O' Southern Hospitality.
The Apostle Paul sure did talk a lot about hospitality, and after this trip I feel we (the boys of the BBQ Tour) can relate well to what he said. As the missionary, Paul, traveled and spread the good news of Jesus Christ, he was compelled to rely heavily upon people opening up their homes and their lives. We, in that same vein, found ourselves in that same boat, except instead of the Good News of Christ's redemption, we came preaching "Song, Song of the South." The love and care that our parents showed us was above and beyond anything we could imagine.
The Hodges
We decided to set out on the BBQ tour from Waco, TX at 8:30 p.m. Sunday night and drive through the night to Winona, MS. We didn't pull in to the Hodges driveway after the sun had come up. Although we were not even there for 6 hours, they were more than gracious with their beds and showers. The shower was probably what allowed us to pull through the next day. Also, Mrs. Hodges provided us with a late morning filled with lots of laughter with her forever memorable bicycle trip to the trash can.
The Moons
Never have I been more thankful for a bed than the night we stayed with the Moons. We had been on the go (despite a quick nap at the Hodges) for soe 30 plus hours and it was not looking good for us. When we pulled in to Cullman, AL Joel and Beth were waiting outside for us and gave us a warm greeting. With delicious cookies and rice crispie treats (with peanut butter, AMAZING!) we sat down and begin to unwind a little bit. Joel offered us a seat in his sacred massage chair that has more magical fingers than 2,000 Vietnamese ladies. After a long night sleep we got a great breakfast from Mrs. Beth Moon and were allowed to relax until we went to Johnny’s. This stay was a very happy ending to our stay in Alabama.
Mrs. Judy (Harper)
We got to Newnan on Tuesday night and received yet another warm welcome from Mrs. Judy. She had beds made up for us, towels folded and goody bags waiting. We had to get to Sprayberry’s pretty quick, but when we got back we got to relax and watch some top notch local television programming. It was a very great stay capped off by an amazing breakfast and a nice surprise found by all in our goody bags. We all had milk chocolate crosses. This great symbol of redemption and grace also makes a great chocolicous treat. Thank you so much Mrs. Judy, and Jared thanks you for the sleeping bag, he would have died without it. (Seriously. - jared)
The Hyde’s
We stayed with Rick and Kay Hyde for the last night of the tour. This is where we got our glorious T-shirts and got to relax while watching the last few episodes of the first season of “How I met Your Mother” on the Hyde’s amazing TV and surround sound system. Kay Hyde made an Apple dessert for us that would rival any of the deserts we had at any of the restaurants. Also we were highly entertained with videos from Jonathan as a youngster and his speech impediment.
The South
Words are not enough to express how deeply we appreciate you, South. You were more than gracious in supplying us with endless sunsets and beautiful landscape. Your people are what make you so special. If it had not been for your greatness, this trip would not have been possible.
Thank ya’ll so much and for everyone who has helped us on this journey. We love ya’ll so much and even though Porkin’ ain’t easy, ya’ll made it a little easier.
Boys of the BBQ Tour.
**** If you would like to see all the photos from the trip (as taken by Jared) please click on this link and find the album on the right-hand side titled "BBQ Tour of the South"***
Friday, March 21, 2008
Sunday, March 16, 2008
Day 6 – The road goes on forever, but the porkin’ never ends!
We awoke this morning to yet another wonderful breakfast prepared by yet another wonderful Southern Lady. Jonathan’s mom made sure to send us out on our final day of porkin’ with a great meal. Also, Jonathan’s dad was kind enough to design some t-shirts to commemorate our journey and have them made at a local printshop.
We set out on the road wearing our BBQ Tour Shirts at around 10:30 in order to beat the lunch crowd down at McClard’s BBQ down in Hot Springs, AR. We were so amazed at the response we got at McClard’s wearing our shirts. I caught a few grown men crying tears of sorrow and joy when they caught sight of our shirts and took note of the epic journey we were on. We got such a positive response from the patrons of McClard’s. More than one person approached our table wanting to know the story behind out shirts. You could feel the pride that each of them felt for this restaurant that they loved. I think they appreciated that we would make McClard’s one of our stops.
The owner of McCard’s, Scott McClard, was busy working in the back preparing food, but was still kind enough to take a break and come talk with us at our table. He even gave us a tour. He spoke with us about the history of the restaurant and about the terrors of Texas BBQ.
McClard’s Bar-B-Q – Hot Spring’s, AR
Meat – 4 –
Sauce – 4 – good balance of spice and sweet
Sides – 5 – Tamales and Fries were both handmade and delicious. This was a great surprise to find tamales at a BBQ j
oint. In my expert Mexican opinion, these were the best tamales I have ever had. Once again BBQ comes through in ways that I could never had imagined. Scott, the owner, said they began making them in the 40’s because they are so cheap to produce. Originally Mr. McClard said the idea would never work, but 60 years later they have become a restaurant trademark.
Sweet Tea – 1 – Once again, our desire for Sweet Tea was thwarted by Arkansas’ inability to provide the Sweet Tea we needed.
Atmosphere – 5 – Scott McClard was more than welcoming. He gave us a tour of their entire restaurant and talked with us at length about the history of the store. McClard’s had a down-home feel, and was packed out with locals.
McClard’s was our final stop outside of Texas. We packed back into the car and made our way down I-30 towards Dallas. About 20 miles from the Texas border, we decided it was time for a rest stop. To our surprise we exited at none other than Hope, AR the birthplace of both Bill Clinton and Mike Huckabee. Even more to our surprise the BBQ Tour yet again had other the plans for us. As we were entering the gas station, out of the corner of his eye Timmy saw the sign for Uncle Henry’s Smokehouse beckoning us to pay a visit. He looked at Tray and said, “Should we go get a sandwich?” To this Trey chuckled and said, “Of course.”
All we had the stomach for was to split a sandwich 4 ways. By the way, f your counting this will be top #13 on our trip. That’s 2 more than we expected.
Afternoon Delight - Uncle Henry’s Smokehouse – Hope, AR
Meat – 3 –
Sauce – 4 –
We got back on the road with about 220 miles left until we made it into Dallas. We arrived to Dallas around 7 p.m. met by a massive traffic jam. It seems that the great state of Texas was utterly livid with our BBQ tour and this was her way of getting even with us. We sat in traffic for about 40 minutes and finally made it to our exit near Dallas’ West End where we would eat our final BBQ dinner together at Sonny Bryan’s.
