Tuesday, March 25, 2014

Sitting outside at Midwood Smokehouse BBQ

Charlotte, NC

Plaza Midwood


Well since Trumpy wrote about BBQ last week, it made me feel like I should go out and get me some.  Why not, right?  The weather was beautiful and it was a great day to sit outside.  What goes with outside better than BBQ?  For today... nothing... so what do we do.... we head over to Midwood Smokehouse.


On a Saturday night, it's expected that if you go to a restaurant without reservations, you will be waiting for at least 30 minutes for a table.  No OpenTable to the rescue.  They do have a bar so you could grab some drinks and wait outside on such a nice day.  Well lucky for us, Lady Luck paid us a visit and within minutes we sat down at a picnic table outside the normal seating area.  It was a bit strange to be eating in what amounted to the waiting area, but I was willing to sacrifice that comfort for the ability to eat!  The smell of all that smoked meat was getting to be too much to handle. 

So Midwood Smokehouse is a local favorite that caters to lovers of all types of BBQ.  They not only serve the more local vinegar and mustard based sauces, but also the more traditional BBQ sauces.  Of course, the chef knows best so they will serve what sauces they think will go best with the dish you ordered.  We were told that the vinegar was for the pulled pork and the signature sauce was for the brisket.  You could of course ask for more or your favorite.  :)

When we finally decided what to eat, we flagged down our server and ordered the Combo Platter.  The combo platter included four meat choices and served with two sides, hush puppies, and pickled onions.  We decided to share the platter, ordered the pulled pork, the sausage, and double up on brisket.  For our sides, you can't go wrong with mac 'n cheese and collard greens. 

And now the wait.  Unfortunately, the disadvantage of sitting in a not so normal area was not having not so normal service.  It took a while to get our drinks after our initial drink order, and refills were few and far between.  We had to request refills any time our server walked by just so we could have our drinks when we actually ran out of beverage.  Our food did end up arriving at a normal time so that was a good thing. 

Wow what a plate.  There was a lot of meat on this plate but I was kind of worried about how big the sides were.  Not exactly sharing size, but with the meat overload, I was OK with it. 

All the meat was served without sauce on it.  The sauce came on the side.  I personally enjoyed the vinegar sauce.  It was a bit too runny, which ended up being a mess, so I mixed it with the signature sauce.  And I broke all the rules and used a mix of sauces on all my meat.  :)



The pulled pork was just the way I liked it: pulled and not chopped up into tiny bits.  It was juicy, had a deep smoky flavor, and it wasn't too salty.  It could have been a bit bland without the sauces, but I think it was made that way so I could sauce it to my liking without being overly salty. 

The brisket was just as good as the pork.  It was so tender and juicy.  You can order the brisket to be lean or fatty and I got a mix of both.  I think both are just as tasty.  The fattier bit was a bit more juicy and flavorful (which is expected), but with the sauce, you aren't really missing that much if you are trying to be a little more health conscious. 

The sausage was also excellent.  Lots of flavor and not too salty. 

Now for the sides.  The collard greens were your average greens.  I liked that it wasn't too salty in comparison to others I've had.  It wasn't anything special but it was good.  The mac 'n cheese was definitely the better side dish.  It was creamy, rich, and the even had enough melted cheese to have strings come off of it as you scooped it from the bowl.  It wasn't dry like a lot of other baked mac 'n cheeses are, and it also wasn't so greasy from all the oil in the melted cheese.  It was delicious. 

The hushpuppies were also tasty.  I think I need a few more to decide how great they are, but I don't remember them being a disappointment.  They probably could have given me a few more that day.

Overall, this is a great local BBQ place.  I've been to a few in the Queen City, and I do prefer this one to some of the others.   The portions are not as large as some of my other favorites, but the quality of the meat makes up for it. 

Overall, How Nuts Are We about Midwood Smokehouse?
Food: 5 coconuts. Great BBQ.  It would have been nice to have more sauce on hand though. 
Service: 2.5 coconuts. It's probably because we were outside of the normal seating area, but we did get seated in record time.
Repeatability: 4 coconuts. The menu has a lot to offer and atmosphere is great. This would be a great place to take your friends for a drink on a nice day. 

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