Dickey’s Barbecue Pit
44741 Five Mile Rd
Plymouth, MI 48170
http://www.dickeys.com
It’s hard to find good barbecue in Michigan folks. It’s not like North Carolina where you can probably find a great barbecue place in every county, and many counties you can find many. That doesn’t mean there isn’t good or even great que up here, you just must hunt it out. Well, I didn’t have time to go seeking out barbecue. I had to work and was able squeeze in Dickey’s which was close by where I was working.
Dickey’s is a chain and there are several in North Carolina; including one in my area. What you tend to get with most chains is consistency, but not necessarily the best end product. i have friends that poke fun at me because I’ll eat at the chains. Up here in the Northville, Plymouth area there isn’t a lot of competition I gather.
We arrived just after 12:00PM, went in and looked the menu over. I hunted for banana pudding but couldn’t find it. I knew the probability was higher now that this would not be an awesome experience. So, I lowered my expectation to good and hopefully nothing worse. Good and I’m happy.
My buddy asks me what he should get. I suggest trying brisket or since he likes sausage he try that. He goes ahead and gets both. He’s not a big guy so great, I’ll get some sausage. I’ll trade him some pulled pork for that. He gets baked beans and green beans; I get baked beans and potato salad.
Sides
The Barbecue Beans – I thought they were OK, nothing special. Threw the pork in and yes they were a bit better. Done right these can be as good as getting a dessert. These were just average. They were NOTHING like what you see on their website on the menu. Not sure why the difference.
The Potato Salad – Like the barbecue beans it was OK, a mustard based potato salad. Nothing over the top. Yes, you can get over the top potato salad. Read my other reviews.
The Green Beans – I didn’t taste them, Steve said they were alright. He didn’t seem to be excited about it.
Meats
The Brisket
My brisket was a bit drier than Steve’s was. He had more fat in his, and he had a little more of the bark. It had a hit of smoke but fell short here. While the meat wasn’t tough, it wasn’t the most tender brisket either. This is a hard meat to get right, overall, I’d say they did OK. They’ll get 3-stars on Yelp for the brisket. Is this normal, I cannot say. Even the places that I’ve found awesome brisket can have bad days where it is only good, not awesome.
The Pulled Pork
Again, nothing outstanding. Probably had a little more smoke hit to it. Sorry I cannot rave about it. Stacked up against all the pulled pork I’ve eaten, it falls into the good but no great category. Their sauce is similar, but not exactly like what we find in the Piedmont of North Carolina, maybe a little thicker with ketchup. I’ve read where this is a supposed to be a “Texas Style”.
The Sausage
I like sausage and was fortunate that Steve was willing to trade a little pork for a little sausage, a polish kielbasa. It is my opinion that this was the best of the meats. Not over the top, but a solid good. It would have been nice if it were a little juicier, but seems everything here today was a little drier than expected. Which of course either means higher heat or left in too long. Since we were at lunch time my guess is a higher heat.
Overall, I’d say it was worth the visit if you’re after barbecue. In this area, I don’t know what your other options for barbecue would be.