As the weekend approached my wife and I decided it’s time to take a trip up to the North Georgia mountains. We headed up to Ellijay, Georgia where I had heard about Poole’s BBQ. The owner of Poole’s is as crazy about BBQ as I am and more! This is a nice little BBQ haven that has gone hog wild! There are pigs everywhere! As you walk into Poole’s BBQ, there are pigs hanging from the ceiling with customers names on them and out front are two old cars turned into BBQ mobiles. Behind Poole’s is a very steep hill going upward that is covered with yard signs shaped like pigs with business advertisements and family names on them. Some folks would consider this tacky, but I felt right at home! He calls his restaurant the Taj-Ma-Hog which he also entertains on the piano on occasions for his customers as well.

When you walk into Poole’s, there is a waitress there to greet you, to write down your order, and then you pay. You are given a ticket number and your drink cups, then they bring your food out to you. We had met some friends up there and everyone ordered up their pork BBQ sandwiches and Brunswick stew.

The sandwiches were served to you wrapped up nice and hot accompanied by the stew. The pork sandwiches tasted very fresh and were delicious. They served up two different sizes of sandwiches, if you’re hungry the small one won’t fill you up as I found out the hard way. The Brunswick stew was very good, savory, and tasted fresh and delicious.

Poole’s was a great visit! While your there, you’ll want to check out all of the photos hanging all over the walls of Poole’s BBQ.

Poole’s was well worth the stop not only for the BBQ, but for the uniqueness of it too.

I give Poole’s BBQ a 3.5 on the squeal meter.

Please check out the pics in the pic section!

www.poolesbarbq.com

There was one place I was really excited about visiting while on our vacation to Destin, Florida… Hog’s Breath Saloon! There are two Hog’s Breath locations; one is in Destin and the other one is in Key West, Florida. I’ve been lucky to have visited both of them. The Destin location is like going to a bar with a restaurant inside where they offer food and live entertainment. There are three buildings there that you can walk around and visit as you smell the oak slowly burning in their smoker. There is a gift shop on one side and in the middle is a little shack where they sell their BBQ to go. Then there is the main building which houses the bar-restaurant. The menu is Florida influenced with fresh seafood, as well as, BBQ and burgers. There was a BBQ platter called the Hogzilla which offered a bit of all of their BBQ samplings, so I ordered it up. The platter was served with BBQ pulled pork, smoked chicken and a half slab of ribs. It also came with BBQ beans, cole slaw and Texas toast.

Hog’s Breath offered an array of BBQ sauces to choose from. They had a mustard base sauce and a sweet mild hickory sauce like the K.C. style sauces. When my order arrived, they also served up a version of Alabama’s mayonnaise based BBQ sauce which was a nice surprise. The only way I can describe it to you is that it tasted like mayo with extra pepper and vinegar. It was really good!

The platter looked enticing and delicious. I started with the pulled pork which was a little bit dry and didn’t have much smoke flavor to it. The smoked chicken was hot and moist and was delicious. The ribs were served with a dry rub on them, and I must admit my disappointment in them. They were served with the back membrane still on them, something that to me is a bit amateurish. The ribs were tuff to get off the bone and needed some more time in the smoker. The BBQ beans and the slaw were good and were both on the sweet side.

It wasn’t the BBQ experience I was expecting as it was hit or miss on the items that I ordered. I did enjoy the different variety of sauces that you could choose from, but the BBQ itself didn’t stand on its own.

I give Hog’s Breath Saloon a 2.75 on the squeal meter.

There are some nice pics to check out in the pic section.

www.hogsbreath.com

On our vacation heading down to Florida, we cruised into Bainbridge Georgia. My wife has family there and I had already read about a BBQ restaurant for us to check out. We found Boyd’s Pit Bar-B-Que in Bainbridge and what a great visit we had when we arrived. Boyd’s was a nice lil BBQ restaurant in a small strip mall setting. Once inside, we were greeted with great southern hospitality, a clean family restaurant and a nice menu to entice us. Sandra and the girls couldn’t have been more hospitable.

It was lunchtime when we arrived, so my wife and I decided to just get BBQ sandwiches and a side of Brunswick stew. Boyd’s pork was slow smoked with oak wood and served with their mild, but sweet BBQ sauce. The sandwich was very tasty, and their Brunswick stew was a version of what I call a pork vegetable soup. It tasted very good and had a great flavor. I told the waitresses why I was there and I was introduced to Sandra, the head cook at Boyd’s. Sandra couldn’t have been any sweeter. She invited me to the back of the kitchen for a tour where she showed me the smoker out back, which at the time was slow smoking some whole chickens that just smelled incredible. She also treated my wife and I to sample their ribs They were cooked just right and slid off the bones with each bite. The smoke flavor mixed with their BBQ sauce was delicious.

I can honestly say that our stop at Boyd’s BBQ was the “BBQ” highlight of our trip. The food was good and the ladies just couldn’t of been any nicer. If your down in South Georgia, make a detour through Bainbridge. Take time to stop in and go enjoy for yourself the good food and hospitality at Boyd’s BBQ.

The food was good at Boyd’s, but with the great southern hospitality we received, I can honestly say that Boyd’s more than exceeded our expectations! I give Boyd’s a 4 on the squeal meter.

Thanks again ladies J

There are pics of Boyd’s in the pic section