The BBQ Song

Great explanation of barbecue variations put to music...

BubbaQue's-Chiefland,FL

I had heard lots of advertisements for this new chain which now has locations from Lakeland to Cross City. The Chiefland restaurant is the one I tried. It's located in a newly remodeled shopping strip on the south end of town. Just that fact that it's new would seem to give it an advantage in a town where every other restaurant is showing it's age.

The atmosphere is what I would call loudmouth country. The walls are covered with hunting, sports, and beer memorabilia, a little more than is necessary in my opinion-sort of like a Cracker Barrel on steroids. I tend to think any place that tries this hard to look genuine will fall short of the real thing. Anyway, you order from the misspelled menu at the counter on the way in, then find a seat and wait for your meal. I ordered the pulled pork which came with two sides and garlic bread.

I could handle all this plastic cowboy kitsch if the food was up to par. It was not. The meat was a little dry and basically flavorless. There was no hint of smoke that I could find. Fortunately there are 6-7 different sauces on each table that
you can try and they saved the day. With interesting names like "Ol' Yeller" and "Tire Lube" you've gotta try 'em, and most are really good. The sweet potato fries I got as a side were excellent. Other than that, the food was disappointing as well.

Not what I'd hoped for, but I would try one of the other locations just to see if they can pull it off any better than this place.

FOOD RATING: 2.5 OF 5

OVERALL RATING: 2 OF 5

Stick a fork in it-it's overdone

Boston Barbecue- Boston,GA

 

You could drive by the whole town of Boston in under a minute and never know it was there. Halfway between Valdosta and Thomasville, traffic zips by on US 84 at 65 miles an hour, but if you slow down and drive about a mile off the main road, you will think you've gone back in time. It's a charming small town with a main street passed by when they built the four lane highway, and consequently has remained largely unchanged for many years. On the sunny spring day when I visited, the streets were lined with flowering dogwoods, adding to the quaint beauty of the historic buildings.

Boston Barbecue is right on Main Street-you just park on the street and enter through the front porch. The menu is typical barbecue fare, but this day they had a smoked chicken lunch special, so I ordered that. I'm not usually a big fan of chicken, but the smoked breast I got was exceptional. It was juicy and had great flavor. I don't know what kind of wood they were smoking with, but it worked very well. My sides of fried okra and potato salad were good as well.

I was so impressed that I went back for lunch again the next day (there was only one other restaurant in town anyway). This time I had a pork sandwich, which again was quite good, though it didn't surprise me like the chicken. What made more of an impression on me was that our waitress remembered what we drank from the day before and treated us like she had known us forever. Many of the customers were the same as the day before, and even they seemed genuinely friendly though we obviously were strangers in a place that didn't see many. I couldn't help overhearing their conversations about the weather, who had their crops planted and the big scandal everyone was talking about- it seemed a city employee had been caught fudging his hours to get overtime pay. I smiled to myself as I got up to pay, say goodbye and return to the modern world. If I'm ever in this area again I will return, if not for the food, definitely for it's southern charm and hospitality.

FOOD RATING: 4 OF 5
OVERALL RATING: 5 OF 5                                                                                           

Boston Barbeque
                                                                                              110 S. Main St.
Boston, Ga 31626 2

299.498.7266  Mark and Paula Roberts
Tues - Thur 11-9 and Fri, Sat 11-10