Today we had our second stop on the 2025 Alabama BBQ Tour! We visited The Bar-B-Que Place and More in Centre, Alabama located in Cherokee County. Centre is known for a 33,000 acre man-made reservoir "Weiss Lake" which is known as the Crappie Capital of the World. It's a beautiful lake and provides opportunities for swimming, boating, fishing, and skiing.
We enjoyed this wonderfully sunny day by getting out for a little road trip before the cold and icy weather hits us again this weekend.
The restaurant is located in a plain, aluminum siding covered building at the intersection of Alabama Highway 9 and U.S. Highway 411.
As in our first stop, ordering is done at the counter, along with payment, and then you can choose your seat in the dining room. Also, as with our first stop, plates and cups are Styrofoam and utensils are plastic.
Here is the menu board. Please note the picture of the BBQ sandwich. I placed my order based on this photo. There's also another smaller board which has the options for Vegetable Plates if that's your thing.
Yes, as in most BBQ and meat and three restaurants in the South, mac and cheese is considered a vegetable. It is what it is, so you may as well accept it as any Southerner does.
I was intrigued by the Broccoli and Cheese Balls on the menu board, so I had to order those.
Oh wow! These were delicious. All the yummy, cheesy goodness of a broccoli and cheese casserole wrapped in a deep fried ball of deliciousness!
We'll start with my order this time. I ordered the Pulled Pork Sandwich and had fries and baked beans as my two sides.
As you can see, the sandwich is not quite what was represented on the menu board, but I still had high hopes.
My prior pulled pork offering in DeKalb County had plain pork with sauce served on the side. Today's version had the meat pulled/chopped and then totally mixed with the sauce. It was difficult to discern any smoke flavor due to the amount of sauce saturating the pork. This also led to a very soggy bun. There was an ample of amount of dill pickle slices placed on top of the pork if that's your thing; if you don't care for pickles, make sure you request no pickles. I ordered the large sandwich and it was a very generous portion.
There was some bark, but unfortunately, after being soaked in sauce, the texture had softened considerably.
I was excited to see that the fries were the "steak" fry variety. However, they were room temperature at best.
Now on to the baked beans. These were on the opposite end of the spectrum from the prior selection. Where those were extremely "soupy" for lack of a better term, these were cooked almost dry and were extremely sweet.
This type may be your favorite way to enjoy baked beans. They may not. Your mileage may vary with this side option.
Time to learn about Sweet Harold's selections! He chose the 1/2 smoked chicken with slaw and onion rings.
This time the smoked chicken included the breast and wing. As you can see, the exterior is gorgeous and the interior was flavorful and moist.
He was very pleased with his chicken!
Now on to the sides. The onion rings were thick cut and, while not freshly cut and battered, had a nice crunch and were nicely fried.
Today's slaw was mayo based and was rather sweet. The dressing to cabbage ratio was appropriate. He stated he would have liked it better if hadn't been so sweet. Again, your mileage may vary.
This small cup of sauce was offered to go alongside the smoked chicken. He was told it was a "white BBQ sauce" for his chicken. Now, as you can see, it isn't white. And upon tasting it, I knew immediately that it was NOT the traditional Alabama white BBQ sauce. As a winner of a national recipe contest for my version of said sauce, I think I'm uniquely qualified to determine what constitutes that type.
It WAS tasty. I would venture that it was a mixture of mayo and bbq sauce. There was a hint of smokiness and it did pair well with the chicken.
The dining area was divided into rows of high backed wooden booths. Service was friendly. The sweet tea was SWEET. 😊 Lots of locals dining when we were there. No desserts listed on the menu board, so nothing to report on that front.
Stars of the meal were the broccoli/cheese balls, the smoked chicken, and the onion rings. Oh, yes.....that sweet tea.
#AlabamaBBQ
We have a son who used to live in Centre on the lake. This means we ate at this restaurant repeatedly and never once were we disappointed. We ate BBQ, Daily special and hamburgers. LOVED the onion rings!!!!! Great review!
ReplyDeleteLooks like a lot of traveling and eating in your future. Thanks for the review.
ReplyDelete