Big Bob Gibson's Barbecue

I was skeptical at first. What kind of a barbecue restaurant has its own mini-documentary on its website? But my skepticism was misplaced. Big Bob's is no pretender; it is genuinely good barbecue. The restaurant even has the Memphis in May trophies to prove it, having won for barbecue and sauces several times.

Even without any sauce, the barbecue is good. It has a complex taste with a delicate smokiness, and is very tender, although a touch dry. As soon as you touch the meat with your fork you can tell that it was carefully slow-cooked for hours.

Their barbecued chicken converted a non-believer. I am usually not a fan of barbecued chicken, and would much prefer barbecue (i.e., pork barbecue). Big Bob's barbecued chicken is an exception to my rule. The meat is juicy, tender, and flavorful. It is the farthest thing from the dry, tasteless result that is typical of chicken. While the meat is tender, the skin is crispy and perfectly spiced.

Two sauces are provided for the meats: a red and a white sauce. The red sauce is tomato based and is sweet, but not overly sweet, with rich tomato and caramelized sugar flavors. It is excellent over the barbecue. The white sauce is best described as a mayonnaise-vinegar barbecue sauce. It has a mayonnaise base with a strong vinegar component, a strong black pepper taste, and a dash of spices. It is runny like a regular barbecue sauce rather than being thick like other mayonnaise based sauces (i.e., remoulade, etc.). While decent on the barbecue, the white sauce shines on the barbecued chicken. The crispy skin, the tender, juicy meat, and the creaminess and vinegar pop from the white sauce all sing in harmony to your tastebuds.

The meat at Big Bob's is hard to beat, however, I am a firm believer in the importance of sides to a barbecue establishment. For me, the sides are almost as important as the meat. Apparently Big Bob's does not share this philosophy, and the variety and quality of the sides leave much to be desired. Over the history of the establishment, sides have been overlooked. Until the 1950s, the only sides were coleslaw and potato chips. In the 1950s potato salad was added as an option. After several more decades, baked beans were added.

Perhaps North Alabama coleslaw is something you are raised to like. I am not a fan. It is devoid of mayonnaise, and consists solely of minced cabbage and vinegar. The potato salad is creamy, thick, and highly recommended. The baked beans are decent, but they have a slightly odd aftertaste of perhaps bellpeppers.

Finally, don't forget about dessert at Big Bob's. Among their choices of homemade pies, they serve an amazing lemon meringue pie. All of the pies are made early each morning by a team of pie-making ladies. I'm not sure what they put in their pies to make them so good, but they rank right up there with the best.

I recommend a trip to Big Bob Gibson's. It was not the best barbecue I have ever had, but it was quite good. Operating since 1925, they have to be doing something right to be cooking the same food for satisfied customers for nearly 100 years. The place serves delicious food, oozes barbecue history, and the staff is friendly and attentive. However, be aware that the restaurant receives mixed reviews. While I was quite pleased with my visit, some were sorely disappointed (see http://www.urbanspoon.com/r/168/968121/restaurant/Huntsville/Big-Bob-Gibson-Bar-B-Q-Decatur and http://3rddegreebbq.blogspot.com/2009/09/big-bob-gibson-bar-b-q-310-1715-6th-ave.html) and others left elated (see http://restaurantblog.spoonsaga.com/2010/04/08/bib-bob-gibsons-bbq--decatur-al.aspx?ref=rss).

For more information on the history of the restaurant, including the aforementioned video, check out the restaurant's website at www.bigbobgibson.com.

Big Bob Gibson's
2520 Danville Road SW OR 1715 6th Avenue SE
Decatur, AL
256-350-6969
www.bigbobgibson.com

Mud Creek Fish Camp

Cruising up Highway 72 and then down county roads lined with mobile homes, overgrown yards, and a one-room church, I finally found Mud Creek Fish Camp. Based on the name (although judging by the waitresses' shirts, it also goes by Mud Creek Barbecue), I expected a shack with a screen door needing oil in the hinges, warped floorboards worn from use, exposed lightbulbs, and a delicious smell emanating from the premises. Sadly, while quaint and inviting, what I found had no such character.

