Bub-Ba-Q ~ Woodstock GA

  I have noticed that there are way too many BBQ joints using a cartoon pig in their signage. Pigs cooking, pigs with forks and knives, cute pigs, pigs over fire, pigs with chef hats, pig butts, pigs with big snouts, and pigs wearing overalls, just to mention a few. (I will of course have to ramble on about this at a later date.)

Therefore, I was ecstatic that I did not see one picture or any other graven image of a Bubba at Bub-Ba-Q. 

  Yes, I was impressed. They did however clutter the joint up with an annoying amount of trophies from BBQ competitions. Enough already. Jeez.

 We had to jump up on some to-go food as all of our posse was at Grandma's house. This young lady was very patient and helpful.

  Bub-Ba-Q has the sauce program working hard. However, I am very disappointed that they allow the company who produces their sauces to use High Fructose Corn Syrup. This is a huge fail According to gf. Look, a BBQ belt! Just like WWF!

 There was a big-ass commercial smoker jammed into a corner in the back.

   I had recenty visited a soon-to-be-famous BBQ joint in West Atlanta who has Hottie "Hogs", so of course, I had to compare them to Bub-Ba's Hotties. I have determined that the waitresses at Bub-Ba-Q were just as hot. Matter of fact, they are hot enough to win a trophy, which could be displayed (with the others) at the restaurant.

 The roasted chicken was tender but it had very little smoke flavor and was light on the seasoning.  The greens were way overcooked. I have no comment on the macaroni and cheese... However, my wife "The Sassy Chef" went on and on about its insufficencies for a half an hour or more. Hey, what can I say? She is passionate about Mac and Cheese!

  The Chocolate Snickers Cake (made by the Alpine Bakery) was rich and delish. 

  The half rack of ribs was very tender and had a nice smoke ring, but I thought they could have used more rub. Skipping past the baked beans... (cough)... the corn-fritter-thingy-bobs were... OMGood.

  The pulled pork was moist and tender. One must dip this into the mustard BBQ sauce. Matter of fact I dipped them into every sauce they had: Mustard, Vinegar base, Spicy Hot Vinegar, and Smokey Kansas City Style. The sauces were on point even though it may take me a while to rid my system of the HFCS that was in them.

  Overall Bub-Ba-Q was good. I did not go crazy-ga-ga over anything, save the corn fritters and chocolate cake, but this is decent Q. They must be doing something right as they had good business and plenty of trophies. One must understand that there is a big difference in winning competitions and running restaurants. Running a restaurant takes focus 24/7 and a great staff. I really liked the staff at Bub-Ba-Q, and I know their focus will take them far.

  Someone at Bub-Ba-Q needs to hire a lawyer as there are Bubbas everywhere. Here is a BubbaQue out of Florida...

 http://www.bubbaquesbbq.com/

(They even have a cartoon pig.)

  Hell, our family even has a Bubba! Yeah, someone needs to wrangle in all of these Bubbas in and sort them all out. 

  Check Bub-Ba-Q out when you get a chance; you should not be disappointed. I am waiting for the "half-off franchise sale" just so I can use the name! Oh, and I am stealing the corn fritter recipe.

Thanks for reading, 

gf

  

  

Barbecue Review

  I stumbled on this video and thought it was relevant to my summer BBQ theme. This pretty much sums up the whole Deep South barbecue deal. Floridians I am truly sorry about the Southern reference.

Enjoy.

gf

Colonel Poole's BBQ

North of Atlanta up I-575, if you are patient you will spot Col Poole's BBQ on the right in East Ellijay GA. You will most likely drive past it as you stare, no, gawk at the mass quantities of pigs on the "pig hill of fame". Be smart, turn around and check it out. This place is either the result of a marketing genius, or someone with way too much time on their hands. This is a pretty cheesy looking place, but that is what makes for the best BBQ joints sometimes, and as I found out this was no exception to the rule. I would give this a number ten on the cheesy wheel rating. Here is a view of the place as I walked in.




Yeah, pigs everywhere. The menu is the average Southern BBQ menu with "Pork Plates" and "Chicken Plates' and such (they were out of chicken however). They had T Shirts for sale, political pictures everywhere (did not see many Democrats or Independents), and an electric piano. I like BBQ huts like this because there are no rules. No corporate, political correctness at all, no, toss all of that out. Free speech reigns supreme here. You don't like it, then leave. I love that. This is what America needs more of, people making what they want to make, how they want to make it, and not really caring so much about whether or not you do not like it, and having a "not getting mad if you do not want to spend your money here" attitude. Don't like pigs stuck everywhere? Don't care. Don't like political conservatives? Don't care. Don't like Gospel music? Don't care.
 However, on the other side of that same coin, this is what the draw is, so deep down they do care, but not so much that they are going to change and pipe the latest hip hop music through the speakers. Everyone who worked here was attentive, polite, and relatively speedy. The "dining room lady" was delivering food using the "look for who is not eating" method of service. She was fairly efficient paying attention who had been sat latest so she did not have to hunt and peck too much. "87?? who has ticket 87??" chimed through the busy dining room occasionally, but the place way running smoothly for a Sunday afternoon.
 There was a large ice machine labeled "do not open" in the side room, and a table set up with plastic forks, straws, and extra napkins and lemons. Everyone I watched had a smile on their face save the German ladies sitting opposite us in the next room. I was not sure what they thought. I was going to ask, but for once I saved them the embarrassment of a gf conversation, having to answer silly questions in broken English. But that would have been funny.
I ordered a Pork Plate that came with two sides; I chose slaw and green beans. Green beans, poor choice; put them back into the can whence they came. The slaw as well as the BBQ I believe, was inspired by our good folks from North Carolina; no mayonnaise in the slaw, rather vinegar based, both were quite good. The BBQ had a slight smokiness, but I felt that it could have been smoked  a smidgen better. Smokiness is a tricky deal; too much can derail any BBQ. Some folks think that smoke is a food group; not. The Col. needs to toss another log in the smoker, but other than that this was good eats. I ate the bbq with out sauce, save the glob that they plopped down on top of the pork, which was quite good to my surprise. It had a tomato base and a slight sweetness, no doubt provided by molasses or sugar, but it was tasty. The sauce on the table was sweet enough to put me into a diabetic coma. No bueno; 86 the table sauce Colonel. Overall I enjoyed my visit; this is a great place. Take the family on a weekend visit. Buy a pig.
Visit the Colonel at www.poolsbarbq.com/

Thanks for reading.



gf

Bacon or Sausage?

