Category Archives: Baby Back Ribs

Dead End BBQ – Knoxville, TN

Dead End BBQ
3621 Sutherland Ave
Knoxville, TN 37919
www.deadendbbq.com
https://www.facebook.com/DeadEndBBQ/

 

I’ve been to Dead End BBQ more times than I can remember. Is it the best in Knoxville you might wonder? No, but it is very good AND one of my favorites. Another bonus is that it stays open until 9PM; most of the others close at 7- o-r8PM. I typically arrive into Knoxville in the evening time and if I want good BBQ, then this is my option. Depending on where I stay there is another option that will come up in a future review.

Arriving at the hotel at 7:30 wasn’t going to leave me many options for eating. Since I want to get stuff up on the site for the various BBQ places, I thought about my options and Dead End was the logical choice because of time and location. I’ve had most of their meats, but I’ll just talk about what I had on this trip.

Also, arriving late I will cut them some slack on the meat. Ribs this late almost everywhere will not be their best.

Dead End BBQ, Knoxville, TN Ribs Pimento Mac and Cheese, Red White and Blue Slaw
Dead End BBQ, Knoxville, TN Ribs Pimento Mac and Cheese, Red White and Blue Slaw

The Sides

The Pimento Mac and Cheese – Do you like Mac and Cheese? Do you like Pimento Cheese? Just think how great it would be to combine the two. Well, they do it here. And man is it good! A side almost worthy of being a dessert. OK, I’m stretching it there. But it is a very nice offering. I like Mac and Cheese but I don’t often get it as a side item with Barbeque. However, this is one of the expectations.

Red, White and Blue Slaw – This is a bit different than what you’ll find in most barbeque places where you’ll get a white slaw, yellow slaw or a barbeque slaw. I think it’s hard to go over the top with slaw; Dead End BBQ may have done just that. If you aren’t into slaw because it’s so plain OR even if you like slaw, give this stuff a try. It’s a mixture of cabbage, blue cheese, Tomatoes and some bacon bits. Pretty creamy, and pretty tasty for slaw.

The Texas Toast – I will complain about this. Toast should be made when ordered. I passed on the other cornbread options for Toast. Maybe it was good I didn’t eat the toast considering my calorie counting I’m doing. but come on, this stuff was cold and even hard to chew.

 

Dead End BBQ Knoxville, TN Inside the rib
Dead End BBQ Knoxville, TN Inside the rib

The Ribs

I apologize for the picture; I was tired and hungry. On this trip to Dead End BBQ I decided to get ribs. I’ve been eating so much brisket lately that I wanted a break. I thought about burnt ends but then decided it was so late that I’d pass. Ribs would be a good option; I figured that if they were too dry I could hit them with some sauce.

When they came to the table I thought they looked great. It hit me to probably rip a bone apart and let you see the inside. They didn’t look like they were too dried out, and they weren’t. They were nice, with a good smoke hit to them. You can see a little of it in the picture. I promise to do better as I move forward. They were not falling off the bone which most times indicates over-cooked. But they also were not tough. I separated them by cutting at each bone; and could bite meat off. They would have passed most judges test for that part. They aren’t the best ribs I’ve had at Dead End, but they were still very good. I was pleased considering the time I arrived.

 

Dead End BBQ Knoxville, TN Banana Pudding
Dead End BBQ Knoxville, TN Banana Pudding

The Banana Pudding

Others should take note here. Dead End BBQ’s banana pudding isn’t “traditional banana pudding” in any sense. But I like it, a lot. They use a cookie, and it goes ok with the pudding. They make a great thicker pudding. I like that. They use whipped cream; most people use that or meringue.

But Dead BBQ does fail in one area. They almost always do not provide enough bananas. They put the bananas on top which is different. I was talking with other locals and their comment was that it doesn’t have enough bananas. On that I have to agree. Remember what this is, banana pudding.

That said, I’ll get their banana pudding every time I go. Because overall it’s still one of the better banana puddings around Knoxville.

Q2U BBQ Pit & Catering – Lake Wylie, SC

Q2U BBQ Pit
4502 Charlotte Hwy
Lake Wylie, SC 29710
https://www.facebook.com/Q2U-BBQ-PIT-and-Catering-291083644297/

They do not have a website, but do have a Facebook page

I’ve eaten here more times than I can count, but not so much lately. Q2U was for a long time a Friday thing where I’d have lunch with my granddaughters. They call this place the “banana pudding place”. Soon I’ll do a review on another barbecue place that they call the “sundae place”. But for the past year the girls have wanted iHOP and cracker barrel more than the banana pudding place.