Sonny Bryan’s – Dallas, TEXAS
Meat – 3 – tried 7 different meats – of note, they are known for their brisket (- 1 -which we thought tasted like glorified roast beef), ribs (- 2.5 - good, but you could tell they were “chain”) and sausage (- 4 – probably the best item they had to offer)
Sauce – 3.5 –
Sides – 3 – We each had our own side. Timmy hated the beans and everyone else seemed to enjoy their choices.
Sweet Tea – 2 –
Atmosphere – 3 – Good location in Dallas’ West End, but because of fire codes they don’t have a smoker on location. They have it catered in by one of their other restaurants.
We piled back into the Malibu one last time to drive the rest of the way to Waco. The drive back was filled with laughter, conversation and surprise that we still felt like speaking to one another. You would think after spending 6 days with one another that we would have had at least one blow out, but it seems that BBQ has more magical powers than anyone could have ever expected. We finally pulled into around 9:30, thus bringing the BBQ Tour of the South 2008 to an end.
On our way we each made our choice for our Individual Top Three BBQ restaurants and as a group we handed out some Top Honor’s.
Individual Top Three’s
Timmy
(1) Johnny’s
(2) Dreamland
(3) The Little Dooey
Trey
(1) Corky’s
(2) The Little Dooey
(3) McClard’s
Jonathan
(1) Corky’s
(2) Dreamland
(3) The Little Dooey
Jared
(1) The Little Dooey
(2) McClard’s
(3) Dreamland
Top Honor’s
Best Pork – The Little Dooey & Johnny’s
Best Ribs – Corky’s (by far)
Best Sweet Tea – Dreamland and The Little Dooey
Sauce – Dreamland
Best Atmosphere – Rendezvous
Coolest Owners – Barry Wood (The Little Dooey), Colleen Sprayberry (Sprayberry’s) and Scott McClard (McClard’s)
Best Quotes from Trip
“I’m not gay, I’m just lost.” – Timmy
“I’m sorry, I don’t do this much.” – Trey
“My temperature rises when I sleep because of my dreams.” – Trey
“It was really big.” – Jared
“Furst Base.” – Jonathan
“Run like a sasquatch!” – Timmy to Trey
“Grande.” – Jonathan
“Salty Fish!” – Timmy
porkin' aint easy,
Boys of the BBQ Tour
We set out on the road wearing our BBQ Tour Shirts at around 10:30 in order to beat the lunch crowd down at McClard’s BBQ down in Hot Springs, AR. We were so amazed at the response we got at McClard’s wearing our shirts. I caught a few grown men crying tears of sorrow and joy when they caught sight of our shirts and took note of the epic journey we were on. We got such a positive response from the patrons of McClard’s. More than one person approached our table wanting to know the story behind out shirts. You could feel the pride that each of them felt for this restaurant that they loved. I think they appreciated that we would make McClard’s one of our stops.
The owner of McCard’s, Scott McClard, was busy working in the back preparing food, but was still kind enough to take a break and come talk with us at our table. He even gave us a tour. He spoke with us about the history of the restaurant and about the terrors of Texas BBQ.
McClard’s Bar-B-Q – Hot Spring’s, AR
Meat – 4 –
Sauce – 4 – good balance of spice and sweet
Sides – 5 – Tamales and Fries were both handmade and delicious. This was a great surprise to find tamales at a BBQ j
oint. In my expert Mexican opinion, these were the best tamales I have ever had. Once again BBQ comes through in ways that I could never had imagined. Scott, the owner, said they began making them in the 40’s because they are so cheap to produce. Originally Mr. McClard said the idea would never work, but 60 years later they have become a restaurant trademark.Sweet Tea – 1 – Once again, our desire for Sweet Tea was thwarted by Arkansas’ inability to provide the Sweet Tea we needed.
Atmosphere – 5 – Scott McClard was more than welcoming. He gave us a tour of their entire restaurant and talked with us at length about the history of the store. McClard’s had a down-home feel, and was packed out with locals.
McClard’s was our final stop outside of Texas. We packed back into the car and made our way down I-30 towards Dallas. About 20 miles from the Texas border, we decided it was time for a rest stop. To our surprise we exited at none other than Hope, AR the birthplace of both Bill Clinton and Mike Huckabee. Even more to our surprise the BBQ Tour yet again had other the plans for us. As we were entering the gas station, out of the corner of his eye Timmy saw the sign for Uncle Henry’s Smokehouse beckoning us to pay a visit. He looked at Tray and said, “Should we go get a sandwich?” To this Trey chuckled and said, “Of course.”
All we had the stomach for was to split a sandwich 4 ways. By the way, f your counting this will be top #13 on our trip. That’s 2 more than we expected.
Afternoon Delight - Uncle Henry’s Smokehouse – Hope, AR
Meat – 3 –
Sauce – 4 –
We got back on the road with about 220 miles left until we made it into Dallas. We arrived to Dallas around 7 p.m. met by a massive traffic jam. It seems that the great state of Texas was utterly livid with our BBQ tour and this was her way of getting even with us. We sat in traffic for about 40 minutes and finally made it to our exit near Dallas’ West End where we would eat our final BBQ dinner together at Sonny Bryan’s.
Sonny Bryan’s – Dallas, TEXAS
Meat – 3 – tried 7 different meats – of note, they are known for their brisket (- 1 -which we thought tasted like glorified roast beef), ribs (- 2.5 - good, but you could tell they were “chain”) and sausage (- 4 – probably the best item they had to offer)
Sauce – 3.5 –
Sides – 3 – We each had our own side. Timmy hated the beans and everyone else seemed to enjoy their choices.
Sweet Tea – 2 –
Atmosphere – 3 – Good location in Dallas’ West End, but because of fire codes they don’t have a smoker on location. They have it catered in by one of their other restaurants.
We piled back into the Malibu one last time to drive the rest of the way to Waco. The drive back was filled with laughter, conversation and surprise that we still felt like speaking to one another. You would think after spending 6 days with one another that we would have had at least one blow out, but it seems that BBQ has more magical powers than anyone could have ever expected. We finally pulled into around 9:30, thus bringing the BBQ Tour of the South 2008 to an end.
On our way we each made our choice for our Individual Top Three BBQ restaurants and as a group we handed out some Top Honor’s.
