Robb was doing a bit of house-cleaning and wanted to offload his MAK smoker attachment. Rather than ship it, I thought it would be much more cost-effective to spend a few days and pick it up. :loco: The drive to Robb's is a tad over 700 miles, but that is driving direct. We thought we'd sneak up on it from behind, which expanded our trip to just shy of 2500 miles over ten days.
Of course I did some preliminary research, primarily by asking gtr (Greg) for advice on where to go. He kindly provided a list of places to try, of which we took advantage.
First stop though was slightly out of the way in Gordonsville VA. The BBQ Exchange is one of my favorite places, located half an hour north of Charlottesville.
Unfortunately, they have a limited menu due to COVID and only serve take out. We had pork belly and pulled pork. It was excellent as always. We didn't stuff ourselves. Unfortunately, we did not take any pictures.
The second stop was Ridgewood BBQ, and we never would've discovered this if it weren't for Greg: "Bluff City, TN - near Bristol/Kingsport/Johnson City - Ridgewood BBQ. Love love love that place - shaved pork bbq and a blue cheese dip that'll make you say 'fark it, I'm just gonna be a fat fark.'"
We showed up around 5:30 and put our name on a list.
There were a lot of people there and we didn't get in until well over an hour wait. We certainly enjoyed the local environment. The place is located off the beaten track in a narrow crevice with barely room for restaurant and narrow road, and there were a lot of friendly locals teasing each other and the staff and anyone else. The wait was quite enjoyable. We struck up a conversation with another couple who happened to live in Maryland, not too far from us. They come down to visit family and always come here to eat. I had the beef bbq and my wife had the pork sandwich. We also ordered the blue-cheese dip with crackers, as suggested by Greg and we began our journey to fat-farkedness.
You can see the blue cheese in the background (upper left of top picture, just a smidge of the dish). The beef was much more smoky than the pork and both were good. This was very different from BBQ I'm used to, not only very smoky, but also chewy, and thin sliced. The pork was not so smoky. What gave it a new dimension was the blue cheese, which we spooned on top. That combination was incredible.
The next day, we spent in Ashville, NC and made a trip to Buxton Hall for our third stop. Unfortunately, they were only open for take out and we ate outside. We started with their version of poutine and had a combo platter with sausage and pork:
We were not disappointed. The poutine was a lot of fun. I'm sorry for the blueness of the food. It really was much more appetizing looking, but the picture was taken in the shade and I'm too lazy to figure out how to do color correction.
We continued our journey to Gatlinburg. Wasn't expecting decent food at all. It was basically a carnival atmosphere and almost settled for a corndog, but made a trip to Calhoun's for stop number 4. I had their ribs, which weren't memorable, but better than a corndog. The best part of the meal were the bacon-wrapped burnt ends. They really weren't burnt ends, but square chunks of tender meat wrapped in bacon and slightly cooked and sauced. They were quite good, but we will make them better.
Next day, we got up bright and early and headed to Lynchburg where we took a tour of Jack Daniel's distillery. There were a few places to eat there, but we saved up because we wanted to be hungry for Big Bob Gibson's in Decatur for stop number 5. I've been a couple times before, but wanted to take my wife. For those who don't know, this is the home of Chris Lilly. I don't know of a restaurant or team that is more celebrated. They actually have used their trophies to cordon off their dining room:
Don't think that is all! There are another half dozen out of the frame on the left! We split a combination platter that consisted of ribs, chicken, and brisket
Chicken has their Alabama white sauce on it. Everything was cooked to perfection. The beans even were the best we've had, small tender, and slightly spicy with jalapenos. Unfortunately, we arrived late in the evening and they were out of pork! We had to come back the next day for lunch at stop number 6 where we had the nachos
and a combo platter of pork and brisket.
The pork was tender without being mushy -- perfect, the brisket was a bit toothsome at lunch, but very flavorful (it was flat, instead of the point we'd had the night before -- I preferred the point, my wife the flat). The nachos had a unique white cheese sauce to pour on top. We continued our trip to Starkville Mississippi where a friend of mine made a wonderful BBQ at his house (BBQ stop 7?).
Next day, we headed north to Tupelo, where we visited the birthplace of The King and visited Johnnie's BBQ (stop 8 ). I believe this is listed as the oldest restaurant in Tupelo and was even a hangout for the future King. Pork platter I had was finely chopped and extremely flavorful. My wife had a burger that she quite enjoyed. They also had a doughburger, which we were curious about but didn't try, maybe next time.
We continued our way to Memphis and ate at Gus's famous friend chicken for dinner. Whenever people ask what BBQ to get in Memphis, the locals all shout, Gus's Fried Chicken! I didn't eat there the time I'd been previous, so figured I'd have to get there this time. It was spicy hot chicken, very good.
