At Puckett’s Restaurant, go for the live music but not the barbecue

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Name: Puckett’s Restaurant
Date: 7/19/24
Address: 2 W Aquarium Way Chattanooga, TN 37402
Order: Puckett’s BBQ Platter, smoked sausage and cheese plate (link to menu)
Pricing: $$

Monk: Puckett’s Restaurant is a Tennessee-based chain that started in Franklin in 2004. They are a southern restaurant that serves barbecue and is also known for their live music at each of their restaurants, and in particular the downtown Nashville location which has a large stage and capacity for up to 150 seated guests in the Music City.

In the past 20 years it has expanded to eight total restaurants, with most being in the middle and central part of the Volunteer State, with the exception being located in Cullman, Alabama about 60 miles south of the Alabama-Tennessee border.

Nearly 10 years ago the Chattanooga location of Puckett’s was the fourth to open, located in the Riverfront District near the Tennessee Aquarium. It is actually the largest location of any of the eight Puckett’s.

On our visit, the Monk family was seated at a four top near the stage, where a lady duo played some fun bluegrass covers. I ordered a Tennessee whiskey cocktail and Mrs. Monk ordered a Mexican Mule and we were off to a great start.

From there, we ordered a Smoked Sausage and Cheese plate for an appetizer. Mrs. Monk and I were hoping it was along the lines of a Memphis-style meat and cheese plate that we learned about from our current neighbors in Charlotte who used to live in Memphis. Unfortunately, the cheese was sliced instead of cubed and the pickles were chips instead of spears. Not to mention there was only three pickle chips. So it was all wrong for me. The red flags began to show themselves.

The Puckett’s BBQ Platter with pulled pork and brisket was my choice and while all of our food came out nice and quick, I quickly found myself disappointed. Of the two meats, the pulled pork was the better of the two but did not have much of a hint of smoke and was on the dry side. And each of table sauces were thicker, molasses-based sauces so neither were going to be of much help there.

The brisket was partially sliced and partially chopped. Or more accurately, the chopped bits were likely collected from some of the scraps of the slices from the cutting board. And they were even drier than the pork. I found it to be disappointing and mostly inedible.

The sides of sweet potato fries, baked beans, and cole slaw were nothing to write home about.

Next time I’m near one of the other seven locations of Puckett’s Restaurant in and around Middle Tennessee, if I do make my way inside I’m skipping their barbecue and going for their southern food fare while I enjoy live music.

Ratings:
Atmosphere/Ambiance – 3.5 hogs
Pork – 2.5 hogs
Brisket – 2 hogs
Sides – 2 hogs
Overall – 2 hogs

Brisket & Rice Became a Texas Monthly Top 25 New BBQ Joint Purely from Word of Mouth

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Monk: Hong and Phong Tran, owners of Brisket & Rice just outside of the Houston city limits, like to say they are the only gas station restaurant with both an offset and a wok burner – “only in Texas.”

Food writer J.C. Reid was the first to evangelize on their behalf, and in 2023 this restaurant located in a former Church’s Chicken was named to Texas Monthly’s 25 Best New and Improved BBQ Joints in Texas list.

Description: Brothers Hong and Phong Tran, with Hong continuing his work as a machinist, transitioned to becoming pitmasters and specialized in brisket and rice. In this chat, they talk about how they started Brisket & Rice and how the community has supported their business.

The Best Bites at last month’s Second Annual Jon G’s Jubilee

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Note: a version of this article originally appeared last month in The Smoke Sheet, a fantastic national barbecue newsletter that I regularly contribute to. For more information on how to subscribe, visit bbqnewsletter.com.

Monk: The Jon G’s Jubilee is part barbecue festival and part birthday celebration, with the first edition in 2023 created in honor of the 40th birthday of co-owner and pitmaster Garren Kirkman. This year, I made my way to Peachland around 4pm on a Saturday in late June – which, by the way, is an odd feeling if you’ve ever woken up closer to the crack of dawn to leave for a Barbecue Saturday – for this year’s edition of the Jubilee featuring contributions from N. Sea Oyster Co., Lawrence Barbecue, Elliott Moss, and of course Jon G’s Barbecue.

