Heather and her family are already here, so today Mom and Dad decided to drive up also. The twins had a soccer game this morning at 9:45. Mom and Dad hopped on their motorcycle and took off from Birmingham early enough to make it in time for the game. It was awesome, the twins had their own cheering section!!
It is also Dad’s birthday next week so after the game Mom, Heather and I went to the grocery store to get the yummies to make his fave cake – Red Velvet. We also decided to get some BBQ for lunch. I thought we would try a BBQ place here in Madison that apparently tons of people LOVE. On the weekends, the drive-thru is absolutely covered up. I have seen 12-15 cars in line there on a regular basis. So, I figured it must be good right? Well, apparently people here in North Alabama don’t know what BBQ is supposed to taste like. There are so many different variations of BBQ is it unreal! This is what one of my faveorite magazines, Southern Living, had to say about BBQ and the South:
As long as there’s been a South, we’ve loved barbecue, the one food that defines us most as a region. It suits our Southern sense of comfort, society, and the passage of time–friends and family gathering around glowing embers, drifting smoke scenting the air and seasoning the meats of animals that grazed the grass of our prairies and rooted the mast of our forests.
That might be a bit over the top, I mean I love meat, I could never be a vegetarian, but I don’t really want to think about these animals roaming around the woods behind my house and then eating them for dinner. :l
Anyway, back to the topic – BBQ at this place was weird, different and not good. When she gave us the container, it didn’t look like the 2 lb. that we had ordered. She confirmed that is was. We decided that would not be enough, so we got another container. Then we asked where the sauce was, she said it’s mixed in the BBQ. REALLY?!?!? :hmmm Where??? There was certainly no sauce there that I could see. So, we got the meat home, and I dump it into a pan to doctor it up with some ‘real’ BBQ sauce. The stuff that they claim to be sauce was a clear, vinegar base type that just was not good IMHO. The actual meat was not that great either. So we have striked that particular place off our list. There is one great place here, but it’s not in Madison – it’s out in Limestone county, feels like the country, but in reality only about 15-20 minutes away. It is called Greenbriar Restaurant. This is the real deal, Southern BBQ like I am used to. They also have the best hush puppies I’ve ever eaten. They bring a basket to the table when they bring your tea, and they just keep filling the basket up when it gets empty.
We always have to find a BBQ restaurant wherever we are. It took a long time in upstate NY, but we finally did. It was called Everglades. Which is very strange considering after we left NY, we were practically living in the Everglades. In FL, we did find a place, but I cannot remember the name of it. I don’t think we were in Charlotte long enough to settle on one. In Tuscaloosa it was Archibald’s, yep – most people erroneously believe it is Dreamland (which is good!), but Archibald’s is better. Ifound a funny review somebody did about Archibald’s here. In Birmingham, it has always been Full Moon.
