When the owners of Curry Boys BBQ made the decision to paint the quaint bungalow at 1304 McGavock Pike bright pink, let’s just say the East Nashville Facebook group got a little riled up. The former home of Lou is definitely eye-catching now, and really, there’s historical precedent — lots of homes in East Nashville used to be painted in vibrant colors that revealed the quirky personality of longtime residents before gentrification.
Chinese takeout, Neapolitan pizza, Asian fusion and Southern ice cream are coming together on the East Side
But that’s OK. As demonstrated by my Scene colleague Margaret Littman in her recent feature on the ongoing evolution of Riverside Village, there’s room for all sorts of people and personalities, and you can’t say Curry Boys doesn’t wear its personality on its sleeve. As soon as you enter that bungalow, you are confronted with fun and tacky cowboy paraphernalia, ranging from a Toy Story Woody doll to boots hanging like Christmas stockings from the mantel.
That represents the Texas side of the San Antonio-based chainlet of barbecue joints/curry houses. While the decor does reflect some Asian influence, it’s more apparent on the menu. From a cocktail list that includes drinks made with Thai basil, yuzu and lemongrass to inventive curry bowls accented with down-home Central Texas smoked meats, Curry Boys is a lovely amalgam of cultures.
Curry Boys BBQ getting its pink paint job, November 2024
On my first visit to a restaurant, I like to ask the staff what has been immediately popular, and local partner/co-owner Adam Lathan was happy to oblige. He’s also one of the owners of The Gumbo Bros, so I already trusted his advice on spicy, flavorful food. Of course, as an owner, he suggested just about everything on the menu, so then it was my turn to oblige him.
We started out with an order of pulled-pork nachos covered with an intriguing curry queso that was creamy and complex. An extra hit of honey Sriracha added another layer of flavors to complement the sweet and smoky pulled pork. If you’d told me in advance that one of my favorite dishes from my first meal at Curry Boys would be a salad, I wouldn’t have believed you. But indeed, I’ve been trying to re-create the umami-rich fish sauce/citrus dressing from their Thai green salad. It was that good!
Curry Boys BBQ's sides
For main dishes, we sampled two curry bowls. The first was the Brisket Smoke Show, made with Prime brisket smoked over post oak wood on a large rotisserie smoker in the middle of the welcoming back patio. Served atop rice and a deeply flavorful green curry, it was an excellent representation of the Texas/Thai gestalt of the restaurant. The second curry was the Good Luck Cluck, smoked chicken thighs with a yellow curry. It was also excellent, but I wish I had taken Lathan’s advice to order one of the curries with egg noodles in lieu of rice for some contrast. That was a lot of rice, and I think the noodles would have held up better as leftovers since we ordered way too much food.
Side dishes are not afterthoughts at Curry Boys. We really enjoyed the cooling effect of the fresh herb and cucumber slaw along with the creamy curry corn. Even add-ons like house-made pickles, chili crisp and fried shallots were obviously well-thought-out additions, especially with the chilled egg noodles that would go well with just about everything on the menu.
You have to love a restaurant that embraces creativity without being overly serious. The pitmasters at Curry Boys pay great care to their smoking, but they’re more than willing to get a little weird once the perfectly smoked meat comes off the rotisserie. And it’s a good kind of weird. Sorta like painting their building pink!
