Speedy: When you think barbecue in Tennessee, your mind naturally goes to Memphis. While that city has a much richer barbecue history, Nashville is no slouch. After living in Music City for 3 years, I felt like it was time to put together the Nashville top 5. So, without further adieu, here are my top 5 favorite ‘cue joints to visit in Nashville:
New to the Nashville scene, Shotgun Willie’s is a Texas style joint that does everything well, but didn’t blow me away with anything in particular. Still, a very solid meal in a place where good brisket is hard to come by. 4000 Gallatin Pike Suite B, Nashville, TN 37216 sgwbbq.com
One of the more well known Nashville spots, owner Carey Bringle is known on both the competition and television circuit. For my money, these are the best ribs in town. 903 Gleaves St, Nashville, TN 37203peglegporker.com
The true Nashville OG, no get no frills when you visit Jack’s, but you do get a damn good barbecue meal. This North Carolina boy considers this to be the best pork in town. Multiple locations jacksbarbque.com
A year ago, I would’ve pegged Martin’s number one for sure, but as they’ve expanded, I’ve noted some inconsistency. Still, all the meats are good to great, the sides are top notch, and the atmosphere (especially at the downtown location) can’t be beat. A must visit in Nashville. Multiple locations martinsbbqjoint.com
I had my first experience with The Oak earlier this year, and have made a point to find their tasty food truck two more times. Each meat I’ve had has been extremely good, including the best brisket I’ve had in Tennessee. Trust me when I say this is one food truck that’s worth seeking out. Food truck facebook.com/theoaktxbbq
Name: Honeyfire BBQ Date: 11/13/20 Address: 8127 Sawyer Brown Rd #304, Nashville, TN 37221 Order: Three meat combo – brisket, pork, ribs, baked apples, fries (link to menu) Pricing: $$
Speedy: I recently heard about Honeyfire BBQ when talking to a friend about restaurants with good whiskey selections. Honeyfire sits in the Bellevue neighborhood, which is in the western part of the city. I don’t frequent this part of town too often, but I found myself with a leisurely Friday afternoon and decided to bring back one of my favorite work traditions – long lunch Friday.
Honeyfire sits in a pretty sizable shopping center, which is a bit of a red flag for me from a barbecue perspective (where do they do the smoking???), but seeing a sizable woodpile walking in made me feel better.
Monk: But is the wood pile for show or for realsies? If its all the way in the front of the restaurant then surely its not the wood they are using for smoking. My guess is they are probably using a Southern Pride (or similar gasser) and throwing in a stick or two occasionally from a similar wood stack in the back to get a little wood smoke on the meats.
Speedy: The restaurant is sleek and clean, so I walked up to the counter and placed my order. I was asked wet or dry ribs (dry, duh) and fatty, lean, or mixed brisket (mix), which I also consider to be a good sign.
The food was brought out quickly and it was time to dig in. I’ll start with the ribs. The three bones that came were St. Louis style cut, dry with visible rub sprinkled on. They were meaty and cooked well (maybe slightly overdone), but the rub was a little challenging to me. This will be a theme of the review, but the rub was just very sweet. It seemed to be brown sugar based and mixed decently with the flavor of the ribs, but the sweetness was just too much to handle. The pulled pork was a similar story, as it was finished with a dusting of the same rub. The pork was tender, had some good bark mixed in, but was just too sweet for my liking. There was a sauce provided on the side, so I thought maybe some good vinegar sauce would offset the sweetness. Well one taste and I learned this was no vinegar sauce – it was actually a honey barbecue sauce. So what started as a little too sweet became way too sweet.
Monk: Wonder if the folks behind Honeyfire have a competition background, where the winning flavor profile tends to be on the sweeter side. Sounds like they could stand to add a vinegar sauce alternative.
Speedy: The brisket was a different story. Rubbed with just salt and peppery, there was (thankfully) no sweetness. The bark on the brisket was tasty and the overall flavor was good. The brisket, like the ribs, was slightly overcooked, so just a touch dry, but overall, it was a pretty nice effort.
As far as sides go, mine were fine. However, one reason I like to get baked apples with barbecue meals is to have a little sweetness to go along with savory meat. In this instance, the meat gave me all the sweetness I could handle, so the apples remained unfinished.
Overall, Honeyfire BBQ is a tough one to rate. I think they actually do a pretty good job hitting the flavor profile that they want to – it’s just not the right profile for me. However, if you’ve got a sweet tooth, I’d definitely recommend checking it out.
Name: Jack’s Bar-B-Que Date: 11/11/20 Address: 1601 Charlotte Ave, Nashville, TN Order: Three meat combo – brisket, pork, sausage, collards, baked apples, cornbread (link to menu) Pricing: $
Speedy: One place in Nashville that does not get nearly enough love (including from yours truly) is Jack’s Bar-B-Que, a true OG of the Nashville ‘cue scene. Jack Cawthon opened his first restaurant on lower Broadway in 1989, and now has three locations including a different spot on Broadway, in the North Gulch on Charlotte Ave (where I visited this day), and in North Nashville. I have visited the Broadway location several times, but usually weekdays during lunch (back when people went to offices), or weekends while honky tonkin’ (back when people went to bars). I always told myself I’d write a review when I had time to visit and order more of the meats, and that time finally came.
