Cheers, Tish.
Just finished up a spot of lunch from the South Street Smokehouse. Needed to make this take-away (aka "to-go").
Wanted a good sampling of their offerings, so we grabbed a 3 Meat Dinner with Brisket, Pulled Pork, and Chicken - Collard Greens and Mac & Cheese as the sides. Had several to feed, so we grabbed an additional 2 Meat Dinner with some more Brisket and Pulled Pork - Collard Greens and Cornbread. I noticed 3 large jugs of sauce on the counter, so I filled up 3 plastic cups... one of each: Original, Tangy & Sweet, and Hot.
Chatted with one of the line servers while they took care of a couple other orders. Their Ole Hickory Smoker usually runs with hickory, but they'll occasionally use apple for a pork loin. The place seems very popular with locals, as we wouldn't have been able to sit down in the 20-30 seats.
Rather a nice spread of food when we got it all out. Very reasonable portion sizes for the price.
Meats:
Brisket - Had read good things about their brisket on TripAdvisor or some such place. Appeared brown with some sort of bark formation. Was cooked 'till tender, but I think it went "over the top" while in holding... loosing much of the moisture content. Sadly, I didn't get much rub or spice from the bark, and just some general smoke flavor from the meat.
Pulled Chicken - Didn't expect the chicken to be pulled, to be honest. Was in little bits... closer to chopped. Rather dry meat (mainly white meat) with a sweeter finishing sauce that didn't do much for the flavor. Not much smoke flavor or spice rub to be had.
Pulled Pork - Retained moisture much better than the chicken. Finishing sauce had a bit more pepper and perhaps some other spices... gave better flavor. Still no bark or discernible smoke ring.
Sides:
Collard Greens - Nicely made. Little vinegar twang to 'em. Some ham hock or some such would've been a nice surprise.
Mac & Cheese - Appeared to be industrial... more food service style. FIL liked it.
Cornbread - Just about the star of the show. Very tasty stuff with bits of corn kernel baked in. Good texture and flavor.
Sauces: Very tomato-based stuff.
Mild / Original - Little bit of vinegar twang. Some sweetness and some spices. "Mild" is a good word for it.
"Tangy & Sweet" (or something like that) - This was our favorite. A great deal more interesting stuff going on here. More spices (heavy on the black pepper). Bit thinner than Mild... not sure where they got the sweet part of the description.
Hot - Can't exactly call this spicy by any stretch. Tastes like they just took the Mild and threw in some red pepper flakes or some cayenne.
Bottom Line:
I was excited to find this place and to read the reviews online. I really wanted to enjoy this meal. We sure didn't have all of the offerings on the menu. Their ribs (Tips, St. Louis Spares, and Baby Backs all on offer) look like a viable option.
I'm not sure I could recommend that this place to the rest of you, which pains me. I'd like to think that they just had "an off day."
