Transformer BBQ

We were living in San Francisco and decided it was time to move back home to Boston.  We packed and shipped everything home, put the dog on a flight, and decided to take the long way home.  The only sure stop was that the new smoker needed to be picked up in Florida, the rest was our attempt to visit the places we’d read about… and to have a brief taste of true BBQ from the experts.  For 9 days, we ate as much barbeque as we could find.  Here are the details of our stops…

June 2, 2006  Memphis Minnies, SF 

We prepared ourselves for the trip with one last stop at San Fran’s resident BBQ joint….  Memphis Minnie’s.  All meat is smoked on site, in a large J&R… with a limited but good beer menu…  its the closest thing you’ll get to pit BBQ anywhere around the city.  I had heard mixed reviews of some places across in the Oakland/Berkley area… but never made it over there.  MM’s has great brisket, heavy smoke, juicy… for my tastes this heavy smoke is overpowering on the chicken and ribs…

June 3 - We get on the road

We drove from San Fran to Vegas.  First stop on the lists was to taste Mike Mill’s famous ribs.  Mike is a multi time Memphis in May winner(ribs), restaurant owner, and author of Peace Love and BBQ (which I’d read cover to cover in about 10 times at this point).  We visited Memphis Championship Barbeque, North Las Vegas, to get a taste of the ribs we’d read so much about.  Far off the strip, this is a local joint…   As you’ll see later we learn our lesson in ordering… but at this point we didn’t know how much bigger our eyes are then our stomachs.  We order, and eat:  baby back ribs, brisket, pork shoulder, mac n cheese & hush puppies.  Everything was great… but there is a reason his ribs are famous.  I don’t know if its the rub that is even a factor… but they are PERFECTLY cooked. 

June 4 - Eat at Joe’s.  Wikieup, Arizona. 

  We log on the the barbecuenews forum in vegas, we’d been getting suggestiosn on stops from anyone who wanted to weigh in; Billy Bones Wall points us in the direction of Eat at Joes in Wikieup, its about a 30 miles in each direction off out route, but we decide we’re going to go.  I think BBQ oasis is the best way to describe Joe’s.   Joe and his wife Rosie run the place;  former truck drivers who have retired from the road to feed road travelers.  Their custom smoker is out back, the parking lot big enough for big rigs… the walls covered in music legends, an assorment of instruments in the corner that obviously see a lot of use.   We ate an entire rack of ribs, coleslaw, white beans w/brisket, chicken wings, and tried a few different sauces (one is a mix of Joe and Rosies favorite commercial sauces, the second is a sauce they make in their smoker).  chicken wings were tasty, flavored w/rosemary. joe had just finished some brisket, and brought us out some samples… make sure order it if you have the chance to make to their place.  Joe and Rosie were more than friendly, nicer to totally strangers than anyone could expect… truely kind and happy people. 

June 5 - Rudy’s Country Store BBQ. Albuquerque, New Mexico. 

This is a chain, but does keep alive many of the brisket, jalapeno sausage, coleslaw, green beans.  food served on butcher paper w/white bread on the side.  good brisket.

June 6 - Cooper’s Old Time Pit Bar-B-Que.  Llano, Texas.  sausage, brisket, huge pork chop.  great port chops, brisket tastes like pot roast.  good coleslaw, finely ground pieces.  bbq pits are outside, thats where you get your food, they dunk it in sauce as they are taking it out of the smoker.  very cool.

June 6 - Black’s Barbecue.  Lockhart, TX.  brisket, jalapeno sausage, macaroni salad, mashed potatoes, slaw.  Best brisket so far (Julie’s overall favorite), sausage was crumbly.  was cafeteria style with great interior decorating including stuffed animal heads on the walls.

June 6 - Smitty’s.  Lockhart, TX.  This place is an old meat market.  order way in the back and order sides from the register.  big room with cafeteria like tables.  room smells strongly of fire, very traditional.  brisket was a bit tough and stringy.  served w/bread.

June 6 - Kreuz’s Market.  Lockhart, TX.  Wow, it is huge, a big huge barn.  Big pits in the back of the building and tons of wood stored outside.  We went at a slow time.  We had shoulder clod (beef) & pork ribs, german potatoes, served with crackers & Lone Star beer.  Beef was kind of plain but very smoky, ribs were very peppery.  no forks here and lots of rules.  this place is legendary and Bren was very excited to check it out.

