Found a diamond in the rough yesterday.

[Thumper]

I love finding dive places to eat as many times they turn out to be little, local goldmines! Yesterday, after running around chasing down thrift stores, Lynn asked what I wanted to eat for supper. I told her I felt like finding some good BBQ. Well, we happened to drive by a little trailer set up in what looked to be an abandoned business parking lot ... in a rather "dark" area in town (ifyouknowwhatImeanandIthinkthatyoudo). But, IMHO, where will you find better BBQ? I pulled an immediate U-turn.

We had a blast "visiting". The name on the hand-painted sign said, "BBQ Queen". It was actually run by two sisters who'd been BBQ'ing since they were little girls, helping their mom and grandmother, and carried on the tradition after mom and grandma passed. They were a lot of fun and as nice as they could be. The menu had a pulled pork sammich for $7.75 and when I saw the size of the sammich buns, I figured it was a heck of a deal! Then she apologized and said she just made the new menus and forgot to mention that was the price for TWO sandwiches! WTF? I jumped on the deal and could have made a third sammich just from the extra meat that fell out of the originals ... they were piled high. Lynn went with the rib dinner and got two sides, smoked collard greens and smoked mac & cheese. We expected 3-4 ribs, there were 8! The ribs were huge, super meaty and almost "too lean". EVERYTHING they sell is homemade and sides also include smoked baked beans, 'tater salad and cornbread. All for $17.75. Man-o-man, I'd go back in a heartbeat if we're ever back in the area.

These 2 gals were great and a blast to talk with. Two thumbs-up! :thumbsup:thumbsup

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[Chicken Dinner]

That looks like the real deal. (I always look for the most delapidated place I can find with an outdoor smoker in the back.

They need to work on their business model though. Unfortunately, BBQ has gotten yuppified in my area. There’s some places that make some good Q, but they’re all spendy.


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[Thumper]

Shhhhhh, don't tell them that! :hair

[airbud7]

Looks Great!

too bad they can't go commercial and put their pictures on their product..."that would be racist"

[Big Muddy]

That gal in the bottom pick looks really likable, but I bet she could put some knots even on Mike Tyson’s noggin. ;)

[Thumper]

They were both sweethearts. Very jovial and friendly, but I’m with you, I have no doubt they know how to take care of themselves! 😳

[BarryBobPosthole]

BBQ joints around here will cost you $14-15 for lunch any more.

BKb

[airbud7]

Same here Barry! $$$$

Do get a lot though.

[Thumper]

My all-time favorite is a roadside BBQ joint on Hwy. 17, just outside of Bowling Green (population 2900), between Ft. Meade and Wauchula. I know, you've never heard of any of 'em ... and that's a good thing. It's MY secret BBQ goldmine and we go there EVERY TIME we head south. I've written about it here before. I'm a sammich guy, Lynn goes for the ribs. I don't even remember the rib prices, but they're way lower than they should be. The sammiches (I'm a pulled pork guy) are HUMOMGOUS! They come on the largest buns you've ever seen and I swear the meat is piled 3-inches high and spilling over the sides to completely hide the bun. My usual routine is to eat a "normal, but full" sammich, then bring home the meat that just will not stay in the bun. Once home, I can make 2-3 normal sammiches with the left-over meat. The sammich goes for $5.99. Un-frigging-believable!

It's a total dive out in the middle of nowhere, but their smokers work overtime cranking out some of the best BBQ I've ever had. It's been my favorite for many years. I just hope it never changes.

This is NOT an average sized hamburger bun, it's jumbo sized, just hard to tell in the pic. The bottom of the bun is under there somewhere. I always dig the bottom bun out and put it in the top of the styrofoam box, then "rebuild" my sammich there. The left-over meat (and there is ALWAYS left-over meat) gets wrapped in the foil and goes home with me. The sides look dinky, but they're average servings, they just look small next to that massive sammich. (this sammich with 2 sides is $6.99)

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[quercus alba]

I like smoked meats, bbq nope. If I go in a joint that slathers bbq sauce on everything I don't order anything except a baked potato. I like to be able to taste the meat. As far as I'm concerned smoked sausage right out of the pit with a slice of bread and mustard is right at the top of the smoked meat list. BBQ is kinda like mexican food, way to high for the quality of the product.

[Thumper]

Everything comes dry as pictured above Q/A. The meat has a heavy smoky flavor. Me, I'm a sauce guy ... the better the sauce, the better the BBQ imho. Smokin' Joe's has about 5-6 homemade sauces and the "sweet sauce" is to die for as far as I'm concerned. FWIW, I ain’t talkin’ store bought, bottled sauces, as I’ve never really found one I’m crazy about, especially those thick, gloppy sauces that are basically colored corn syrup. The meat should be served dry, you can leave it dry, or add sauce. Lynn's more of the dry rub fan when it comes to her ribs, so she seldom adds anything. My sammiches get liberal amounts of sauce and are then topped with cole slaw before I slap the top of the bun on.

Ha! Talkin' 'bout Smokin' Joe's reminds me of my little buddy. We were on the way to Ft. Myers for the 4th of July weekend and stopped at Smokin' Joe's for lunch on the way there. We pulled up in the lot and started to walk in when we heard a faint "meow". We looked in the direction of the sound and saw a tiny kitten hiding in the wood pile for the smokers. I walked toward him and he immediately ran to me and I picked him up. He was super skinny and looked like he'd be dead within days he was so malnourished. I left Lynn there with him (she got a bowl of water for him) while I drove back to Bowling Green to pick up some cat food at Dollar General. I returned and he ate like he hadn't eaten in a week! Lynn went in and placed our BBQ order while I stayed with him at one of the outside picnic tables. We finished our meals, then thought, "Now what?" We asked the gal at the front counter if she knew anything about the kitten and she said a car drove into the parking lot the day before, threw the kitten out the window and drove off! Oh well, what's one more rescue?