Individual Top Three’s
Timmy
(1) Johnny’s
(2) Dreamland
(3) The Little Dooey
Trey
(1) Corky’s
(2) The Little Dooey
(3) McClard’s
Jonathan
(1) Corky’s
(2) Dreamland
(3) The Little Dooey
Jared
(1) The Little Dooey
(2) McClard’s
(3) Dreamland
Top Honor’s
Best Pork – The Little Dooey & Johnny’s
Best Ribs – Corky’s (by far)
Best Sweet Tea – Dreamland and The Little Dooey
Sauce – Dreamland
Best Atmosphere – Rendezvous
Coolest Owners – Barry Wood (The Little Dooey), Colleen Sprayberry (Sprayberry’s) and Scott McClard (McClard’s)
Best Quotes from Trip
“I’m not gay, I’m just lost.” – Timmy
“I’m sorry, I don’t do this much.” – Trey
“My temperature rises when I sleep because of my dreams.” – Trey
“It was really big.” – Jared
“Furst Base.” – Jonathan
“Run like a sasquatch!” – Timmy to Trey
“Grande.” – Jonathan
“Salty Fish!” – Timmy
porkin' aint easy,
Boys of the BBQ Tour
Saturday, March 15, 2008
Day Five – Already, but not yet… The Kingdom of Pork.
At this leg of the trip it was very nice to have a late morning. We got to sleep until about 10 before we had to check out of our hotel at 11. Before leaving Memphis we decided to make another BBQ stop over at the original Corky’s BBQ. We knew a pretty good deal about this stop, and knew that it was going to be a great choice. Having eaten ribs at other heavy hitters like Dreamland and Rendezvous we were pleasantly surprised that the ribs at Corky’s we our favorite by far.
Coming into the fifth day of the trip, I (Jared) was quickly approaching my breaking point. The unsullied affection for Southern BBQ that had been born out of our first stop at The Little Dooey was beginning to wane amidst the relentless onslaught of BBQ meal after BBQ meal. It seems that my broken, frail human condition was beginning to get the best of me. But yet again the awesomeness of this trip and the arbitrary goodness of John Calvin’s god trumped my own mental state.
When I opened the menu at Corky’s, the first item I saw on the page was, BBQ NACHOS. The heavens opened, angels sang their songs and my heart leaped for joy. At the point in which I needed it the most, BBQ came through in the clutch. I checked with my fellow BBQ Road Trippers to make sure that BBQ nachos fit within the parameters of our trip and I was given the go ahead.
Praise God for the versatility of Mexican food. It truly is God’s chosen chow.
Our waitress Evelyn was amazing! She was incredibly proud of the quality of food Corky’s had to offer and was not afraid to talk with us about it. We appreciated her vibrant personality and great service.
Corky’s – Memphis, TN
Meat – 5 – Best ribs of the trip by far.
Sauce – 4.5 – it’s no Dreamland
Sides – 3 – nothing really special, but let’s be honest… you’re not going to Corky’s for their sides.
Tea – 2 – just no good.
Dessert – we were too stuffed to eat dessert, but on our way out we saw the dessert tray. It looked awesome.
Atmosphere – 4 – tons of nostalgia with pictures of celebrities covering the walls.
After finishing lunch at Corky’s we began our descent back to Texas, with a stop down at England, AR the home of Jonathan’s parents, Rick and Kay Hyde. We went that night to eat at the Mean Pig in Cabot, AR. It’s astonishing the response we receive from some of the owners when we tell them about our BBQ Tour. Once again we were treated so well by this restaurant. They gave us a tour of their place and showed us the entire process their meat goes through before serving it to their customer. The knowledge that we have gained about BBQ in these past few days has been unbelievable and taken this trip to a whole other level.
The Mean Pig – Cabot, AR
Meat – 4 – really good, chopped pork sandwich
Sauce – 4 – your choice of Mild, Sweet, or Hot
Sides – 5 – the Baked Beans were unbelievable
Tea – 1 – This was the beginning of the end of Sweet Tea for the BBQ Tour. We weren’t quite prepared for it, but Arkansas has adopted the Texas tradition of not serving Sweet Tea. This discovery reminded us of the reality that our trip was soon coming to an end.
After dinner that night, we went back to Jonathan’s house. We spent the evening watching Quigley Down Under, eating Apple Crisp as created by Mrs. Kay and finishing the first season of How I Met Your Mother.
Porkin’ aint getting any easier,
Boys of the BBQ Tour
Coming into the fifth day of the trip, I (Jared) was quickly approaching my breaking point. The unsullied affection for Southern BBQ that had been born out of our first stop at The Little Dooey was beginning to wane amidst the relentless onslaught of BBQ meal after BBQ meal. It seems that my broken, frail human condition was beginning to get the best of me. But yet again the awesomeness of this trip and the arbitrary goodness of John Calvin’s god trumped my own mental state.
When I opened the menu at Corky’s, the first item I saw on the page was, BBQ NACHOS. The heavens opened, angels sang their songs and my heart leaped for joy. At the point in which I needed it the most, BBQ came through in the clutch. I checked with my fellow BBQ Road Trippers to make sure that BBQ nachos fit within the parameters of our trip and I was given the go ahead.
Praise God for the versatility of Mexican food. It truly is God’s chosen chow.
Our waitress Evelyn was amazing! She was incredibly proud of the quality of food Corky’s had to offer and was not afraid to talk with us about it. We appreciated her vibrant personality and great service.
Corky’s – Memphis, TN
Meat – 5 – Best ribs of the trip by far.
Sauce – 4.5 – it’s no Dreamland
Sides – 3 – nothing really special, but let’s be honest… you’re not going to Corky’s for their sides.
Tea – 2 – just no good.
Dessert – we were too stuffed to eat dessert, but on our way out we saw the dessert tray. It looked awesome.
Atmosphere – 4 – tons of nostalgia with pictures of celebrities covering the walls.
After finishing lunch at Corky’s we began our descent back to Texas, with a stop down at England, AR the home of Jonathan’s parents, Rick and Kay Hyde. We went that night to eat at the Mean Pig in Cabot, AR. It’s astonishing the response we receive from some of the owners when we tell them about our BBQ Tour. Once again we were treated so well by this restaurant. They gave us a tour of their place and showed us the entire process their meat goes through before serving it to their customer. The knowledge that we have gained about BBQ in these past few days has been unbelievable and taken this trip to a whole other level.