Next day we stopped at Cozy Corner (stop 10?) for lunch before heading off to Graceland. I'd been before, but long ago, and had little recollection of the place. We arrived a bit after 11:00 and there were about a dozen people already waiting for their orders. No indoor eating, so we ate in the car. I'd heard rave-reviews about their cornish game hens, so we got one of those to go with a platter of ribs and pulled pork. The pork was good, the ribs were very good, chicken, not so much. The sauce was very thin, a bit sweet, unique and very good. The chicken, however, did not live up to all the hype. It wasn't overly tasty, fairly boring actually, and dried out. It reminded me of the grilled chicken I get at someone's house who is not a very good cook. The sauce was good though, but that was the only redeeming factor.
There are a number of places to try in Memphis and we wanted to try as much as we could. After Graceland, we began our dinner. We began at The Rendezvous (11). I'd eaten there before and had one of the worst meals of my life. I love the restaurant, in the basem*nt of a building, with a lot of eclectic items scattered about, and lots of people drinking and having fun. It was a lively place, but the ribs I'd had the first time were horrible, fast grilled, with seasoning sprinkled on them liberally AFTER they were cooked. It just wasn't good and there are many reviews of the restaurant on these pages giving similar descriptions of them. This time, however, was completely different. We ordered a half rack to share. They were quite different. The ribs were tender and juicy and the seasoning appeared to have been applied before cooking as it was not a dry crust on top. I was expecting to be eating crappy food, but was there for the atmosphere. My wife asked me what I thought afterward and I answered that they were some of the best ribs I've eaten in my life. She agreed. I don't know if they got a new cook or what, but the food has improved drastically from my first visit several years ago. I would now recommend the place. What a pleasant surprise. Unfortunately, I didn't think to take any pictures as I wasn't planning on posting anything.
We continued our way to Central BBQ that evening for stop 12. I'd heard good things about Central from several members. We ordered the ribs, half wet, half dry and a smoked bologna sandwich.
Ribs were boring and dry, possibly an off day. Sandwich was good, but I'm not an expert on bologna sandwiches as this is the first I've had. The pork rinds were fabulous and the onion rings were perfect. We have been looking for good onion rings for years. We can order them, but they usually have little flavor. These were fabulous and the coating was perfect. Strongly recommend!
We finished that night on Beale Street at BB King's for stop 13. We went to listen to some blues and the receptionist at the hotel said she liked their ribs. We gave them a try with hushpuppies:
Ribs were below average and hushpuppies, despite looking good, appeard to have been double fried, not good.
Next day we looped toward Columbia, sneaking up on Robb from behind, where he'd least suspect us. On the way we had to stop and visit Helen's BBQ in Brownsville (stop 14). I'd seen a few videos about her and she's a star! Helen is just as lovely in person as she is in the video.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XXM-9eS8ZKQ
No indoor seating, so we ate in the car. We had two absolutely huge and wonderful pulled pork sandwiches and a sausage sandwich (the ribs weren't done yet). The sausage (with coleslaw and BBQ sauce) was the best sausage sandwich either of us have had. I would go back just for that. The sauce was great. I should also add that Helen is every bit as sweet as she is in her videos.
Unfortunately, we ate the sausage before we realized we didn't take a picture. 
We finally made our way to Columbia, saw Robb and then headed for Franklin where we again took Greg's advice: "In Franklin - Puckett's! Not a full BBQ menu, but it does have very good BBQ on the menu as well as lots of other things. And pies. And there's a place that makes pies next door." Well the place that makes pies may have moved up the street. Puckett's though, was very solid as you can see in this combo plate.
Those pancakes are corn muffins. We demolished it and took off for a very rainy night in Nashville.
Stop 16 was lunch at Jack's BBQ on Broadway. Sausage was soft and a bit mushy. Overall, the food was ok, but it's not a destination, just a place to eat on Broadway in Nashville.
Wanted to get to Peg leg smokers for dinner, but I was tired and it was raining and I didn't want to get the car, so got take-out at Martin's. The website said they only did take out, but when I arrived, they had a line going out the door and the place was busy:
It looked like a nice place, but unfortunately, I'd already done the pick-up. Ordered pork and ribs (half wet, half dry) and a brisket plate.
The brisket tasted much better than it looked here. It actually was tender and somewhat moist, and good flavor. Essentially, everything was alright, but not great.
Drove home next day and made a final stop (number 18, I believe) at Due South in Christiansburg VA. I had pulled pork and ribs. Ribs were pale, tender and juicy, sauce was a bit sweet and syrupy for my liking, reminded me of apple syrup. Picked up pulled pork to take home and have five sauces to go with it. They're all a bit different (which is good), but none of them really click for me. I know I took a picture, but it isn't on my phone, possibly because there was no data signal in the area. Anyway, here's a picture on the top floor of the Johnny Cash restaurant in Nashville where I had a cup of coffee.
Anyway, I know a lot of people head to Texas and the Carolinas to do BBQ pilgrimage. They can be done in other parts of the country as well. All I can say is that I'm officially a fat fark.
