punkerque

 


Must get away.....Must be somewhere else.......Go to Mountains, Stay in cabin, Bring the barky-barks.

Bailed work early on Friday, loaded food, wine, dogs & Punkerdoo into VehicleOfPunkerdooAndHusband and headed for Cherry Log via R53N. Our plan was to hope to hit East Ellijay in time to try what was reputed to be some of North Georgia's best Q.

Luck was on our side and we arrived ~7pm (Poole's closes @ 8PM on Friday). The place is easy to find as it is just off of 515. The outside is fine example of kitsch overload with a towering "pig hall of fame" hill and hand painted signs and cars. We pulled into the parking lot and were immediately greeted with the fine smell of hickory. Poole's has outside seating, so we were going to have our dogs eat with us. We opened the back to let them out and immediately discovered Rainah had chewed her leash into bitesized chunks. Load them back up and travel to Ingles for a replacement leash. Back to Poole's ~7:30. We ordered our standard:

Punkerdoo: Pork Plate with slaw & potato salad
Husband: Pork Plate with slaw & stew

They had 2 sauce choices on the "to go" counter, so I obtained portions of each. When we opened our containers, we found that our pork had been pre-sauced. If you have read any of my previous posts, you know that I think that pre-sauceing is evil. So then, strike one. The pork was not too moist, nor too dry, not really anywhere so I guess it was OK. There was more smoke in the air from the pit than was in the meat, but there was some evidence of smokey flavor. The slaw was not my favorite, though I cannot remember why. The stew was 1st rate, but no one remembers the potato salad. I guess that pretty much sums of the food, edible, but not memorable. Oh yeah, why do people serve toasted buns as bread? Buns are buns, things to contain sandwhich items, NOT to be eaten as bread. We did hit them near closing, so I suppose they need some compensation for that, but not much. We would eat at Poole's BBQ again, but will try some of the others in the area before returning.


Ambiance rating: 3 Squealers

(Smells great outside, 1000's of pigs with customer's names)

Food rating: 2 Squealers

(ok smoke, 2 sauce choices, meat ok-moist but pre-sauced, stew was remembered)

Beer rating: 0 Squealers

(Nada)

Labels: BBQ Tour, Cherry Log, Ellijay, Poole's BBQ, Things we Did

HEY! Guess what? I am going to review a Q joint that is not on Hwy 441.

Punkerdoo and I were on our way to Chapel Hill, NC to help Photo Specialties with their Bid Day. We hit Charlotte around lunch time, so we asked Guy (remember him?) where we might locate some sustenance.

Guy came up with several suggestions, one of which involved a "seafood barn & BBQ" in the title. As LongHairedBrotherOfPhotographerInGermanyWhoWorkedForHusband would say, NOT! We were torn between Bubba's and Smokehouse. We decided Smokehouse might well be a chain and that anyone who would call their place Bubba's was either crazy or closed or both. Bubba's turned out to be a very good choice.

They are proponents of Eastern North Carolina BBQ. This means Hickory smoke and vinegar based sauce. In addition, it might also mean hushpuppies instead of white bread; not sure, but that is what they gave us.

At any rate, we knew we were in the right place when we parked next to a local Sherrif's Deputy. Cops always know where to eat. Then again, I suppose he could have been serving someone or busting up a ketchup based sauce ring.

Back to the food. It was a busy place, but we were seated immediately. Sweet tea? No, non sweet and lemonade please.

We ordered the $7.99 lunch special.

Punkerdoo: Pork Plate, Baked Beans, Potato Salad
Husband: Pork Plate, Slaw, Potato Salad.

The baked beans ruled! Just a hint of molasses. The slaw was pretty good too, it was mustard based which was a new one for me. The Q was excellent; it had just enough smoke and was very moist without having that I just got microwaved look and feel. Please go eat Bubba's Q. You will be happy you did.


Ambiance rating: 2 Squealers

(Nice, clean, T-shirts, paneling, paneling....They did have a pig out front though.)

Food rating: 4 Squealers

(good smoke, one very good sauce for pork, meat moist)

Beer rating: 0 Squealers

(Nada)

Labels: BBQ Tour, Bubba's BBQ, Charlotte, Things we Did