We put him in the car and continued to Ft. Myers for the weekend. He simply curled up on the floor and slept through the whole trip. We had reservations at a vey nice hotel (Hyatt Regency Resort & Spa) and they had a $150, non-refundable pet deposit (dogs only, if under 50-lbs). Yikes! I stayed in the car with the new family member while Lynn checked in and she noted the only way to get to the elevators was to walk right past the front desk. Double-yikes! She "borrowed" a hotel towel from the pool area and brought it to the parking garage. We loaded our stuff on a cart and I wrapped the kitten in the hotel towel, then threw it/him over my shoulder as we nonchalantly walked past the front desk. He was totally silent and didn't move a muscle! Ok, we got to the room, set up a food and water bowl in the bathroom and made a jury-rigged litterbox with shredded newspaper and a cardboard box. So, here we are for an extended 4th of July holiday (3-nights, 4 days) and were afraid to leave the room for fear he would start crying and draw the attention of the housekeepers if we left him alone. The three of us never left the hotel all weekend except for Lynn going out to pick up take-out food orders to bring back to the room. (we watched a LOT of movies that weekend!) We reversed the process to smuggle him back out at the end of our stay and he was the perfect "angel" on the ride home.

For some reason, he bonded with me and has been constantly by my side since the 4th of July weekend, 2014! To this day, he has to go everywhere I go and sleeps curled up by my side on the bed at night. His name? Smokey! 'Cause he smelled like one of Smokin' Joe's smokers for almost a month after we got him home!

Here's Smokey, on July 7. 2014. He's been my bestest buddy for over 6 years now.

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[Arty]

For the love of all that is holy... please put your shirt back on.


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[quercus alba]

My sammiches get liberal amounts of sauce and are then topped with cole slaw before I slap the top of the bun on.

And to think that I've defended your culinary habits all these years then you pull a stunt like this

I'm outraged

[Thumper]

A story I've told before. Shortly after moving to Memphis and starting work for the Cadillac dealer up there, I took a lunch break and decided to try a BBQ joint down the street that I'd seen many times and it always seemed to have people waiting in line, so I figured it must be good. As expected, I had to wait in line for my sammich. When I finally got my to-go order, I noticed it had frigging coleslaw piled on top of the meat! WTF??? I asked what the coleslaw was for as I didn't order it .... AND why the hell did they put it on top of my danged sammich?? They informed me I got coleslaw because I didn't tell them I didn't want it. WTF AGAIN???? They said they'd make me a new sammich if I wanted, but I needed to get back to work and didn't have time to wait. I told them I'd just scrape it off. I got back to work and went into the lunchroom to eat and was bitching about the idiots putting frigging coleslaw on my sammich. The other employees looked at me like I was from Mars and asked why I'd bitch about something like that. They then informed me that's the ONLY way a BBQ sammich is served around there. Huh?? I thought the world was going crazy, but figured I'd try a bite. Ok, I think I was about 17 at that time and to this day, I don't think I've EVER had a BBQ sammich that I didn't put coleslaw on. There just ain't no other way to eat them IMO! Different strokes for different folks, but I sure am glad I learned, at a young age, to eat a BBQ sammich the RIGHT way! :thumbsup

The ONLY way to eat a BBQ sammich! (it's now ready for your choice of sauce!)

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[Thumper]

For the love of all that is holy... please put your shirt back on.

My daily uniform, shorts and flip-flops ... that's it.

[DeputyDog]

My Mom used to spend winters with her sister in Ocala. I visited one year and since it was my first time in that part of the state my Aunt wanted to show me around. We drove over to Homosassa for a day. On the way back we took the scenic route and came across a cinder block building with a sign with nothing but BBQ on it. I convinced them to stop. The back of the building had the screened in patio with the smoker. Inside was nothing but picnic tables with the plastic red and white checked “table cloths“. They had several squirt bottles of their various homemade sauces in the table. It was probably the best BBQ I’ve ever had.

We found a similar restaurant once in Myrtle Beach. It was back off the beach and was just a tar paper shack decorated by license plates inside. Only had plastic tables and chairs and everything was served on paper plates. They had some of the best burgers.


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[BarryBobPosthole]

I’ve been snorkeling for scallops at Homosassa Springs a few times. Neat little place near the taint of Florida.

BKB

[Big Skyz]

Now I'm starving for BBQ. No way to satisfy that craving unless I do it myself as the closest place is a ways away. Now I'm trying to decide if I feel ambitious enough to go to the trouble of firing up the grill after work.

[Trav]

I am reheating some pork belly burnt ends I smoke a week ago. I vacuumed sealed 5 packages and froze them so I just throw them in a boiling pot of water for 2o minutes and they are ready to eat.11950

[Thumper]

Looks good! Lynn and I were at a bbq joint a few weeks back and struck up a conversation with the owner. We kind of hit it off with him and he asked if we’d mind giving him our opinions on something. He brought us a plate of burnt ends and asked us to try them and let him know what we thought as he was considering adding them to his menu. I wolfed those puppies down (yeah, I left a few for Lynn) and he asked me what I thought. I told him I want quite sure and asked for more so I could form a second opinion. 😉

Needless to say, they were great!