I have been reevaluating what I eat of late, and questions like "Bacon or Sausage?" randomly pop into my head. Inspired by a favorite youngster; I decided to follow her into the land of eating no sugar. This decision of course had to include three other substances. High fructose corn syrup, chemical sweeteners, and hydrogenated oils were part of the purge as well; because, as I had studied briefly, they were all poison.

These decisions made changes to my diet that I did not clearly envision at the time of the decision making. Sugar in America is king. I did not realize that everything had sugar in it. Bread was out of the question; doughnuts were a memory; cake was a bad dream. Then I continued with the label reading and found that, in America, if sugar is not in food it has been replaced with high fructose corn syrup. Most likely, if it is processed food, and it has neither sugar nor high fructose corn syrup in it, it has other nasty chemicals and hydrogenated oils.

This food enlightenment was actually easy to execute. I could eat meat and vegetables mainly. Fruit is good, but one must be careful. Not eating the average American bowel clogging foods, and eating too much fruit, will send you into a state of "over fruiting", which requires more time than necessarily desired on the pot. Initially the craving for bread and sweets was easily deterred through eating fat. Bacon and butter were my friends. I know that this sounds bad, but I figured that they were not on my poison list. Pork and fats are on another list. I realize they are not foods that should stay in my diet but I used them to curb my sugar/sweet dependence.

It has been over four weeks of no poison eating. I took a survey from employees, who all have an opinion, about eating pork (and usually everything else). Somehow, the conversation morphed into carbohydrates instead of pig consumption. Once I got past the whole "Carb" deal we were able to get some good feedback. Here is the unofficial accordingtogf survey.

1. Pigs do not sweat. That is why they are salty and taste so good.
   
2. Bacon is empty food, it is just fat.
   
3. Sausage usually had sugars added to it.
   
4. The Old Testament in the Bible forbade the eating of pork.
   
5. Pigs are dirty and eat anything.
   
6. Pork raises blood pressure etc and is bad for the heart.
   
7. Every Doctor recommends that you stop eating pork if you have health issues.
   

I figure seven is enough. It is also a good Biblical number.

Eating like this is fairly boring. I have decided that it is neither bacon nor sausage moving forward. Red meat is next on the chopping block, but I am not sure if one can live on fish and chicken alone. Broccoli has been the annoying choice of vegetable too many times. What is the obsession with broccoli? It must be cheap to grow; we Americans like to eat cheap food and food that is void of nutrition. I often walk through the grocery store and look into a shopper's basket; then I compare the basket to the shopper's shape. Here is a quick accordingtogf breakdown:

1. 80% Coke products, chips, and processed boxed foods 18% Processed Meat 2% Dairy = Morbidly Obese
   
2. 50% Coke products, chips, and processes boxed foods 25% Processed Meat 23% Chicken/Meat 2%Dairy =Obese
   
3. 40% Coke products, chips, and processes boxed foods 25% Processed Meat 23% Chicken/Meat 2%Dairy 10%Vegatables =Overweight
   
4. 30% Coke products, chips, and processes boxed foods 25% Processed Meat 38% Chicken/Meat 2%Dairy 5%Vegatables= Husky
   
5. 10% Coke products, chips, and processes boxed foods 5% Processed Meat 35% Chicken/Meat 5%Dairy 45%Vegatables= Normal
   
6. 25% Chicken/Meat 5%Dairy 70%Vegatables= fit
   
7. 5% Chicken/Meat 1%Dairy 90%Vegatables 3%Bottled Water 1% Toilet Paper = Weird/Thin
   

Eliminating the junk we eat starts with the junk that we buy!

Eating in this day in age for the more or less wealthy has become an activity instead of a necessity. Back when we had hair on our palms, we ate out of necessity. There was no luxury eating then, save when an elephant was snared. Even then, we could not keep that red meat too long before it rotted, or some Saber Tooth Tiger took it from us. Red meat was definitely a luxury and a rare meal. Chickens we could probably catch and breed. I have discussed this with my wife, but I don't think the neighbors would like chickens in the back yard. I am also unsure of my ability to raise chickens. There are many chicken questions that need to be answered before I attempt to be a chicken herder.

Fishing was the best option for dinner most likely. Being clever with a bow and arrow definitely helped in the dinner menu. Any berries, nuts, fruits found when scavenging about would have been eaten. Boxes of pre-made macaroni and cheese, and Lay's potato chips, however, were hard to come by. Eating has become an obsession for modern man. When the big asteroid hits, this will all change. I just hope we remember how to make beer and Bourbon. Bourbon has no Carbohydrates fyi.

I am going to continue not eating poison, and now I will not eat pork (so much). I have lost one belt loop and seventeen pounds in about a month. I have been exercising fairly regular except for this morning, as I decided to finish this blog. I feel fine and I do not crave sugar or bread anymore. I ate a strawberry yesterday and almost got a sugar high. I suppose I will update this story occasionally, but I do not think that the accordingtogf board of directors would approve of turning this into a weight loss blog.

gf