I wanted to like Mud Creek. I like the name, the restaurant was comfortable, it was unique in its off-the-beaten-path location, and it offered the promise of barbecue and perfectly fried catfish. But restaurants are places to eat food, and overall the food wasn't good.  The barbecue was fairly good with a strong smoky flavor and tender, although a little dry. The barbecue was served with spicy, sweet baked beans and yellow coleslaw. Yellow cole slaw is made with mustard and a little Tabasco mixed in with the very finely chopped coleslaw common in North Alabama. The yellow coleslaw was new to me, and while I enjoyed trying something new and it tasted fine, I didn't leave wondering about when I will next have some yellow coleslaw.

barbecue plate

catfish plate

Aside from the barbecue, baked beans, and fries, everything else we ordered was uninspired. The fried catfish, which the menu billed as their specialty, was bland and not crispy. The catfish needed some spice in the batter and a sauce on the side. Both the barbecue and the catfish came with a potato side and we chose fries. The fries were not homemade, were droopy rather than crispy, and were mushy on the inside. The apple pie we ordered for dessert was not homemade and wasn't properly baked because the crust was mushy.

The prices are too high for the quality of food served. A large barbecue plate runs $7.50 and a  large catfish plate with five pieces of catfish runs $10.

The service was mediocre. Our waitress mostly ignored us, but other waitresses appeared to be very busy taking care of their customers.

Mud Creek Fish Camp has potential, but doesn't live up to it. I went looking for quality country flavors, and I didn't find them.

Mud Creek Fish Camp
804 County Road 213
Hollywood, AL 35752
256-259-2493

Little Paul Gibson's BBQ

Good, but not amazing. (For amazing, see my post on Po' Pigs Bo-b-q on Edisto Island, South Carolina.) The restaurant is no frills, almost like eating in some one's living room.

The barbecue is cooked well, is moist, and falls apart easily.

It had a lightly smoked taste. It is pulled and then chopped lightly. It is not the super-fine chop you see at some places but more of a medium chop. The barbecue came with a small thing of vinegar sauce which was a little spicy, but over top of the barbecue it was nice.

The tomato based sauce available at the table was very sweet with a little kick. It was too sweet for my taste and was not my favorite.

The baked beans are a little spicy with pork, peppers, and onions in them. They have a taste that I can still not figure out and which I also am still not sure if I like or not. I think it must be some spice that makes them taste a little odd. The cornbread was hard as a brick and dry to the center. It was what my father-in-law calls a "window breaker." I tried it anyways and the taste was decent, but there was no way I was going to take more than a nibble of something that hard and dry. In Little Paul's defense, we did come in after the peak lunch hours (around 2:30) and the cornbread could have dried by then. But if the bread has dried you shouldn't serve it to your customers. The creamy coleslaw was good but not really distinguishable from the creamy coleslaw you find anywhere else. The sweet tea was decent, although a little on the sweet side.

The only other problem was that the small "slow roasted Southern style pulled pork plate" I ordered came with a rather small portion of the barbecue and two sides for the $6.45 price. I'm sure the restaurant can charge almost anything it wants due to its prime real estate across from the hospital, but I expect a little more for the money.

Finally, I am told that the lemon meringue pie was excellent.

However, I did not get a chance to sample it as my father-in-law finished it off in record time.

Little Paul Gibson's Barbecue
815 Madison St. SE
Huntsville, AL 35801
256-536-7227

Po' Pigs Bo-b-q

This is the real deal! A South Carolina barbecue buffet where the barbecue is delicious but the multitude of sides may be even better. Where to start?

Everything was excellent so I guess the best way to start is to just go around my first plate. Yes, my first plate. This place is so good I of course went back for seconds. But, on second thought, let's start at the bottom of the Po' Pig food pyramid and work our way up.

The barbecue is tender, moist, and tasty. So good that it doesn't really need sauce.

The only problem is that with all of the delicious sides the barbecue gets a little lost. Maybe that is a good thing. The tables have an array of four different types of barbecue sauce: Carolina red, Orangeburg sweet, Pee Dee vinegar, and Midland mustard.

The Midland mustard is good. It is not too sweet with a slight vinegar kick. Of course, I am partial to mustard sauces. The Orangeburg sweet isn't too sweet and appears to have a mayonnaise base. The Pee Dee vinegar makes your mouth pucker up. It is nearly solid vinegar with a little spice, but not hot. The Carolina red had a lot of flavor. It was like a spicy, watery version of a ketchup sauce.

Plate #1

Plate #2

The field peas were meaty and rich with stringy bits of pork throughout. The beans, with the meat cooked down in them, make a delicious sauce covering them. The lima beans are almost a creamy soup. The coleslaw was excellent: crunchy and creamy. The greens n' roots consist of turnip greens with diced turnips. I love greens with a generous dose of pepper vinegar and was not disappointed by this specimen.