The Mean Pig – Cabot, AR
Meat – 4 – really good, chopped pork sandwich
Sauce – 4 – your choice of Mild, Sweet, or Hot
Sides – 5 – the Baked Beans were unbelievable
Tea – 1 – This was the beginning of the end of Sweet Tea for the BBQ Tour. We weren’t quite prepared for it, but Arkansas has adopted the Texas tradition of not serving Sweet Tea. This discovery reminded us of the reality that our trip was soon coming to an end.
After dinner that night, we went back to Jonathan’s house. We spent the evening watching Quigley Down Under, eating Apple Crisp as created by Mrs. Kay and finishing the first season of How I Met Your Mother.
Porkin’ aint getting any easier,
Boys of the BBQ Tour
Friday, March 14, 2008
Jonathan Hyde: Through the Years.
This is what happens when you've been on the road for 5 days straight, you can't go to sleep and there's free Wi-Fi.
DAY 4 – It’s Dry Rubbin’ time in the Deep South
Going into the BBQ Tour we knew that Wednesday night was going to be a tough one. That was the one night that we had no place to stay and had decided to camp out in the Smokey Mountains. As well it was the night before our long trek across the state of Tennessee to Memphis.
Upon leaving North Carolina, we began watching the exits for campsites along the way and finally settled on B
ig Creek in the Great Smokey Mountain National Park right on the state border. We set up camp at about 11 p.m., tried to build a fire, went on a midnight hike and finally settled into our sleeping bags around 2 a.m. The air was crisp and cold, and the sound of rushing water played in the background all night. I’ll be honest it was a long night. The temperatures dropped way lower than what I was prepared for and I’m scared of bears and late night cougar attacks.
We awoke the next morning smelling like campfire smoke and without the aroma of warm breakfast foods waiting for. Luckily we had goody bags and snacks from Mrs. Richardson, Mrs. Moon and Mrs. Harper to tide us over until our next BBQ encounter.
We met up with our friend Ellen in Knoxville at a restaurant called Calhoun’s. Our impression of this establishment is kind of mixed. It was a very different atmosphere for us because we have become accustomed to hole-in-the-wall joints. For us, Calhoun’s came across a little on the “chain-ish” side, but we felt that this kind of establishment was needed to round out the whole tour.
Calhoun’s – Knoxville, TN
Meat – 3 – we felt it had a little bit of a weird flavor compared to other meats we have tried.
Sauce – 4 – on par with some of the big name places we visited
Sides – 5 – the baked beans and corn pudding were straight up money.
Tea – 2 – just no good at all.
Dessert – no dessert for us.
Atmosphere - 4 – located on the Tennessee River with some college town flavor
After a quick oil change, we headed out from Knoxville towards Memphis. It took us 6 hours and one time change to make the drive. Lucky for us Jonathan (with the help of Travelocity) was able to find us a great hotel in Downtown Memphis called the Benchmark. Even more, when we pulled up to the valet we saw in the alley right next to our hotel the sign for Rendezvous (that night’s destination). We took this as a sign that the hand of God was still upon our trip, and was actively ushering us along in our endeavor.
We ate dinner that night at Rendezvous amongst the hype of the Conference USA basketball tourney and even made a background cameo in a CSTV interview. It was a GREAT night. Memphis is an incredible city with lots of interesting people.
Rendezvous – Memphis, TN
Meat – (we got 3 different meats)
Ribs – 3 – comparing them with Dreamland we felt Rendezvous was having it’s own “off” night. The group was a little split, but 3 out of 4 of us felt Dreamland’s ribs were just slightly better.
Pulled Pork – 4.5 - excellent
Chicken – 3 – a little dry, but with the sauce we felt it had a great taste.
Sauce – 4.5 – Both hot and mild sauces were exceptional when poured on the ribs.
Dry Rub – 5 – this was our first encounter with Dry Rub, and it was a good one. When mixed with sauce it brought amazing flavor to the meat. Very, Very Good.
Sides – 3 - nothing memorable.
Tea – 1.5 – they need to let the customer had his/her own lemon juice to the tea
Dessert – When we asked the waiter if they served dessert he responded, “Chocolate covered ribs.”
Atmosphere – 5+ - Nothing can be said to say how amazing Rendezvous is. Located in an alley in downtown Memphis, and decorated with memorabilia not placed their by some interior decorator but by the lives of real people. Unbelievable.
Well, we're rounding the corner on the last 2 days of our tour. I think we are all tired of the riggers of the road, but I must say, the BBQ has been well worth it. We have learned so much about the process of making BBQ and the south that this trip will be something we always remember.
porkin' ain't easy,
Boys of the BBQ Tour.
Trey says, "Hello."
Upon leaving North Carolina, we began watching the exits for campsites along the way and finally settled on B
ig Creek in the Great Smokey Mountain National Park right on the state border. We set up camp at about 11 p.m., tried to build a fire, went on a midnight hike and finally settled into our sleeping bags around 2 a.m. The air was crisp and cold, and the sound of rushing water played in the background all night. I’ll be honest it was a long night. The temperatures dropped way lower than what I was prepared for and I’m scared of bears and late night cougar attacks.We awoke the next morning smelling like campfire smoke and without the aroma of warm breakfast foods waiting for. Luckily we had goody bags and snacks from Mrs. Richardson, Mrs. Moon and Mrs. Harper to tide us over until our next BBQ encounter.
We met up with our friend Ellen in Knoxville at a restaurant called Calhoun’s. Our impression of this establishment is kind of mixed. It was a very different atmosphere for us because we have become accustomed to hole-in-the-wall joints. For us, Calhoun’s came across a little on the “chain-ish” side, but we felt that this kind of establishment was needed to round out the whole tour.
Calhoun’s – Knoxville, TNMeat – 3 – we felt it had a little bit of a weird flavor compared to other meats we have tried.
Sauce – 4 – on par with some of the big name places we visited
Sides – 5 – the baked beans and corn pudding were straight up money.
Tea – 2 – just no good at all.
Dessert – no dessert for us.
