Bar-B-Que

Bay City, Texas

Weather: low 62 degrees, high 75 degrees, mostly cloudy skies

We were busier at work today, which is a good thing, as Martha would say. There’s still a significant amount of work to do, but when spread over two 12-hour shifts in a day, it becomes possible to get it done. It still looks as though I’ll be finished in about a week.

We were talking about bar-b-que at work today, and the differences found in it in different areas of the country. When we lived in Florida, we thought there was no better bar-b-que than what we found at Sonny’s Bar-b-Que. They specialized in pork, and their side dishes, such as cole slaw, were pretty good. When we moved to Alabama, we found that the way they prepared bar-b-que was much different than what we found in Florida. The sauce was different, with vinegar being the main ingredient. The big seller appeared to be sandwiches with a big scoop of cole slaw on top of the meat. We never could acquire a liking for the strong vinegar taste, and always enjoyed eating at Sonny’s when we went back to Florida for a visit.

Trips to other states in the south didn’t impress us with their bar-b-que, and the worse we had was in South Carolina. It was almost uneatable, and I don’t know if it was just that restaurant, but it was pretty bad. Luckily for us, Sonny’s has restaurants in the state, and it was just like what we found in Florida.

Eventually, we moved to Texas, where we found a different taste in the bar-b-que. At first we didn’t think much of the taste, but it grew on us. We found that we began judging the bar-b-que found in other states against what we were able to get in Texas. In most cases, the Texas bar-b-que was better. One exception to the rule was a restaurant we found in Brookings, Oregon. We were hungry for bar-b-que, and decided to try a local restaurant there. What a surprise! The meat and sauce as well as the side dishes were exceptional, and the price was reasonable. I wish I could think of the name of the restaurant, but I remember that it was on US 101 south of town, on the left side of the road as we were driving south. I know how to find it when we make it back out there.

A famous bar-b-que restaurant in Alabama is Dreamland, located in Tuscaloosa. We’ve been to the original restaurant, which is hard to find if you don’t know where to go. It’s very popular with local folks, and if you ever watch college sports from Tuscaloosa, the announcers usually mention eating there. It’s some of the best free advertising they could get. The business has expanded, and they added another store across the river from Tuscaloosa as well as at least one in Birmingham. They may have more now. Our favorite bar-b-que restaurant in the Tuscaloosa area was Johnny Ray’s, which went out of business a couple of years ago. Too bad, since we liked the sauce and the meat was excellent.

Do you get the sense that we like bar-b-que? We do, and are always looking for the next good place to try. The next time we're in Memphis, we're going to try some of their food. Someday, we'll make it to Kansas City, where there's supposed to be some good stuff. In the meantime, we'll enjoy the good restaurants in Texas, and Sonny's in Florida.

More later, be safe.

Today's Town - Asheville, North Carolina: The Land Of The Sky

Not all who wander are lost.