Yes, that was really FOUR bbq places in one day!

June 7 - Louie Mueller’s.  Taylor, TX.  This place seems like an old gymnasium, smelled so strongly of smoke.  Brisket & beans.  Brisket was great (Bren’s overall favorite), had a nice smoke ring, juicy, not too much rub.  sauce was on the side, very good, peppery.  we even got a ‘taste’ of brisket in line.  cool place.

June 7 - Taylor Cafe.  Taylor, TX.  Kinda hard to find, very interesting place, was most bar-like, located on a side street near the train and under a bridge.  had the 3 meat combo with sausage, beef and ribs and tried turkey sausage.  beans (flavorful and spicy), potato salad, break, crackers and onions.  it was all served with sauce on it.  awesome ribs.  brisket was good but some of it was really good, sausage was average.  in general, going here is like going back in time.

June 7 -Southside Market & BBQ Inc.  Elgin, TX.  Big place on a main road, sort of like a big cafeteria.  Hot guts (sausage) and cherry pie (with a cut out of the shape of texas as the top crust).  Bren had the sausage cold, tasted similar to others we’ve had in TX but less coarse.  “you’ll love our guts”

June 7 - Sonny Bryan’s.  Dallas, TX.  The original location was closed for the day, but lucky for us, it is a chain and we found another one.  It was in a strip mall, but it did smell great inside.  Pork rib sandwich, tender.  Highlight was the frito pie, I loved this!!!

June 8 - Cozy Corner.  Memphis, Tennessee.  Very old school, sweet.  Smoker right behind the counter.  Ribs with cole slaw, beans, sweet potatoe pie.  could choose hot or mild sauce, we went w/hot, it was awesome!

June 8 - Neely’s Interstate Barbeque.  Memphis, TN.  2 entrances, one for dining, one for take out.  ribs, pulled pork platter, potato, salad & beans.  pulled port very similar to ours (nice)!  ribs pulled off the bone too easily, but good flavor.  smokers are gas powered and use wood chips.

June 8 - The Bar-b-Que Shop.  Memphis, TN.  oh we got crazy here.  bbq bologna sandwich - very interesting.  sandwich had smoked bologna, bbq sauce on texas toast (they forgot the slaw).  was good, comfort food, maybe a little too much sauce.  BBQ Spagetti (this was Elvis’s favorite).  kind of greasy, had pulled pork on top, the meat was average but overall it was yummy.

June 9 - Big Bob Gibson’s Bar-B-Q.  Decauter, Alabama.  Chicken sandwick w/slaw and white sauce.  3 meat sampler w/chicken, brisket, pulled pork, beans and slaw.  chicken was great, doesn’t taste smoked, whtie sauce was fantastic!  brisket and pork were ok, red sauce pretty good.  chocolate pie was awesome.

June 10 - Sweatman’s BBQ. Holly Hill, South Carolina.  Open only 2 days a week, we arrived just as they were opening and people were waiting outside.  separate take out line out back with a huge line.  pork sandwich w/mustard rub/sauce, and cole slaw.  not heavy on smoke flavor, tasted like pig, not just shoulder, supposedly they cook 30 pigs per day here!  hash and rice, not a lot of meat, saucy consistency - but very tasty.

June 10 - Wilber’s Barbeque - Goldsboro, North Carolina.  pork plate w/cole slaw, potato salad and hush puppies.  good vinegar and pepper sauce.  hush puppies shaped like french fries - yum!

June 11 - The Cookhouse - Darien, Connecticut.  Good food.  Voted best in Connecticut.  We are almost home.  Julie is staying here for the week to work.

June 16 - we are home.  We moved into our new home in Canton, MA.  Guess what is right around the corner?  Spitfire’s Barbeque!  Since Bren did not get a finance job right away, he worked here part time.  Great food, right in downtown Canton.  It is run by Paul who runs another fabulous restaurant (not BBQ) in Arlington - called Tyrst.

It’s good to be home.  We only gained about 50 pounds between the two of us…