This topic contains 32 replies, has 0 voices, and was last updated by 
yeahyeah101 15 years, 1 month ago.
Update:
This joint is now up and running. Here’s a link to yeahyeah101’s blog about his restaurant. I haven’t been yet but hope to swing by in the near future.
Originally posted by yeahyeah101
"I am on a BBQ fact-finding mission lately, as I am preparing to open my own BBQ place in Nashville. I had lunch at Puckett’s Grocery in Leiper’s Fork, Tennessee yesterday."
I had the great good fortune to go to Leiper’s Corner while driving the Natchez Trace last spring. It was about 11:00 AM and the smell of Puckett’s caused me to turn in. Now I’m not ordinarily a fan of pulled pork because I don’t care for vinegar sauce. This stuff, however, was better than any pulled pork I have ever tasted. I had the BBQ on a corn cake with white beans and mustard greens on the side. I will never again pass through Tennessee without detouring to Puckett’s. Wonderful stuff!
Don’t know. The Smoking Ed’s I was referring to is on Murfreesboro Road as you head South out of Smyna (toward Murfreesboro). Just look for the small shack with the big smokers on the right side of the road just a 1/2 mile or so past the Nissan complex. If you roll down a window you can’t miss it… [:)]
I don’t think they’re related, but not sure. It’s in Fairview on highway 100, east end of town.
PF Changs for chinese is a great analogy.(I once ate a roasted duck’s foot in Beijing. I don’t see that on Chang’s menu. I digress.) There are so many styles of bbq, I am not one to complain just because something is not the style I like. The ribs were coated in a sticky, gooey sweet bbq sauce, which is not my favorite style. They were tender enough and probably as good as you can get at Fridays or Applebees, so the combination of OK food and sterile atmosphere would make it a good place for corporate entertaining. Roadfood it ain’t. I was actually looking for Smoking Ed’s when I saw Jim N Nicks. Is it the same Smoking Ed’s found up somewherenaround Fairview or Dickson?
That Jim-n-Nick’s has only been there a few months and seems to be doing pretty good business (though I’m not sure why at those prices). I know that my wife likes to take business clients from the Northeast there. It kind of reminds me of the Corky’s franchises a bit. You can find OK food there and it’s in a comfortable environment for business conversation (kind of like going to PF Chang’s for Chinese). As for myself, I’ll keep driving the extra five miles or so out to Smokin’ Ed’s when I take a notion for some barbecue in the Smyrna area. The taste of their pulled pork more than makes up for their lack of "comfortable dining atmosphere"…[:)]
That’s good information. I saw one of these out on Charlotte Pike, and meant to stop in. I’m not encouraged. On a happier note, I found a place in Alvaton, Ky. the other day, that I can give the nod to. It’s on Scottsville Rd, called Split Tree BBQ. the chopped pork is pretty good, the sides not as much, but the highlight of the visit was their corncakes. I think they’re as good as the hoecakes that Paula Dean serves at her place in Savannah. At $.25 each, I can easily imagine making a meal at very little expense. You get two of them with a q plate. I need to investigate further.
I went to Papa KayJoe’s yesterday. They only have ribs on weekends, so I had the pork sandwich. It was fine. I will go back sometime to try the ribs. Today, I stumbled across a place called Jim N Nick’s BBQ in Smyrna. It was a new building, obviously a chain, so I went in with low expectations. It looked like a Chilis or Bennigans inside. The open-beams on the ceiling that were supposed to give an authentic "bbq joint" feel were compromised by the smokey loss-prevention camera domes attached.
Anyway, the food was just short of fair at best. A half rack of ribs and pulled pork combo with two sides was $17. I think the same thing was $9 at Hays. The bartender bragged that the food was so good because they make everything there, no freezer. (She had a Wisconsin accent. As we say around here, "she don’t know much about real bbq, bless her heart.") I asked who owned them, expecting it to be Denny’s or PepsiCo, and she said "Nick. Jim was his dad, he’s dead." Come to find out, this chain started as a real bbq shack years ago in Birmingham. Well, somewhere along the way, it appears to me that Nick teamed up with some upper management "professionals" from someplace like Darden or Fridays who managed to run the concept through the taste-remover and the soul-extracter. I don’t want to open the ugly "all franchises are terrible" debate, because I don’t believe that, but if anyone is familiar with the original, I wonder if Jim N Nick’s truly is legendary in Birmingham. Because if it is, the franchises are doing their reputation a disservice.
Glad to add you to the taster list. Hays was everything promised. So much has been written about it, I won’t repeat it here, but I will say I found out that Mr. Hays has the same fondness of blackjack as I do. We stopped at Neely’s Interstate BBQ in Memphis on the way home. I found the sauce to be a bit heavy-handed. I prefer to have the meat on its own and the sauce on the side. Note: Hays is only open Friday and Saturday, and this Saturday they were closed because of a catering job. Anyone planning to drive a long way should call ahead to make sure they are going to get that killer bbq. I think I’ll seek out Papa KayJoes this week.
Puckett’s and Hay’s are both excellent. I would recommend them to anyone. If going to Puckett’s from Nashville I suggest taking the Natchez Trace Parkway, a beautiful drive.
YeahYeah, if you open up a place in Nashville let me know. I’m local and will gladly volunteer to be a tastetester.
Poverty, we woul like to hear your beautiful music.
Paul E. Smith
Knoxville, TN
That IS the correct answer. Would you like to go double or nothing on a video bonus question?
Pogo: Dotsons got it. Breakfast was super. Biscuits were great, gravy was super and the entire chicken breast was great with the breakfast. Thanks for your idenity and thanks to the very talentened Poverty. Perhaps he will play classical musical for us when we meet at the moonlite in February.
Paul E. Smith
Knoxville, TN
That breakfast place in Franklin was probably Dotson’s…
I had breakfast at a wonderful place in Franklin that Poverty Pete told me about. Franklin is a beautiful wealthy town. After Judy had her open MRI, I took her and Mamaw Smith to this place that Poverty told me about. I am like Poverty as I cannot remember the name. Poverty will name it later on On. I am ssure of that. I had a real whole chicken breast with grits, gravy, hash browns, two eggs, coffee and a diet coke for $6.99. Mamaw smith had biscuits, gravy and sausage and judy had two eggs, hash browns and grits. All of it came to $21.00 plus a $5.00 tip.
Biscuits were super. Nice and brown and crispy and hot. Grape jelly was super.
We made a stop at the Opry Mills mall where i bought some more gifts for the February Glee Club BBQ stop in Owensboro, KY at the Moonlite.
Thanks Poverty.
Paul E. Smith
Knoxville, TN
You must be logged in to reply to this topic.