Atmosphere - 4 – located on the Tennessee River with some college town flavor
After a quick oil change, we headed out from Knoxville towards Memphis. It took us 6 hours and one time change to make the drive. Lucky for us Jonathan (with the help of Travelocity) was able to find us a great hotel in Downtown Memphis called the Benchmark. Even more, when we pulled up to the valet we saw in the alley right next to our hotel the sign for Rendezvous (that night’s destination). We took this as a sign that the hand of God was still upon our trip, and was actively ushering us along in our endeavor.
We ate dinner that night at Rendezvous amongst the hype of the Conference USA basketball tourney and even made a background cameo in a CSTV interview. It was a GREAT night. Memphis is an incredible city with lots of interesting people.
Rendezvous – Memphis, TN
Meat – (we got 3 different meats)
Ribs – 3 – comparing them with Dreamland we felt Rendezvous was having it’s own “off” night. The group was a little split, but 3 out of 4 of us felt Dreamland’s ribs were just slightly better.
Pulled Pork – 4.5 - excellent
Chicken – 3 – a little dry, but with the sauce we felt it had a great taste.
Sauce – 4.5 – Both hot and mild sauces were exceptional when poured on the ribs.
Dry Rub – 5 – this was our first encounter with Dry Rub, and it was a good one. When mixed with sauce it brought amazing flavor to the meat. Very, Very Good.
Sides – 3 - nothing memorable.
Tea – 1.5 – they need to let the customer had his/her own lemon juice to the tea
Dessert – When we asked the waiter if they served dessert he responded, “Chocolate covered ribs.”
Atmosphere – 5+ - Nothing can be said to say how amazing Rendezvous is. Located in an alley in downtown Memphis, and decorated with memorabilia not placed their by some interior decorator but by the lives of real people. Unbelievable.
Well, we're rounding the corner on the last 2 days of our tour. I think we are all tired of the riggers of the road, but I must say, the BBQ has been well worth it. We have learned so much about the process of making BBQ and the south that this trip will be something we always remember.
porkin' ain't easy,
Boys of the BBQ Tour.
Trey says, "Hello."
Day 3- Hump day, more like rump day. Man, porkin’ sure ain’t easy.
It’s all copious.
This morning we awoke yet again to the aroma of various victuals of the breakfast variety. There are no words that can express our immense gratitude for the exquisite Southern hospitality on the road thus far (THANKS Mrs. Richardson, Mrs. Moon and Mrs. Harper!). It has been so refreshing and uplifting that people would go to such extents to fuel the fire of our desire for BBQ! Certainly, the groans of naysayers have been drowned out by such copious support.
After an evening of karaoke and me (Jared) getting to try white queso for the first time, we headed northeast to Colombia, SC, the home of Maurice’s BBQ, to begin yet another day of porkin’. This establishment was chosen after doing a little local research, and concluding that Maurice’s was a well-known restaurant in the region with the most “unique” story. There are 15 Maurice’s in the city of Colom
bia and we opted for the original (always the right choice). As we turned the final bend in the road a giant neon Hog welcomed us to yet another BBQ joint claiming to be the “World’s Most Famous”. This statue/sign/monument of Little Joe (Maurice’s mascot) was impressive to say the least. It was 50+ feet tall and certainly rivals all Wonders of the World, at least for BBQ lovers like us.
For a few moments we stood in utter awe mesmerized by its magnificence, but we soon remembered the more pertinent task at hand. No fancy man made construct can usurp the urgent beckoning of our BBQ mission. Upon walking through the door were slapped in the face by Dixieland pride and southern paraphernalia covering every wall. There were rebel flags, pictures memorializing Civil War battles, paintings of various wilderness animals, and a portrait of the restaurant’s namesake. Every stroke of Maurice’s likeness paid homage to the likes of Colonel Sanders and Stonewall Jackson.
What makes Maurice’s so unique is their sauce. Rather than being red like most, the sauce at Maurice’s is mustard based, so it has a dark yellow tint to it. It is somewhat offsetting to look down at a plate of ribs slathered in yellow “BBQ” sauce, but we all agreed that it was a nice little change from the sauce we had encountered thus far. As we began our taste-testing process, out of the corners of our eyes we noticed a little old man stroll through the front doors. We realized that the restaurant’s namesake, Maurice, had come by to check on things. Since he has fifteen stores in all, none of us expected to meet him personally, but this 78 year old man is still quite active in his barbeque empire, and while a little apprehensive to talk BBQ, we was more than willing to chat up the South.
Our conversation began like all previous talks with the owners of restaurants. We volley with an initial schmooze (i.e. “Wow, this sauce is incredible” or “We’re on a BBQ tour of the South and we heard that you’re the best BBQ in town”) hoping to entice them to talk shop with us about their product. This usually works like a charm. Owners are more than willing to talk about their business without revealing too much once they know that we are fans of their food. But this is not exactly how things in this case. On top of being a precious little Colonel Sanders replica, Maurice was incredibly self-assured, and whatever compliment we threw his way he devoured. Our persuasive tactics didn’t seem to work. Every time we would we tender an inquiry about his sauce or meat preparation Maurice would shoot it out of the sky like a clay pigeon, and it wasn’t until Jonathan touched on a rather sore subject that Maurice poured out his soul.
***Side note*** Our resident historian, Timmy Moon, has been doing most of the research for each of our stops, and has been guiding most of our discussions and helping us meander through the sensitive subjects surrounding highly secret recipes and restaurant backgrounds when talking with owners. HOWEVER, Timmy had not given us a pre-game warning about Maurice’s story.
Without realizing what he was doing, Jonathan asked Maurice, “How do you distribute your sauce or sell it in stores?” Now, it was not a mistake on his part to ask such a question, but Jonathan was not aware that Maurice had a grievance against the NAACP. You may be asking, “What does BBQ sauce have to do with the NAACP?” Everything. Absolutely everything. This here is a prime example of how complicated porkin’ really can be.
Maurice looked at Jonathan with an expression that screamed, “You must be a #%$@&%$ moron,” and what came out of his mouth was, “I’m not going to talk about that… you don’t know my story do you?” What Timmy had failed to tell us was that our little buddy Maurice and his staunch Southern pride went to war with the NAACP over his zealous affection for the rebel flag and everything it represents when he insisted upon including it’s likeness on the label of his BBQ sauce (also, a rebel flag flies in front of all 15 Maurice’s BBQs). Maurice adamantly claims that the NAACP (something he insists is a terrorist organization) stole $50 million dollars from him when all major distributors refused to sell his BBQ in their stores because of their protesting.
