Mighty Barbecue Tour 2005
Shreveport, LA
Leon's has the best smoked turkey I've ever had. The bread is buttered and grilled, and the sandwich comes with lettuce and mayo. I asked them to toss in a "lone bone" on the side, which was well worth it. Total cost: $6.50.
On to Hickory Stick. Why, why is your barbecue sauce so good? We got smoked roast beef sandwiches and a coupla ribs. The price is on the sign. (No, I didn't try their summer salad.) Their beans are oustanding, and don't neglect the Texas Toast perched atop your potato salad. It looks bad for you, and is, but your tummy will thank you.
Arkansas
More smoked turkey and BBQ beef at Burge's, off the side of the highway in Arkansas. I ate this one in the car, so sorry, no photos of the sandwich. We had a lot of ground to cover before dinner in Memphis.
Memphis
Barbecue and architecture -- my favorite combination. Yes, that is a sausage sandwich (with cole slaw) on the right. The 1/2 rack was $7.95 and the sausage was $2.65. Thank you, Neely's.
Payne's was a mom and pop BBQ pit, famous for it's chopped pork sandwiches -- and yes, more cole slaw. $2.85. Enough said.
Nashville
Not far from a large park-- and 1/3-size Parthenon reconstruction -- is a little place called Hog Heaven. They specialize in pulled pork, and their BBQ sauce was outstanding. The pulled chicken with white BBQ sauce is also worth mention. All the food before you came with a price tag under $6. Right next to Hog Heaven is a McDonald's, and the lunchtime drive-thru line wrapped around the block. Dumbasses.
Syracuse
OK, enough pulled pork. In Syracuse, it was back to the ribs at this famous biker bar. None of the sides were worth the real estate they occupied on that platter, but just look at those ribs. They stood up next to any other BBQ we had on the trip.
Boston
We made it back to Boston a little BBQ-d out, and to cleanse our systems we headed to Masao's Kitchen in Waltham, a vegan, macrobiotic restaurant that puts forth an oustanding vegan buffet at $7/pound. What was the special of the day? BBQ tofu. We thought it deserved a mention.
BBQ Roundup
Best BBQ sauce: Hickory Stick, Shreveport, LA
Best pulled pork: Hog Heaven, Nashville, TN
Best ribs: Dinosaur BBQ, Syracuse, NY
Best smoked turkey sandwich: Leon's, Shreveport, LA
Best prices: Payne's, Memphis, TN
Best baked beans: Hickory Stick, Shreveport, LA
Best sausage: Neely's, Memphis, TN
Best potato salad: Hickory Stick, Shreveport, LA
posted by Porterman at 9:28 PM
9 Comments:
Jesus Christ, fatty! You'd better roll your bbq & cheesesteak eating ass down to the gym. I'm sure you'll have a heart attack when you get there, and so will the people at the front desk when you come strolling (very slowly) in.
While Staci does not know me personally, nor the medical condition that requires me to eat BBQ in order to live, s/he does bring up an interesting question. Is BBQ healthy?
Too often, bbq gets a bad rap. At it's best, it's a lean meat, cooked with smoke and covered in a spicy tomato-based sauce. All of those things are healthy, especially considering that the cooking process burns off some high-calorie fats. Salt content is admittedly an issue, as are some of the side-dishes. Buttered buns, potato salad, and baked mac and cheese provide most of what is not healthy about BBQ.
So smoke on. I myself will be heading over to Blake's tonight to fire up the ol' meat gun and churn out a batch of our now-famous venison sausage. Over and out.
Blake's is the perfect choice for tonight, as they've removed one of their walls in preparation for an expansion project. Blake's thanks you, Porterman!
Well, we might need to remove a door frame to fit him in, but I don't think we'll be talking down any walls. My landlord is pretty mellow, though.
The idea of Porterman firing up his "meat gun" in a resturant seems strange. Where is this "Blake's" of which you speak? Perhaps he and I should visit, meat guns a-dueling.
Blake's of Dover is a good place to sample some sausage.
http://www.blakesofdover.com/specials.php
Bob forwarded this to me, which made me so hungry! You need to come back to tha 773 and add Fat Willy's to your list.
Can't wait to A) get back to 773 (permanently) and B) try out Fat Willy's. Smoke on, CO9.
Your BBQ trip sounds amazing! Before a good friend of mine and I left Texas we spent a few weeks taking afternoons off work and heading out on a "Best BBQs of Texas" tour (as ranked by Texas Monthly magazine). We limited ourselves to BBQs within a two-hour driving distance from Austin so we could get to them by lunch and be back by nightfall, which, because we're talking about Texas, is only a small portion of the state, but, because we're talking about Texas, provided a lot of excellent BBQ's.
Your post makes me wish I had photo-documented all our lunches. Alas, I will have to settle for the delicious BBQ memories.
I salute you in your noble dedication to BBQ.
I missed the smoked turkey at Leon's. I think I went for the basic BBQ chicken which was pretty good.
Ironically enough I found a great Italian place in Shreveport. One doesn't usually associate Italian food with Shreveport, but it damn good. I can't remember the name of it to save my life, but probably won't be back in Shreveport anytime too soon, unless I get the idea of doing another triathlon down there.
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