Famous Dave’s
5000 Old Hickory Blvd., Hermitage. 882-0999
Hours: 11 a.m.-10 p.m. Sun.-Thurs.; until 11 p.m. Fri.-Sat.
Price range: $7.50-$19 per diner
“Dave must be really famous,” my daughter said as we circled the parking lot of Famous Dave’s, a barbecue restaurant that recently opened its first Nashville location in Hermitage. By this point, at 6:30 on a Friday evening, we had driven around the lot four times, searching vainly for a parking space.
In the Nashville suburbs, Famous Dave’s isn’t quite as familiar as the nearby Steak ’N Shake or Outback Steakhouse. But in the industry, Dave Anderson is a pretty well-known guy. He has accumulated a wall full of awards: 1997 Hot Concept from Nation’s Restaurant News magazine and Hot New Concept from Chain Leader magazine; Best Barbecue in Minneapolis’ City Pages readers’ poll; a Top 10 restaurant rating in Mpls/St Paul magazine; and more.
Chicago native Anderson first came to attention for his business acumen in the late ’80s, through his successful overhaul of the business concerns of the Lac Courte Chippewa Reservation in northern Minnesota and his co-founding and development of Grand Casinos Inc., one of the top three gaming companies in the United States. But, according to the press material available about his restaurants, Anderson has been obsessed with barbecue since he was a teenager, when his electrician father would bring home smoked ribs made by black construction workers. This passion led him on pilgrimages to barbecue hotbeds like Tennessee, Missouri, Georgia, the Carolinas and Texas. From those trips, Anderson amassed the tips he put to use while developing his own restaurant.
For 20 years, his hobby was making thousands of batches of sauce and smoking ribs by every conceivable method; his first pit was a garbage can with an electric hot plate and a pie tin full of hickory chips. The signature sauce that he finally perfected to his satisfaction he called Rich & Sassy. He also settled on a rib-cooking technique: a special rub followed by slow-cooking in a hickory wood pit, then finishing over a char-grill.
Anderson opened his first Famous Dave’s BBQ Shack in Hayward, Wis., in 1994, with the concept of re-creating the old-fashioned barbecue joints found all over the South. Famous Dave’s of America went public in 1996, and today, there are 37 company-owned locations and 14 other franchised units in 11 states. The Famous Dave’s in Hermitage is owned by Mike Lister, former senior vice president of operations for Famous Dave’s, and now president and CEO of his own company, Famous Five Dining. There are plans for more locations in the area.
Judging by the crowds on our visit to Famous Dave’s, it has been a remarkably successful and well-received debut. When we finally found a parking space (at Steak ’N Shake, I confess), we then discovered that we were facing at least a 90-minute wait for a table in the 220-seat restaurant. Sandwiched between two hungry children and two hungry grandparents, and surveying the jam-packed, shoulder-to-shoulder, smoke-filled bar area, we opted to take advantage of the convenient and very efficiently run take-out counter just inside the front door.
In the 15 minutes it took to assemble our large order, I strolled through the restaurant. Famous Dave’s decorating concept attempts to re-create a Minnesota or Wisconsin fishing and hunting lodge of the ’30s or ’40s. There are wide-cut wood-planked walls, dark wood floors, a tin roof over the bar and a huge stone fireplace in the middle of the spacious dining room, which is filled with cozy booths and red-and-white-checked gingham-covered tables. Everywhere diners look, there are antique hunting, fishing, hiking and camping gear, old advertising memorabilia, mounted moose and elk heads, 3-foot-long shellacked fish frozen in mid-leap, antler chandeliers and wood-framed black-and-white photographs. On every table is a roll of paper towels and a cardboard six-pack carrier of condiments, including bottles of the different sauces now available: the original Rich & Sassy, Sweet & Zesty, Hot & Sassy, Texas Pit, Devil’s Spit and Georgia Mustard.
Most of the tables were occupied by families or large groups, which makes good sense, considering the humongous portion sizes Famous Dave’s offers. The most popular and cost-effective method for feeding a group of four or more—and the one we chose—is the American BBQ Feast. When eaten in-house, the meal is served atop a wax-paper-lined garbage can lid (a reference to Anderson’s first smoker). Ordered to go, it is sensibly packaged on a large, sturdy round black plastic plate, covered with a heat-saving clear plastic lid, and then slid into a plastic bag with handles for easy transport. Small packets of sauce are thrown in the bag, along with a load of napkins and Wet-Naps.
Either way, the American BBQ Feast is priced at $47.99 and consists of a full-slab of ribs, a whole chicken cut in half, a half-pound of beef brisket, chopped pork or double-smoked ham, a mountain of lodge fries (also known as steak fries), sides of coleslaw and beans, four half-ears of corn on the cob and four corn muffins. Much to the surprise of the polite, friendly, fresh-faced teenaged duo manning the to-go counter, we also ordered a dozen barbecue wings, a pound of rib tips and a Georgia chopped pork sandwich. (“Are you sure you want all this food, ma’am?” one asked with a slightly raised eyebrow.)
So how does Famous Dave fare in barbecue-crazy Middle Tennessee? Not bad for a big-city Yankee boy. The ribs are clearly the star of the show: big, meaty, tender, moist and so flavorful that the layer of Rich & Sassy sauce they’re slathered in is almost superfluous. The rib tips—the burnt edges of the ribs—were a bit too gristly and fatty for our taste, but if you’re the type who eats the fat off steak, this should appeal. The beef brisket was sliced thin and perfectly cooked with a charred crust and a pink middle, though a tad dry and lacking the distinct seasoning of the ribs.
All the flavor in the chicken was in the skin, so we used the breast meat to test the different sauces. Our favorites turned out to be the Sweet & Zesty and the Hot & Sassy—but sauce preferences are as personal as one’s taste in barbecue. The Georgia chopped pork is neither chopped nor pulled, as is the custom in these parts, but cubed into 1-inch chunks. Nashville’s own genuine barbecue shack, Fate’s Pig & Pie, easily kicks its butt.
Regarding the sides, the corn muffins are of the very sweet ilk; the coleslaw is a creamy, cool contrast to the spicy sauces; the dull beans are in need of a shot of Devil’s Spit; the fries are hefty, though not as crisp as I prefer; and the corn on the cob was waterlogged and awful. Not even my corn-on-the-cob-loving children would eat it, and the four ears went straight to the compost heap. I would ask for a substitute, perhaps the cooked apples or potato salad.
So is Famous Dave’s worth the wait? Folks who live east of town apparently think so. The counter kids told me the store has been packed since opening day, and that the only way to avoid a wait for a table, particularly on weekends, is to arrive before 5 or after 8:30 p.m. Obviously, Dave Anderson is on to something. He may not be able to offer us barbecue experts below the Mason-Dixon Line advice on how to cook it, but he sure as heck knows how to market it.