Who would have thought that something symbolizing ignorant hatred and subjugation wouldn’t be welcomed in the public square? But I digress.
As Maurice ranted on for about 15 minutes about his grievance with the government and the NAACP, his monologue wandered in various directions typical of a “Southern gentleman” in which he talked at length about his feelings on the Civil War, or what he calls, “The War of Northern Aggression.”
Rather than write at length about our conversation, I’ll just give you a couple potent quotables:
“I’m a Christian, born again, I ain’t backing down from nobody.”
“Abraham Lincoln was the worst terrorist of them all”
“The liberal media tells the wrong story.”
“If a man can’t stand up for what he believes in, he’s not a man.”
“Winn-Dixie might as well be called, Winn-Yankee”
By the time Maurice had finished talking to us we had finished eating, but before we left he was kind enough to take a picture with us.
Here’s our review of Maurice’s BBQ – Colombia, SC:
Meat - 4 - very unique smoky flavor, cooked on coals
Sauce - 2.5 - extremely distinct, but it tasted too much like honey mustard
Sides - 3.5 - Hushpuppies were delectable; hash (not the illegal kind used for medicinal purposes) and rice was very unique.
Sweet tea - 3.5
Atmosphere - 4 - Very patriotic for a Civil war Vet, Steeped in southern garb, and a stack of witnessing tracks were set out by the t-shirts… praise Jesus.
We drove away from Maurice’s in disbelief over what had just transpired. It was such a surreal experience to finally find what we had been searching for: the truest embodiment of the South.
Thank you Maurice!
Our next stop was Lexington, NC. This small town of about 20,000 people claims to be the “BBQ Capitol of the World” with 21 different BBQ restaurants (in case you’re slow, that’s 1 BBQ joint for every 950 people). As well, Lexington is the “Inbred Hillbilly Capitol of the World,” (evidenced by our sighting of Sloth from The Goonies) but we don’t think these two titles are related.
Because Lexington is s
uch a big deal in the world of BBQ we decided to sample 2 different restaurants, which will take the total number of BBQ joints visited on our trip to 13. Our first stop was a place called Lexington BBQ and our second was Bar-B-Q Center.
The thing to know about North Carolina BBQ is their take on sauce. Rather then having a base of tomato (or mustard) like Maurice, their BBQ sauce is made with vinegar base. This makes their sauce taste completely different than any other sauce that we had tasted prior. When we asked for sauce to pour on our sandwiches at the BBQ Center, the waitress asked if we wanted any “dip.” I was thinking to myself, “Self, what the heck is dip. Does she mean cheese dip?” But this is how they refer to their sauce. I said that I would in fact like some dip, and when she brought it out, it was in a container that you would use to serve maple syrup on pancakes. This was a very interesting experience.
Here are our reviews:
Lexington Barbeque No. 1 – Lexington, NC:
Meat - 3.5 - very moist for chopped pork.
Sauce - 2 - worst sauce we’ve had thus far.
Sides – 2 - we suspect that beans were Van Camp with onion bits added in.
Sweet tea- 3.5
Atmosphere – 2 – it felt like we were at a catfish restaurant (wooden walls).
Bar-B-Q Center - Lexington, NC
Meat – 4 - very delicious
Sauce - 3.5 - This was a good representation of Carolina, Lexington-style sauce – horrible.
Sides - N/A - We were too stuffed from just having eaten another meal. Give us a break, we’re only human.
Sweet tea – 5 - It was really sweet and smooth.
Atmosphere – 3 - The diner was cool looking, but the locals stared us down pretty hard. In this instance, kissing your cousin (3) shall be changed to kissing your sister. Yikes!!!
What was weird about our experience in Lexington was how the locals responded to our presence. At each location it was pretty obvious to everyone that we were not of their kind, and they were much obliged to make us aware of this fact in the way they stared at us. At the BBQ center there was this woman who would not stop looking at us. Either she had a thing for Trey (which older women are prone to do) or she wanted us to know that we weren’t welcome. After finishing our meals we made sure to leave Lexington as quick as possible.
Which brings us to the freakiest encounter we had with a North Carolinian… enter Timothy Moon.
Before I, Timmy, delve into this scary story, I must comment on our own mental state at this point in the trip. If there was one night during the trip that we all “lost it,” it was this day. After our experience with Maurice, getting lost in Lexington (because the city was so backwoods that google gave us inaccurate directions) and the tension of spending three days in the confines of a 2005 Chevy Malibu we had all became rather delirious. We were at the apex of our journey and the furthest point away from the loving embrace of Waco (1400 miles). Understandably, we were a bit out of our element. For the past few days, we had been staying at my house, Stan’s house, and Trey’s house, but on this day, we were in uncharted territory. On this particular Wednesday, I liken our travels to those of the late, great Christopher Columbus. We were explorers learning the ways of a foreign barbeque. On this day, I like to think of us as the “Christopher Columbus’s of Barbeque.” In North Carolina, we were seeing unusual people in unusual places and we were experiencing atypical BBQ. This strange mix of circumstances was the perfect ingredients to challenge our mental states.
It is in this context that I share this story. As we are traveling down I-40 West towards Asheville, I passed a pair of State Troopers pulled up next to each other. While I am known for my ability to have a lead foot, I was not speeding on this particular occasion. After passing these troopers, one of them turns on his signal and pulls onto the interstate. He approaches us with lightening quick speed, so I just assume that he is after another car that was actually breaking the law, yet it seems that he has his eyes on me. I move into the right lane to get out of the way, but he pulls up on my left to check out my plates. After doing this for about three miles, he pulls up even with me and stares me down. Finally, he slows down and then pulls in behind me and tailgates us for another 3 miles. In total, this crazy copper followed us for about ten miles before he pulled off at an exit. Now, you are probably wondering what was going on in the car. As I said earlier, we were exceptionally delirious at this point. When this trooper began following us, Jonathan and Trey starting laughing. Now, this wasn’t the kind of laugh you experience when you hear the punch line of a joke. This was the delirious, freaked out, I’m beginning to lose my mind laugh. As Trey and Jonathan’s cackled in a way that was creepy to the core and indicative of losing one’s mind, I obviously kept a Cool Hand Luke attitude. Not really, I was freaking out on the inside. While the policeman continued to stare us down, we refused to give him the satisfaction of staring back at him. He must have been hoping that we would give him reason to pull us over, but we, the fine Christian soldiers that we are, resisted the temptation of staring back at him. As if this entire day had not been creepy enough, this officer of the law certainly put the icing on the cake. Officer Hillbilly McGee gave us our final interesting experience in the Carolinas. But to be honest, I feel that our perseverance on this day truly made us men. You should no longer consider us amateurs in the ways of the BBQ road trip, we have earned our spots as “Men of Barbeque.”