Most attendees at the Jubilee started with oysters from N. Sea Oyster Co. from Hampstead which is located near Topsail Beach on the North Carolina coast. They offered both raw and the barbecued oysters that were cooked on a Kudu grill next to the tent. The oysters were a touch on the small side for my liking but the raw with a “hog wash mignonette” were nice and briney while the barbecued with a chipotle bourbon butter were sublime.

Lawrence Barbecue‘s beef fat caramel wings were probably the food highlight of the evening for me. If I am recalling the process correctly, beef fat drippings from briskets are rendered into a caramel sauce with sugar and cumin, and then that is what the wings are dipped in after they are fried. These don’t appear to be a regular menu item at their shop in Durham but if they are ever on special, grab a friend and get as many as you can. Just ridiculously tasty.

Elliot Moss and his mobile BQ smoker was actually the first sight attendees saw when walking into the Jubilee in the the lawn area behind the Jon G’s building. Moss was a last minute addition to the festivities, announced just the week leading into the festival, but he was certainly a welcome one for barbecue fans in the know. He’s made some moves in his hometown of Florence that are still to be announced publicly (but are consistent with what he told me at the Carolina BBQ Festival) and safe to say that big things are in the works. I can’t wait to hear the full scope of his plans, which we should hopefully know more about in the coming weeks.

His whole hog was served pig pickin’ style straight from the pig cooker with a pot of vinegar pepper sauce and a white slaw. And it was as sublime as you would have expected from a fresh hog cooked on site the night before to be.

Finally, Jon G’s Barbecue came through with a beef rib croissant sandwich topped with chimichurri served with a side of burnt ends and a watermelon salad. The sandwich was a super-sized version of the slider beef rib croissant sandwich I had at the first Carolina BBQ Festival and the Smoke and Grapes event as part of 2022’s Charlotte Food and Wine Festival. It’s deliciously luxurious and indulgent and a neighbor at a nearby table noted that the sandwich was “the best thing [she’s] ever eaten” which honestly isn’t too far off from the truth. The usual excellence from Garren, Kelly, and team.

Thankfully, Garren has confirmed that the third edition of the Jon G’s Jubilee is already in the works, possibly with a move in timing (especially if wife and co-owner Kelly has anything to do with it). Whenever it’s announced, for barbecue fans in North and South Carolina it’s worth looking out for and adding to your calendar.

Friday Find: Carolina Whole Hog Barbecue in…Maryland?

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Link to Podcast | Link to Farm BBQ Website

Monk: Farm BBQ is bringing the whole hog gospel by serving eastern Carolina whole hog to Baltimore, Harford, and Cecil Counties in Maryland.  In this episode of The Low and Slow Barbecue Show from last month, Chigger sits down with two of the three guys behind Farm BBQ, Tommy and Will, to learn more about their beginnings in barbecue and how they see it as a way to promote not only whole hog but the local farms that produce the ingredients in their food.

Description: Believe it or not, the Carolinas don’t hold a monopoly on “Carolina barbecue.” In fact, you can even find it in the land of crab cakes. That’s where you’ll meet Farm BBQ, a Maryland-born barbecue pop-up that serves Carolina whole hog barbecue and promotes local family farms. In this episode of The Low & Slow Barbecue Show, we talk to Farm BBQ founders Mark, Tommie, and Will, and find out why they brought our Carolina barbecue traditions to Maryland. We discuss their business strategy focused on local farmers and creating a Carolina craft barbecue experience – 400 miles northeast of Lexington, N.C. Will and Tommie reveal the details about their house barbecue sauce – is it east or west? – and don’t miss their turn in the Low & Slow showdown. Barbecue – verb or noun?