Reader Submission

Hey guys! Love what you’re doing with this blog. God knows we need someone out there trying places out and rating them. I hate walking into a place and not knowing what to expect to put in my mouth. Question, do you only try the place once or do you use the “3 tries” rule?

/ Barbecue Bros / Leave a comment

Hi Hugh! Thanks for reading. 

We do not subscribe the the “3 tries” rule for a couple of reasons:

  1. There are just too many barbecue restaurants out there to try to visit a joint three times to judge it.
  2. If we don’t like a place, we don’t want to go back.
  3. Conversely, if we do like a place, we don’t necessarily write about it every time we visit. For example, Monk and I are regulars at both Queen City Q and Midwood Smokehouse in Charlotte, but I think our original reviews sum up our feelings pretty well. If something major occurs to affect our thoughts, we’d definitely post it. 
  4. When possible, we like to eat/rate barbecue together. This is a little difficult with Rudy since he lives in Austin, but Monk and I eat barbecue together pretty regularly. Not often at the same place three times, though.
  5. When we travel, we like to check out the local barbecue, so eating at a place three times in such situations may not be feasible.

We also have been “saving” some of our favorite places – Red Bridges, 12 Bones, Lexington #1 (our all-time fav) – either because we haven’t been in a long time or because we would like to go with at least two of us. Hopefully we’ll get them knocked out soon.

So if we caught your favorite barbecue restaurant on a bad day, sorry – chances are we won’t be going back.

-Speedy

You lost me at: “Everyone knows that barbecue slaw should be vinegar based!”

/ Barbecue Bros / Leave a comment

Sorry, Anon. I guess that’s not really true. Slaw, as we all know, is cabbage based. You take chopped cabbage and mix it with a dip (or sauce) to turn it into slaw. Oftentimes, people use mayonnaise as the base for this sauce. In my opinion, these people should not be allowed near a kitchen, much less a barbecue pit. In fairness, this is generally referred to as coleslaw.

When I’m eating barbecue, what I want as a side is barbecue slaw. Barbecue slaw is cabbage mixed with vinegar and generally a few other ingredients that do not include mayonnaise. The best kind of barbecue slaw is Lexington red slaw. It consists of cabbage, cider vinegar, ketchup, salt, pepper, and red pepper flakes.

Slap some of that on a chopped pork sandwich, and you’re in hog heaven.

-Speedyimage