Wednesday, March 30, 2011

Pleased to Meet You, Hope You Stick Around

Okay, so I've co-opted a Rolling Stones song in my title.

But it's only because I went down to the crossroads and made a deal to get some barbeque joints in this town. And now I'm ungraciously mixing metaphors and ideas from separate songs, but what the hell.

While we've had a barbeque joint/resort east of town for a while that I wrote about a two summers ago, now there's a place here in the city limits.

Pop's Barbeque is a little shack-like establishment near uptown that purveys only in pulled pork, ribs, beef brisket, and occasionally rib tips. They also have a few sides. Their baked beans are really good, and that's coming from someone who doesn't really care much for baked beans.

The opening of this carry-out restaurant here in Chucktown has got me waxing nostalgic about barbeque places I've frequented in the past.

When I lived for a short stint in Kansas City, a town I consider the Capitol of Barbeque, there was so many places to choose from for solid barbeque. I lived in the suburb of Gladstone near the Smokehouse restaurant on N. Oak, so I fondly remember driving past that place and having my mouth water from the wonderful smoky smells. And then there's Arthur Bryant's and Gates, which are excellent.

Then when I made it down to Tuscaloosa, that area also has some excellent barbeque. Dreamland is famous for its ribs although I found it overrated. The decor and ambience of the restaurant was more interesting to me at least. And I always liked the barbeque place near me and Mrs. Nasty's first apartment together, the barbeque joint on 15th Street, which I think is called Thomas Rib Shack. That place would perfume our neighborhood with smoky goodness when the wind was blowing from the southwest.

That establishment's ribs were excellent. Now the ones I got the other day from Pop's were okay, not anything stunning but decent. But I think it's hard to find good ribs these days, or maybe my tastes have changed. I seem to gravitate to pulled pork nowadays. Perhaps it's another win for middle age or something.

The first time I went to Pop's, when I told the owner that I was excited to have a barbeque place in town, she informed me that another one was going to start up this summer in the "old Wendy's building."

I look forward to the barbeque wars of Chucktown, and I plan to be a double-secret culinary spy for both sides.

4 comments:

Babe Runner said...

I've had good BBQ in KC and Memphis. Haven't gone to the Carolinas even though I have a feeling I'd probably like that a lot -- I like vinegar-based sauces over super-sweet ketchupy sauces.

One thing that drives me crazy is when really good pulled pork is served on Wonder bread. Why? Why? Why? That's like Picasso painting on toilet paper.

Quintilian B. Nasty said...

I've never had barbeque in Memphis even though I was close to the area many times since Mrs. Nasty went to grad school at Ole Miss (Hotty Toddy).

Regarding sauces, I prefer tomato-based sauces, but I like 'em smoky. I've had a few vinegar-based sauces that were good, but many I've had have been too mouth-puckering for me.

I also am kind of drawn to mustard-based sauces, which are more popular in the Carolinas. But those people put cole slaw on top of their pulled pork sandwiches, which I don't care for. I've tried it and didn't like it.

I also like pulled pork on a good bun of quality, but I think the use of cheap white bread at some joints is presentation, meaning that the purveyors are showing that pulled pork is down-home (based out of poverty) by making a cheap cut of meat ambrosia-like. Therefore, cheap bread should go along with it. The cheap white bread is about ethos in other words.

fern said...

We made it to Pop's yesterday and took our boxes and bags to Morton Park so we could sit outside and check out the swings 'n' stuff after. I really liked the pulled pork, which had a very nice light vinegar sauce and did not require a ream of napkins to eat. The brisket was disappointing (Mike called it a cross between roast beef and Italian beef). But I am also a fan of cole slaw on the sandwich, which is hard on those poor little white buns.

We did have wonderful BBQ in Durham, NC when we were there a couple years ago.

Quintilian B. Nasty said...

Yeh, I'll probably stick mostly with the pulled pork, but I may try the brisket. The last brisket I had that was good was not that long ago. It was at Busch Gardens.

When I filled up at the gas station today, people were doing stuff at Pop's soon-to-be competitor.