Monk: I remember offices and bars…
Speedy: The Charlotte Ave location is much more spacious than on Broadway (I haven’t been to the North Nashville location), but in both places, you walk up to a cafeteria style line to order. Like a good Texas joint, the brisket and sausage is sliced right in front of you, but the pork has been pre-chopped. The sides, likewise, are in warming bins. The order of a three meat combo was an obvious one, though I was sad to leave out the ribs. Alas, next time.
Before diving into how everything tasted, let’s talk about value. The three meat combo is $17, which includes generous portions of each meat, two sides, and cornbread. If that was weighed out and served by the pound, you’d be paying close to twice that. Their by the pound prices are several dollars lower at each meat, including only $16.25 for a pound of brisket.
Great, so the barbecue is priced like it’s 2013, but how does it taste? Damn good. The brisket has a nice pepper flavor, and plenty of bark. It’s moist and tender and tastes great. It doesn’t quite melt in your mouth like the top-tier Texas brisket, but overall, it’s very good.
The pork at Jack’s is Tennessee pork shoulder. This may not be a popular opinion, but I prefer the shoulder to whole hog. The reason? The outside brown. The shoulder from Jack’s has plenty of outside brown chopped in. I didn’t taste any dip chopped in, but it was not dry at all. They call it Tennessee pork, but this is the closest I’ve come to finding Lexington-style pork shoulder (which we all know is the best) in Tennessee. Truly outstanding.
Monk: Now this Tennessee pork shoulder is intriguing, and something I gotta try the next time I’m in Nashville.
Speedy: The sausage was the one meat that was a slight disappointment to me. While smoked well, the flavor was a little plain. Next time, I’ll skip the sausage.
I don’t talk about sides much in my review, but I enjoyed the apples and the collards and absolutely loved the cornbread. Just a nice stamp on a great meal.
All the times I’ve been to Jack’s Bar-B-Que, it’s consistently been quite good. While not the sexiest place in Nashville (and certainly not the newest), it remains one of the best.
Name: Shotgun Willie’s Date: 10/14/20 Address: 4000 Gallatin Pike Suite B, Nashville, TN 37216 Order: Half rack of ribs, ¼ lb brisket, ¼ lb pulled pork and a Big Red (link to menu) Pricing: $$$
Speedy: Shotgun Willie’s is a Texas style barbecue joint that opened up early during the quarantine. I had been hearing really good things about it, so was pumped to finally get a chance to sample the goods.
I walked in early during lunch on a Wednesday (Shotgun Willie’s is only open Wed-Sun, 11-3) and was greeted by a Texas style meat-counter, which included a meat warmer, meat scale, and kept-warm sides. There were no tables inside however there were a few picnic tables outside; I’m not sure if that’s the long term plan or specific to Covid.
I walked up to the slicer and placed my order – trying to sample as much meat as possible. The staff at Shotgun Willie’s couldn’t have been nicer (I think it was owner Bill slicing for me). Other than a lack of trays and butcher paper, it definitely felt like a Texas joint.
Being a Texas joint, of course I started with the brisket. My quarter pound included three small slices of fatty brisket (I wasn’t asked), which had a nice bark and visible pepper seasoning. I’m on record as generally either loving or hating brisket, with rarely in-between, but this brisket defied that a little bit. The brisket was well cooked and moist, but the seasoning was not quite on point for me. Overall, it was good but not in the same league of some of the best. Still, I would order it again, though I would ask for a leaner cut next time.
Monk: I can’t believe we’ve found a “meh” brisket for Speedy! I’m also a bit surprised that they didn’t ask you for a preference of fatty, lean, or both based on your description of the place as a Texas joint. At least you know for next time.
Speedy: The pulled pork was also cooked well and moist with a nice bark. After pulling, a little finishing powder was sprinkled on, which enhanced the flavor. However, I have noticed one thing with Texas style pulled pork. Generally, the pork is pulled right in front of you. While that ensures freshness, I think it also increases the amount of grease in the pulled pork. Pulling (or preferably, chopping) the pork in advance of the order allows some of the grease to drain out. I also have a theory that cooking pork on the Texas style offset smokers does not render all the fat out quite as well. So while this pork had really good flavor, it was a little greasier than I would like.
Monk: Hmm, I think that could make sense. Chopping ahead of time certainly allows juices/grease to flow out onto the board. If you are pulling or chopping fresh, those juices have simply been circulating within the cut of meat.
As far as the offset smokers, I’m not sure but perhaps you are onto something. Classic NC joints smoke the pork over direct heat (albeit a few feet above the coals) so the fat renders out and then drizzles onto the coals and enhances the flavor. The indirect heat from the offset may not allow for this. And while not an offset, I’ve noticed that the pork from certain joints with rotisserie wood smokers can be greasy sometimes, particularly in takeout. Again, not direct heat, but perhaps a similar principle applies. Maybe a reader more versed in thermodynamics can correct us here.
Speedy: Stop me if you’ve heard this before, but the ribs were cooked nearly perfectly and had good smoke, but to me, needed some additional seasoning beyond salt and pepper. Still, they were above average and enjoyable.
Monk: But what about the Big Red, Speedy!?!?!
Rudy: …Big Red is THE WORST!!!!
Monk: Remind me, was this your first? And, much like Rudy, did it make you wish you were drinking a Cheerwine instead?
Speedy: Calm down, Monk. This is a barbecue blog, not an obscure soft drink blog.
Overall, Shotgun Willie’s is a good addition to the Nashville barbecue scene. It’s definitely got a different look and feel, and shows off Texas style barbecue nicely. It is not an elite Texas style joint, but it’s very solid, and I’ll definitely be back.
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