Friday morning, I was sitting here doing some work and watching the girls while my wife closed on a house she had sold. I saw come across twitter some tweets about one of the workers being her last day; and then I saw a tweet about the ribs. One of the things I like the most at Q2U are the ribs. I’m not as big of a fan of their pulled pork because they remove – by choice – much of the fat, which removes some flavor.

Anyway… I got a craving for their ribs and so I told my oldest granddaughter that it would be nice to go to the banana pudding place. Since we hadn’t been in a long time, I asked her if he remembered it. “yeah grandpa, let’s go to the banana pudding place”. Ok got that taken care of.

I order a half-rack of ribs which I shared with my youngest daughter. As sides, I got baked beans and banana pudding. Yes, banana pudding is a side option.

All the pictures that I will use come from previous visits. I didn’t take any on this visit.

Q2U_Ribs
Q2U_Ribs

The Bake Beans

These are some very good baked beans. I really like them, a bit Smokey with a sweet taste to them. There was pulled pork at the table, so as usual I dropped some in there. If you like baked beans, then I believe that you’ll like these.

The Hushpuppies

I’ll mention the Hushpuppies because they are good, very good.

The Ribs

They are baby back ribs, and typically they have plenty of meat on them. These guys are competition cookers so you’ll not get any of the “meat falling off the bones” stuff here. The ribs are delivered to the table with a sweet sauce on them. I like we ribs, I like dry rub ribs… I like ribs. Like any where they will have their good and bad days cooking them. Their bad days still deliver a good product to you. At least that’s been my experience. This trip wasn’t the best, but they were still good. I enjoyed my quarter of a rack. I wish they’d offer a quarter of rack as an option. I’d probably eat there more often.

 

Q2U BBQ Pit Lake Wylie NC Banana Pudding
Q2U BBQ Pit Lake Wylie NC Banana Pudding

The Banana Pudding

Theirs is a pretty good banana pudding.  I’m not going to tell you it’s the best you’ll find, it’s not even the best in a 10-mile area. But it’s better than the Paula Deen Top-10 one you can find in Charlotte. So that must mean it’s pretty good? Bottom line is that I’ll get it each time I come here. There are places that I’ll not get their banana pudding again.

Dem 2 Brothers & A Grill – Charleston, WV

Dem 2 Brothers & A Grill
423 Virginia Street West
Charleston, West Virginia 25302
http://www.dem2brosgrill.com

I arrived about11:30AM, there was smoke everywhere. Smoking was taking place out behind the restaurant; I was told the process started about 7:30AM. It sure did smell good.

 

I made my way inside and was I wat taken to a table. I looked the menu over and decided on my order; Ribs, Pulled Pork, Baked Bean, Sweet Potato Casserole and Banana Pudding.

 

Dem 2 Brothers and A Grill Charleston, WV Pulled Pork, Ribs Bean Sweet Potato Casserole

The Ribs

 

Ribs had good hit of smoke, the sauce used on the ribs is outstanding – kind of like sweet baby rays – but the meat was a bit overcooked thus drier than I like my ribs. It’s a fine line, and a lot of BBQ houses do this. So, don’t be too alarmed. They were still tasty ribs.

 

The Pulled Pork

 

They put their sauce on the Pulled pork before serving – note that if like me, you would prefer to add sauce as needed -. In other words, give me Pull Pork without sauce and show me the sauce(s) available for me to try. The Pork had a good hit of smoke and flavor, but is was also a bit dry. The sauce is a thick paste sauce, which while it had a good flavor and great for the ribs, isn’t my style of sauce for pulled pork. But I try things the way the guy running show likes to serve them

 

Sweet potato casserole – was pretty good stuff. I liked it.

 

The baked beans – are good, but needed something in my opinion; I added some pulled pork to the beans and that made them better.

The banana pudding – was the best thing they had. Theirs is a thicker pudding, using possibly a heavy cream? It’s a bit sweet, but those that know me know I like banana pudding. I get a thick pudding like this by using heavy cream in the pudding. I’m not sure what they did here. It was a touch sweet, but that was OK.

 

Service by everyone was great.