Monday, October 20, 2008
Bites Best of Nashville Barbecue: The Pig Hits the Fans
Posted by Jim Ridley on Mon, Oct 20, 2008 at 6:34 AM
Not everybody is happy with the results of the Scene's "Best of Nashville" contest—particularly the readers' choices. Over at A Man's Gotta Eat, the cleaver goes chop over the Best Barbecue category:
"I have a newsflash for the folks who participated in the Nashville Scene's 'Best of Nashville' contest: Whitt's is NOT the best barbecue restaurant in Nashville. The fact that this sad excuse for a restaurant has been chosen as the best in its particular category for over fifteen freakin' years reveals much about the taste(s) of those who read the Scene."Whitt's is to barbecue what McDonald's is to hamburgers. That is, Whitt's is cheap and will fill you up in a pinch, but any serious BBQ-eater will tell you that the pork shoulder served there is too dry and mealy to be considered first-class. Furthermore, why is it that in all the years Whitt's has been doing business in Middle Tennessee, the folks there have yet to develop a passable BBQ sauce? Could it be that the owners and operators of Whitt's are reluctant to do away with their one and only condiment, which is 95 percent straight cider vinegar, because it's the only thing keeping customers from choking to death?
"Local barbecue aficionados are well aware that Nashville's best barbecue joints, i.e., Neely's, Pop's, Mary's, and Hog Heaven, aren't chain restaurants, and they're not located in Hillsboro Village, Green Hills, SoBro, or the 'District.' (I hate to pass judgement, but I'd be willing to bet a dollar to anyone's dime that a majority of the individuals who took the time to partipate in the 'Best of Nashville' contest head to, well, Hillsboro Village, Green Hills, and downtown to eat out.)
Guess this is karmic payback for all the complaining we did about Bar-B-Cutie in the morning daily's poll. I would like to use this opportunity, however, to encourage Joltin' Django and the rest of the county to vote next year for any of the joints mentioned above—and I'll even throw in my own write-in candidates, Martin's and Dee's Q.
Comments (18)
Showing 1-18 of 18
like
dislike
Hog Heaven does have that awesome white sauce. The Neely's I had at a party not long ago was better than any of theirs I've ever had before. I still stand by Martin's and Dee's.
Is the Trinity Jack's better than the one downtown? I'm not a fan of the Lower Broad location. Tex's on Foster off Murfreesboro Road is pretty good, but I haven't been in a long time.
Just so all of the facts are out on the table, there are no Whitts locations in Hillsboro Village, Green Hills, SoBro, or "The District".
Also, Mr. Pink, I do believe that the Jack's on Trinity Lane is better than the one downtown.
Jack’s on West Trinity in my opinion has some of finest brisket I’ve had any where in the south. Their North Carolina style sauce is by far the best sauce there.
Tex's is pretty good but making it there during those hours is like finding a hole in the space/time continuum, and then, for all your consideration of actually getting there when they're open, they force-feed the mighty windbag through the speakers. They've got the best deviled eggs hands down, the brisket's respectable, but geez, having to put up with Rush Limbaugh while chewing just makes you wish you were working your way through something incredibly noisy like the world's biggest bag of fritos instead of food so quiet you could eat it in the library.
Also, and I'm sure you already knew this - that blog post is from last year. Though, I suppose, the rant could be interchangable since Whitts wins every year.
I've yet to take anybody from town or from out of town to Neely's who weren't really impressed--and if they know their BBQ, moreso. But I do need to check out Dee's; lots of people I trust like Dee's. Maybe the Scene poll ought to ask the Readers who vote whether they;ve actually eaten in the past 6 months at the places that seem to be named so automatically year after eyar.
Though, I suppose, the rant could be interchangable since Whitts wins every year.
Sad but true.
This is what makes bbq so great. What other food can create such a debate and cause grown men to spend thousands and thousands of dollars trying to prefect it? I also find it funny that no one on this blog voted for whitt's or bar-b-cutie, but we love to bitch about the folks that did (me included). However, we need to spend more time educating the poor readers that did vote for whitt's on the finer bbq joints in town.
Speaking of good bbq who is going to the World Championship BBQ in Lynchburg this weekend? If you want some great Q head down there this weekend. You will find BP and myself grubbing on some of the best q in the world.
Is that the Q that's being judged, or the Q available for purchase? Can you go from team to team sampling? For some reason I thought that was a no-no.
mr. pink the Jack will have some great vendors and you can hang around the judging area for a few samples and yes it does help to know some folks that are cooking. Fortunately, this year we have several friends that will be cooking. So if you hang around us you will be sure to not go hungry.
SL, you made my point exactly. Tex has the shortest quirkiest hours. My daughter took an acting course down the street for months, and not once did we ever find it open. I guess they have to shut downbefore the neighborhood meth heads start tweaking.