That's all from us. Sorry that these posts are so long and behind by a couple days. It's hard to fit in all of our experience on the road and post them. Tonight we are at Jonathan's house in England, AR and make our way home tomorrow. But don't worry we will have posts to finish things up.
Things you should be excited about...
Camping in the Smokey Mountains and Memphis, TN.
Don't forget. Porkin' sure ain't easy.
Boys of the BBQ Tour.
This morning we awoke yet again to the aroma of various victuals of the breakfast variety. There are no words that can express our immense gratitude for the exquisite Southern hospitality on the road thus far (THANKS Mrs. Richardson, Mrs. Moon and Mrs. Harper!). It has been so refreshing and uplifting that people would go to such extents to fuel the fire of our desire for BBQ! Certainly, the groans of naysayers have been drowned out by such copious support.
After an evening of karaoke and me (Jared) getting to try white queso for the first time, we headed northeast to Colombia, SC, the home of Maurice’s BBQ, to begin yet another day of porkin’. This establishment was chosen after doing a little local research, and concluding that Maurice’s was a well-known restaurant in the region with the most “unique” story. There are 15 Maurice’s in the city of Colom
bia and we opted for the original (always the right choice). As we turned the final bend in the road a giant neon Hog welcomed us to yet another BBQ joint claiming to be the “World’s Most Famous”. This statue/sign/monument of Little Joe (Maurice’s mascot) was impressive to say the least. It was 50+ feet tall and certainly rivals all Wonders of the World, at least for BBQ lovers like us.For a few moments we stood in utter awe mesmerized by its magnificence, but we soon remembered the more pertinent task at hand. No fancy man made construct can usurp the urgent beckoning of our BBQ mission. Upon walking through the door were slapped in the face by Dixieland pride and southern paraphernalia covering every wall. There were rebel flags, pictures memorializing Civil War battles, paintings of various wilderness animals, and a portrait of the restaurant’s namesake. Every stroke of Maurice’s likeness paid homage to the likes of Colonel Sanders and Stonewall Jackson.
What makes Maurice’s so unique is their sauce. Rather than being red like most, the sauce at Maurice’s is mustard based, so it has a dark yellow tint to it. It is somewhat offsetting to look down at a plate of ribs slathered in yellow “BBQ” sauce, but we all agreed that it was a nice little change from the sauce we had encountered thus far. As we began our taste-testing process, out of the corners of our eyes we noticed a little old man stroll through the front doors. We realized that the restaurant’s namesake, Maurice, had come by to check on things. Since he has fifteen stores in all, none of us expected to meet him personally, but this 78 year old man is still quite active in his barbeque empire, and while a little apprehensive to talk BBQ, we was more than willing to chat up the South.
Our conversation began like all previous talks with the owners of restaurants. We volley with an initial schmooze (i.e. “Wow, this sauce is incredible” or “We’re on a BBQ tour of the South and we heard that you’re the best BBQ in town”) hoping to entice them to talk shop with us about their product. This usually works like a charm. Owners are more than willing to talk about their business without revealing too much once they know that we are fans of their food. But this is not exactly how things in this case. On top of being a precious little Colonel Sanders replica, Maurice was incredibly self-assured, and whatever compliment we threw his way he devoured. Our persuasive tactics didn’t seem to work. Every time we would we tender an inquiry about his sauce or meat preparation Maurice would shoot it out of the sky like a clay pigeon, and it wasn’t until Jonathan touched on a rather sore subject that Maurice poured out his soul.
***Side note*** Our resident historian, Timmy Moon, has been doing most of the research for each of our stops, and has been guiding most of our discussions and helping us meander through the sensitive subjects surrounding highly secret recipes and restaurant backgrounds when talking with owners. HOWEVER, Timmy had not given us a pre-game warning about Maurice’s story.
Without realizing what he was doing, Jonathan asked Maurice, “How do you distribute your sauce or sell it in stores?” Now, it was not a mistake on his part to ask such a question, but Jonathan was not aware that Maurice had a grievance against the NAACP. You may be asking, “What does BBQ sauce have to do with the NAACP?” Everything. Absolutely everything. This here is a prime example of how complicated porkin’ really can be.
Maurice looked at Jonathan with an expression that screamed, “You must be a #%$@&%$ moron,” and what came out of his mouth was, “I’m not going to talk about that… you don’t know my story do you?” What Timmy had failed to tell us was that our little buddy Maurice and his staunch Southern pride went to war with the NAACP over his zealous affection for the rebel flag and everything it represents when he insisted upon including it’s likeness on the label of his BBQ sauce (also, a rebel flag flies in front of all 15 Maurice’s BBQs). Maurice adamantly claims that the NAACP (something he insists is a terrorist organization) stole $50 million dollars from him when all major distributors refused to sell his BBQ in their stores because of their protesting.
Who would have thought that something symbolizing ignorant hatred and subjugation wouldn’t be welcomed in the public square? But I digress.
As Maurice ranted on for about 15 minutes about his grievance with the government and the NAACP, his monologue wandered in various directions typical of a “Southern gentleman” in which he talked at length about his feelings on the Civil War, or what he calls, “The War of Northern Aggression.”
Rather than write at length about our conversation, I’ll just give you a couple potent quotables:
“I’m a Christian, born again, I ain’t backing down from nobody.”
“Abraham Lincoln was the worst terrorist of them all”
“The liberal media tells the wrong story.”
“If a man can’t stand up for what he believes in, he’s not a man.”
“Winn-Dixie might as well be called, Winn-Yankee”
By the time Maurice had finished talking to us we had finished eating, but before we left he was kind enough to take a picture with us.
Here’s our review of Maurice’s BBQ – Colombia, SC:
Meat - 4 - very unique smoky flavor, cooked on coals
Sauce - 2.5 - extremely distinct, but it tasted too much like honey mustard
Sides - 3.5 - Hushpuppies were delectable; hash (not the illegal kind used for medicinal purposes) and rice was very unique.