If you have never tried pepper vinegar you should give it a try. It turns greens, which could otherwise be a bland dish, into a go-to dish in the barbecue buffet line. You can also see the okra and tomatoes on my plate. I didn't take any notes on the okra, but okra and tomatoes is an excellent dish and, if my memory serves me correctly, it was good. Last, because it doesn't really fit into either the vegetable or hash and rice part of the food pyramid, but not least, are the cracklins. Cracklins are fried pig skins, also known as pork rinds. In one way they are sort of like eating spicy, crunchy, Styrofoam. But they are actually quite good despite the odd description. They have a nice crunchiness and the Po' Pig spice mix was tasty.

The hash was fantastic. Po' Pigs offers two versions. As mentioned in previous blogs, my family has a history of South Carolina barbecue. But I have only ever had one version of hash. Po' Pigs offers the standard version I know, an orange hash, as well as a dark brown hash.

The standard orange hash had the right consistency, like a meat puree, and over white rice was quite tasty. The dark brown hash is made of pork liver. It has a complex, deeper, richer taste than the standard hash. I wish this recipe was more common. While I don't necessarily prefer the brown hash to the orange, I like it at least equally as much and I love the variety.

Finally, Po' Pigs had good sweet tea. The tea was sweet but not necessarily sickeningly sweet like some barbecue places. For dessert, there was banana pudding.

While I am guessing that the pudding was topped with canned whipped cream and that detracts from the dish, I am also fairly certain that the banana pudding itself was homemade.

Overall, I highly recommend Po' Pigs. This is real, South Carolina barbecue and sides. It is even better than most small town South Carolina barbecue buffets both in terms of taste and in the variety of sides. Don't be scared by the fact that Po' Pigs shares a wall with a gas station. The parking lot full of pickup trucks should reassure you.  If you find yourself on Edisto, definitely drop in. If you are in Charleston, consider taking a day trip down to Edisto and having lunch or dinner at Po' Pigs. You could spend the rest of the day on the beach, put your boat in at Steamboat Landing right up the road, or do some hiking at Botany Bay WMA or Edisto Beach State Park. Don't miss your chance to taste South Carolina's traditional cuisine.

Po' Pigs Bo-b-q

2410 Highway 174

Edisto Island, SC 29438

843-869-9003

Community Q BBQ

Community Q is a BBQ joint in a small strip mall outside of Decatur and near Emory. They serve a range of barbecued meats and sides.

I ordered a combination meat plate of the brisket and pulled pork. It is worth mentioning that my family has barbecued whole hogs using a family recipe for years. I know pulled pork, especially South Carolina style pulled pork. However, I do not know brisket. From what I understand brisket is popular in Texas. I have never been to Texas, and I have never had brisket before.

Both the brisket and the pulled pork were good, but not amazing.

The brisket was smoky and moist but could be a little more moist. It flaked apart nicely. It did have a tasty crust. The pork was cooked nicely. It also was a little drier than I prefer, but it was cooked the exact right amount of time.

The meats were served with your choice of a sweet sauce or a vinegar sauce. The sweet sauce was too sweet for my taste, very sweet. It was syrupy sweet. I prefer my sauce to have a stronger mustard base or ketchup base with a light touch of sweetness. This sauce was more like a syrup. The vinegar sauce was good, but a little thicker and sweeter than the vinegar sauce I prefer.

All of the meat plates come with the meat between two slices of bread. The bread was tasty toasted bread but totally unnecessary. The bread just got in the way of the meats.

For sides we tried the macaroni and cheese and the baked beans.

The mac and cheese was the best part of the meal. The large noodles are covered in a sauce made of three cheeses. It is super cheesy and greasy. So greasy that there was a puddle of grease at the bottom when I finished it. Cardiologists everywhere are protesting this dish.
The baked beans were so-so.

They had an odd taste that neither my wife nor I particularly preferred. We couldn't exactly place what the weird taste is. Part of the odd taste was the strong helping of pepper, but they also had an odd sweet taste.

Orders are placed at the counter up front.

The waiters then bring your food to you when it is ready. The service wasn't bad but didn't impress either. We visited the restaurant on a Sunday afternoon at 1:30. The wait was rather long for that time of day and food that is so easily put together. Hopefully the delay signals that the food is being freshly prepared, but I'm not quite sure that is the case.

The interior is cozy for a strip mall. The families and diners reading newspapers or engaged in conversation give the place a neighborhood feel.

In conclusion, Community Q is good, but not amazing. I had heard excellent things about Community Q through the grapevine but it did not live up to the hype. It is not a bad barbecue joint but a decent barbecue joint. I will probably go back at some point, but it won't make it onto my list of regular joints and I won't catch myself daydreaming about it.



Commuity Q BBQ

1361 Clairmont Road

Decatur, GA

404-633-2080