It has been a really long time since I had cause to preach about one of Georgia’s few barbecue specialties, what is called Hudson’s-style sauce after the fellow who concocted it. You see, one thing that I have always disliked about the broad brush that people use when they are talking about barbecue in terms of state-by-state is that they miss out on the details. Not very many writers, to give one example, paid any real attention to the golden orange mustard sauce of Columbus and east central Alabama until the good people of the Southern Foodways Alliance looked into it. And among Georgia’s other regional treats is the black-red vinegar “juice” that Buford Hudson concocted in the early 1960s. Continue reading “Hog Wild Barbeque, Douglasville GA”
Tag: barbecue
Billy Bob’s Bar-B-Q, Carrollton GA
Consider this entry a prologue of sorts to something that I hope to come back to sometime in the summer. I have protested many times before that the occasionally great state of Georgia just has not had the attention paid to its barbecue that it deserves. In April, I took a drive out to Carrollton with Matt and Kelley to see a bookstore that turned out to be really quite wonderful. The road took us directly past one barbecue joint that I featured here some time back – Briar Patch – and, had we gone from the Marietta Square instead of my house, it would have been two, as we would have passed the excellent Dave Poe’s. Continue reading “Billy Bob’s Bar-B-Q, Carrollton GA”
Pulaski Heights BBQ, Athens GA
I had bigger plans for this trip to Athens than would see the light of day. I was going to spend all darn afternoon in town, and take a really nice springtime walk at the Botanical Gardens, and visit four places for the blog, and have a couple of beers at Trappeze. Then I had that first meal, recounted in the previous chapter, and, my stomach laden with more grease than I can remember having anywhere, ever, I began scaling back plans massively. There wasn’t going to be any beer, for starters. The thought of drinking anything other than water made my stomach hurt more. I made the decision to be a little more explicit about the effect it had on my system in this separate chapter, because it wasn’t that first restaurant’s fault that I put more food in my gut sixty minutes later. Continue reading “Pulaski Heights BBQ, Athens GA”
Cabin Creek BBQ, Nicholson GA
My father, when he was still with us, was never a big fan of driving from Smyrna to Athens, but when he did come to see me when I lived there, he’d take the long way. This was when 316 only went as far as Dacula, and he hated the sprawl on the old Atlanta Highway. Everything between the mall and the dorms rubbed him the wrong way. So he sat down with a map after coming to see me once, and went home along Prince Avenue, taking GA-15 through Jefferson to the interstate. That way is ten miles longer, but it was worth it to him. Continue reading “Cabin Creek BBQ, Nicholson GA”
Shuford’s Smokehouse, Chattanooga TN
The Friday of indulgence was behind us, and it was time for a simpler pair of meals for Saturday. We had lunch at I Dream of Weenie, enjoyed some goodbye hugs with our awesome host, Tory, and waved goodbye to the Music City again. I always like to leave cities in central standard as early as possible; the time change always messes with my head. We made very good time back to Chattanooga and took a nice detour for our early dinner. It was so early a supper that, four hours later, the girlchild got frustrated with me when I reminded her that we’d already had supper in Tennessee. Continue reading “Shuford’s Smokehouse, Chattanooga TN”
Judge Bean’s Bar-B-Que, Brentwood TN
As we continued our little tour, the road took us south for the final stop of the afternoon before we needed to take I-65 north again and drop the girlchild for her appointment. I’d never visited Brentwood before; it appears to be the upscale community where all the local pro athletes and celebrity musicians have bought homes. It’s also where the owners of Judge Bean’s Bar-B-Que has, after several years of hiccups, have chosen to locate. Continue reading “Judge Bean’s Bar-B-Que, Brentwood TN”
Rick’s Barbecue, Murfreesboro TN
So the road took us back to Tennessee for a couple of days. Marie had some time off and wanted to visit her family, and I didn’t quite have the hours accrued to take the days that she wanted, so instead, she took the baby and went south, and I took the girlchild and went north. I even did the good deed, perhaps, of ringing the girlchild’s mother and offering to let the two of ’em have a few hours together. Continue reading “Rick’s Barbecue, Murfreesboro TN”
Marie, Let's Eat! 