Sweet tea - 3.5
Atmosphere - 4 - Very patriotic for a Civil war Vet, Steeped in southern garb, and a stack of witnessing tracks were set out by the t-shirts… praise Jesus.
We drove away from Maurice’s in disbelief over what had just transpired. It was such a surreal experience to finally find what we had been searching for: the truest embodiment of the South.
Thank you Maurice!
Our next stop was Lexington, NC. This small town of about 20,000 people claims to be the “BBQ Capitol of the World” with 21 different BBQ restaurants (in case you’re slow, that’s 1 BBQ joint for every 950 people). As well, Lexington is the “Inbred Hillbilly Capitol of the World,” (evidenced by our sighting of Sloth from The Goonies) but we don’t think these two titles are related.
Because Lexington is s
uch a big deal in the world of BBQ we decided to sample 2 different restaurants, which will take the total number of BBQ joints visited on our trip to 13. Our first stop was a place called Lexington BBQ and our second was Bar-B-Q Center.The thing to know about North Carolina BBQ is their take on sauce. Rather then having a base of tomato (or mustard) like Maurice, their BBQ sauce is made with vinegar base. This makes their sauce taste completely different than any other sauce that we had tasted prior. When we asked for sauce to pour on our sandwiches at the BBQ Center, the waitress asked if we wanted any “dip.” I was thinking to myself, “Self, what the heck is dip. Does she mean cheese dip?” But this is how they refer to their sauce. I said that I would in fact like some dip, and when she brought it out, it was in a container that you would use to serve maple syrup on pancakes. This was a very interesting experience.
Here are our reviews:
Lexington Barbeque No. 1 – Lexington, NC:
Meat - 3.5 - very moist for chopped pork.
Sauce - 2 - worst sauce we’ve had thus far.
Sides – 2 - we suspect that beans were Van Camp with onion bits added in.
Sweet tea- 3.5
Atmosphere – 2 – it felt like we were at a catfish restaurant (wooden walls).
Bar-B-Q Center - Lexington, NC
Meat – 4 - very delicious
Sauce - 3.5 - This was a good representation of Carolina, Lexington-style sauce – horrible.
Sides - N/A - We were too stuffed from just having eaten another meal. Give us a break, we’re only human.
Sweet tea – 5 - It was really sweet and smooth.
Atmosphere – 3 - The diner was cool looking, but the locals stared us down pretty hard. In this instance, kissing your cousin (3) shall be changed to kissing your sister. Yikes!!!
What was weird about our experience in Lexington was how the locals responded to our presence. At each location it was pretty obvious to everyone that we were not of their kind, and they were much obliged to make us aware of this fact in the way they stared at us. At the BBQ center there was this woman who would not stop looking at us. Either she had a thing for Trey (which older women are prone to do) or she wanted us to know that we weren’t welcome. After finishing our meals we made sure to leave Lexington as quick as possible.
Which brings us to the freakiest encounter we had with a North Carolinian… enter Timothy Moon.
Before I, Timmy, delve into this scary story, I must comment on our own mental state at this point in the trip. If there was one night during the trip that we all “lost it,” it was this day. After our experience with Maurice, getting lost in Lexington (because the city was so backwoods that google gave us inaccurate directions) and the tension of spending three days in the confines of a 2005 Chevy Malibu we had all became rather delirious. We were at the apex of our journey and the furthest point away from the loving embrace of Waco (1400 miles). Understandably, we were a bit out of our element. For the past few days, we had been staying at my house, Stan’s house, and Trey’s house, but on this day, we were in uncharted territory. On this particular Wednesday, I liken our travels to those of the late, great Christopher Columbus. We were explorers learning the ways of a foreign barbeque. On this day, I like to think of us as the “Christopher Columbus’s of Barbeque.” In North Carolina, we were seeing unusual people in unusual places and we were experiencing atypical BBQ. This strange mix of circumstances was the perfect ingredients to challenge our mental states.
It is in this context that I share this story. As we are traveling down I-40 West towards Asheville, I passed a pair of State Troopers pulled up next to each other. While I am known for my ability to have a lead foot, I was not speeding on this particular occasion. After passing these troopers, one of them turns on his signal and pulls onto the interstate. He approaches us with lightening quick speed, so I just assume that he is after another car that was actually breaking the law, yet it seems that he has his eyes on me. I move into the right lane to get out of the way, but he pulls up on my left to check out my plates. After doing this for about three miles, he pulls up even with me and stares me down. Finally, he slows down and then pulls in behind me and tailgates us for another 3 miles. In total, this crazy copper followed us for about ten miles before he pulled off at an exit. Now, you are probably wondering what was going on in the car. As I said earlier, we were exceptionally delirious at this point. When this trooper began following us, Jonathan and Trey starting laughing. Now, this wasn’t the kind of laugh you experience when you hear the punch line of a joke. This was the delirious, freaked out, I’m beginning to lose my mind laugh. As Trey and Jonathan’s cackled in a way that was creepy to the core and indicative of losing one’s mind, I obviously kept a Cool Hand Luke attitude. Not really, I was freaking out on the inside. While the policeman continued to stare us down, we refused to give him the satisfaction of staring back at him. He must have been hoping that we would give him reason to pull us over, but we, the fine Christian soldiers that we are, resisted the temptation of staring back at him. As if this entire day had not been creepy enough, this officer of the law certainly put the icing on the cake. Officer Hillbilly McGee gave us our final interesting experience in the Carolinas. But to be honest, I feel that our perseverance on this day truly made us men. You should no longer consider us amateurs in the ways of the BBQ road trip, we have earned our spots as “Men of Barbeque.”
That's all from us. Sorry that these posts are so long and behind by a couple days. It's hard to fit in all of our experience on the road and post them. Tonight we are at Jonathan's house in England, AR and make our way home tomorrow. But don't worry we will have posts to finish things up.
Things you should be excited about...
Camping in the Smokey Mountains and Memphis, TN.
Don't forget. Porkin' sure ain't easy.
Boys of the BBQ Tour.
Thursday, March 13, 2008
COMMENTS!
We just noticed that comments were restricted to Google accounts only.
Our bad.
Now comments are open to anyone.
peace.
Our bad.
Now comments are open to anyone.
peace.
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