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Saturday, April 17, 2010

An Adventure In Eating

Dick and I just love real, wood smoked BBQ and it's almost impossible to find it here in Ontario. We have solved the problem by buying our own smoker and I have great fun with it but it's also more fun to eat someone else's cooking than your own!


And....


I think we've watched so many episodes of Diner's Drive-in's and Dives, that we no longer have a fear of buying food at unusual places. (Who am I kidding? We've eaten in cantina's up in the mountains of Mexico years ago!)


On our drive over to Ocala one day in Florida on highway 17, we started seeing roadside signs. Simple plywood signs, painted white with the letters BBQ only and immediately my interest was piqued!


I wasn't to be disappointed. We rounded a corner and there on the side of the road was a tent and trailer and several pickup trucks pulled up on the grass.


I said to Dick: "Honey, we're getting take out for supper on our way back!"


And we did!




Now, you have to ask yourself: Would you stop here and buy something to eat?


Notice the trailer in the back? Yep! The portable garage is just butted up to the trailer. This is just at the side of the road with a dirt lane way. The electrical post in the back tells me there is proper electricity, but there's just a port-a-pot for facilities! Somehow, there has to be water, but I didn't really take notice to let you know.




Nice big tent to protect you from the elements and some sawdust on the ground. A few picnic tables to the one side, but we took ours home in takeout containers.
....And no... neither one of these folks is me or Dick!


This is a family run business with the mom, dad and kids. They've won some local BBQ cook-offs and are so friendly! I'm always glad to support private enterprise, specially in this day and age. 




Now, if you walk around to the back of the trailer, you get to see the workings of the place. You can see the electrical cord plugged in the back of the trailer.
This is the building that houses the wood grill. Real wood smoked and fired. Absolutely awesome!




I had to go up and open the door.  See how the roof is all black from the smoke? I'm not sure about all the tin foil crinkled up on the floor....
And then there was the traveler:



I can only guess that this goes with them to competitions?


I would have loved to have been there when they actually did the cooking!




Anyway, this is what we took home with us. We ordered two pulled pork sandwiches and fries and he gave us the meat and buns in separate containers so they wouldn't go all soggy. We had so much pork we had to go buy more buns the next day!  It was so yummy and sweet!



So, what if we'd stuck our noses up in the air when we saw that trailer at the side of the road? What if we'd laughed and joked with each other that you'd likely kill yourself if you ate there, or made some off color comment on the origin of the meat? (I know you're thinking of a time.... 'Cause we've done it too!)


Well, we wouldn't have eaten some amazing BBQ, that's what! So next time you see a weird place, or a place that's not pretty, or just some out of the way place and there's lots of cars around it or a line up? Go on in! That many folks just can't be wrong!

Just to let you know, we did not receive compensation of any kind for this post.


All of these photos were again shot and loaded directly from my Nikon P90 and then posted without alteration of any kind.

8 comments:

Grandma Yellow Hair said...

Yummy what a good looking sandwich you have there...making me hundry for some bar-b-que.
Yes your right we all have passed up a many of places like this one but have stopped at some myself and most of the time was glad that I did.
Always love stopping by and reading your post
Thanks for sharing
Maggie

Unknown said...

There's a little place about 25 miles from us called Buck's Naked BBQ. Unimpressive surroundings; awesome food.

Lynn said...

Looks like a great place for BBQ. I, too, like to support local businesses.

If you want some really good Texas BBQ, go to The Salt Lick, Driftwood, Texas website. The BBQ is packed in dry ice when shipped and the sauce has an Asian twist too it. The Salt Lick hugely popular in this part of the country.

When my oldest son lived in California, he developed an insatiable craving for Texas BBQ. I sent care packages from The Salt Lick. :D When he returned to Texas, he stopped at the first BBQ stand he saw after crossing the Texas state line.

EG CameraGirl said...

Just goes to show we sometimes judge without knowing all the facts.

troutbirder said...

Right on! My kind of eating adventure.... if I can persuade my skeptical spouse. :)

Jenn Jilks said...

What a fun post! I agree about supporting local businesses. Thank you for visiting <A HREF="http://mymuskoka.blogspot.com/2010/04/critters-are-busy.html </A> !

crochet lady said...

That looks like great BBQ pork! Sometimes it's the little hodunk places that have the greatest food. We have a little bar near us out in the middle of nowhere that has the greatest prime rib and people come from miles around to get it, but you sure wouldn't guess by looking at the building that it's anything special.

Nina Diane said...

oh heck yeah...we have those kinds of places all around Virginia! Some of the best BBQ ever!!