now, in an absolute headache of a space. It’s not their fault; just about every intersection in the city, even all the other ones in Buckhead, is better managed than the nightmare of Piedmont and Lenox. I cringe just thinking about what their Friday evening diners must endure, because it was bad enough at 2 pm when I visited one day in April. If you are coming from Lenox via GA-400, get in the center lane and go straight through the light at Piedmont. Turn left into the parking lot behind Chipotle. That’s the easiest way, and you’ll want to arrive in a good mood to enjoy what they’re doing here. Continue reading “Lovie’s BBQ, Atlanta GA”
Al & Mick’s Bar-B-Q, Snead AL
We woke on Sunday morning and made our way home. We really enjoyed the time away from home and the very good hotel, and the girlchild was so pleased with the UNA campus that I figure we’ll be back on a campus tour in a couple of years, if not before. We really enjoyed our time in Florence and greatly appreciated the good people at Florence Main Street for bringing us out here, but we were ready to mosey on home and find something to eat along the way. On Sundays, that can, of course, be a challenge. Continue reading “Al & Mick’s Bar-B-Q, Snead AL”
Dick Howell Bar-B-Q, Florence AL
We have a very long way to go before accurately documenting the story of barbecue in northwest Alabama, but one point that seems clear is that all of the joints in this neck of the woods are following in Dick Howell’s footprints. He opened the first roadside barbecue stand here in 1946, smoking shoulders in an open pit over hickory woods, using techniques and recipes that he had learned from working in Memphis. He introduced mustard slaw to the region, for one major example. While I prefer the taste and the flavors of the pork and the sides at Brooks Barbeque, a few miles away in Muscle Shoals, just one look at the meals shows that back in the ’60s, Sammie Brooks Sr. made the deliberate decision to replicate Howell’s product. He just did it better, in my mind. (This isn’t unheard of. Old Clinton Bar-B-Q in Gray GA is undoubtedly a clone of the nearby Fresh Air, and a superior one.) Continue reading “Dick Howell Bar-B-Q, Florence AL”
Brooks Barbeque, Muscle Shoals AL (take two)
FLASHBACK: As our regular readers may recall, about every eight or nine months, I take a little road trip by myself. In an amusing coincidence, on the first three of these “circumnavigations,” it was the business located furthest away from Atlanta that served up my favorite of all the barbecue that I enjoyed. The third trip found me visiting the Quad Cities in northwest Alabama for the first time, and it was there that I discovered Brooks Barbeque, a downright amazing little place that serves up some killer pork and mustard slaw. Continue reading “Brooks Barbeque, Muscle Shoals AL (take two)”
Full Service BBQ, Maryville TN
Apology accepted, Full Service. Apology accepted.
We did pretty good for eastern Tennessee barbecue on this trip. Our third barbecue stop, and the first that our daughter was able to join us for, was at this delightful little place that opened in 2009 in the space that was once home to a Crown gas station. Caleb of Smoked Pig and Sweet Tea gave it a nice writeup a few years ago and it certainly sounded promising. Continue reading “Full Service BBQ, Maryville TN”
Marie, Let's Eat! 