R. O.'s Barbeque

April: We owe the good people at R. O.'s a big apology. It has been over a year since we visited their lovely establishment in Gastonia, NC and we are just now getting around to posting our review. For a variety of reasons (fire at Winthrop University, finishing graduate degree, life, etc.) we got a little too busy over the past year to keep up with our BBQ restaurant reviews. While we ate plenty of delicious pork over the past twelve months and tried at least three new restaurants, we just never got around to adding it to the blog. Thanks to the first major snowstorm of 2011, we now have plenty of time to catch up!

All of that being said, let me get on with my reflections on our trip up Highway 274 to R. O.'s Barbeque almost one year to the day. It was a cold and rainy evening but this did not hamper our quest to visit this legendary restaurant. It came as a recommendation from our friend and former Jeopardy champion, Leland Graham. He and his lovely fiance, Emily, were our dining companions that night. The restaurant building is not much to speak of and we almost drove right past it. It has the look of an old 50's drive-up restaurant, minus the parking lot lights, girls on skates, and American Grafitti soundtrack. Once inside we were greeted warmly by a young staff that gave good recommendations regarding the menu items and we ordered accordingly.

R.O.'s is arguably not really BBQ, meaning that the pork is slow roasted, not smoked. It is one thing...pretty darn good. R. O's is well known for its sauce. This is also arguably not sauce rather a mixture of finely chopped coleslaw and sauce. Again, it is very good. I enjoyed a large sliced sandwich, a side of corn nuggets, and a grilled pimento cheese sandwich. The pork was very tender but all of the flavor came from the sauce. It seems to be a tomato based sauce with a little hint of spice and then the chopped cabbage. Delicious and messy.

The corn nuggets, for those less familiar with our love of frying all things vegetable related, are a mixture of cooked kernel corn and cream corn that is then battered and fried. The result is a sweet/salty nugget of corn goodness. I love these little things and enjoy ordering them whenever found on a menu.

The grilled pimento cheese was also outstanding. White sandwich bread grilled with homemade pimento cheese salad tucked inside. This is also one of my favorite southern dishes and this sandwich did not disappoint. One last word about the R.O.'s dining experience...you must complete your food order with a large Cherry Lemon Sun Drop. This drink is not widely available outside of the deep south and is all that the name promises. To balance the savory and salty meal that is BBQ and fried corn nuggets, the make-your-teeth-hurt sweetness of the Cherry Lemon Sun Drop is just the right thing.

We managed to roll our full tummies out the door a few hours later with a to-go cup of the delicious fountain drink in hand and find our way home to Rock Hill in the dark. A good dinner and good night out with friends.

R. O.'s Barbeque, 1318 Gaston Avenue
Gastonia, NC 28052 (704) 866-8143
Distance from home: 29.02 miles

Burnt ends and outside brown...... welcome back to the smoke!

The other night April and I went to Burk's BBQ in Rock Hill to visit our supercool friends Danielle, her husband Corey, and our partner in crime Erin. The most fun was from hanging wth our "peeps" of course! The other great thing? Fried Brownie Delights! Which is exactly what you would think them to be: a fried brownie covered with ice cream and chocolate sauce. And yes they are delightful. I passed by the instore smoker and spotted one of April's all-time favorites... a big tray of burnt ends! So April asked for and got a bag of the "burnt ends" to take home with us. They are sometimes called outside brown if you will, but are the burnt and over smoked outer layer of meat from the pork shoulder (really it can be a brisket, butt, or ham actually). They are very, very smokey and cary the intense flavor of the rub or the sauce used to baste the pork while cooking. The worst thing about a bag of "out side brown"? Having it in your car ride home (car's heater just pushes the intense smoke smell all around the car so your head begins to spin 0_O ) The best thing about a bag of out side brown? It's that you have a bag of out side brown! =)

April: What I find hilarious about this is that this picture looks absolutely digusting! I mean anything described as "burnt ends" and "outside brown" that is usually discarded by the restaurant cannot be picturesque, but it is beautiful to me! Burk's has good pulled pork on its own and to get to sample these tasty little pieces of bark was even better. Most places chop up a little bit of this stuff and toss it in with the other chopped pieces of more tender meat. The burnt ends do contain the most flavor but it is very concentrated and a little overpowering, hence the need to mix but I like it best all on its own. I did need an extra gallon of water intake the next day after a few bites of these ends, but it was well worth it!

The Great American Barbecue Showdown

The Food Network has a series of shows, The Food Network Challenge. This Sunday's episode (January 17, 2010) will feature a barbecue showdown. This episode was filmed in part at the Greenwood Fesitval of Discovery KCBS Barbecue Competition that was held in July 2009. Lane and I were lucky enough to attend the event (see previous post) and might hopefully show up in one of the shots. Keep a look out for us!

http://www.foodnetwork.com/food-network-challenge/index.html