The end of all of my healthy eating was innocent. I wanted to take Sean out to dinner and I wanted to walk. So, naturally, I picked the place closest to my house. Unfortunately for my waistline, the closest place to my house (three blocks away) lives a small piece of BBQ heaven that is going to systematically destroy all of my health and dieting goals.
The first thing I noticed when I walked into this little hole in the wall joint was the lack of pretense. The guy behind the counter, who had one of those "I just got back from fishing beards", didn't say hello when I walked in. There was no table service, only a counter and a guy in the back slicing pulled pork and slathering BBQ sauce on it. The floor had that half painted concrete look and the beer case had a bottle opener on top (did you expect that they would open your beer?) Oh man, I could instantly tell this place was going to be trouble.
Next was the beer fridge. It was as if this place was designed for me. The atmosphere wasn't pretentious at all, I could have worn my cowboy boots and a hoodie and I would have been fine. But the beer was microbrew at its best. They had Rogue Ale. A brief aside....Rogue Ales is the best beer on planet earth. It is simultaneously the smoothest, freshest and most micro beer you will ever get. And, recently, I had a reason to attempt to get a nice six pack of Rogue Ales shipped. Although I eventually realized that the cost of shipping would be astronomically high, the guy at the warehouse spent a few hours over a couple of weeks talking to me about my options. So, the mere presence of this amazing beverage made my day. The Rogue Ale alone would have ruined my diet and my pocket book(The Rogue people know how good their beer is, so it isn't cheap).
Next came the music. Oh, the perfect music. While I was there I heard, Muddy Waters, Emmy Lou Harris and Jimmy Buffet. Add in some Paul simon and I might have cried. For those of you who do not share my taste in music, imagine a pre-teen girl going to a restaurant and only hearing Justin Bieber and Katy Perry for an hour. To me, the music was that good. And they have live bands on Thursday nights.
I sat down with my pulled pork sandwich, collard greens and coleslaw and realized that I might end up eating here on a regular basis (I am sorry skinny jeans, but I am in love with the BBQ joint down the street, I am not sure I am going to be able to wear you much longer). The pulled pork was succulent, perfectly fatty and had an ample oozing of spicy BBQ sauce. The bread tasted like it was made that morning and then grilled right before it made its way to my mouth. MMMM.....The collard greens weren't the healthy kind that we all make with our Full Circle Farm boxes. They were the sweet and succulent and superbly unhealthy kind with the bacon. Yeah, my veggies contained bacon. The coleslaw was nothing special, but next time, I will just order the baked beans and get it over with.
I didn't check to see if they had sweet potato pie. I think I will avoid the dessert counter for at least a couple of weeks (I am not ready to give up on my current set of regular fit jeans just yet).
I think I probably should go hit the treadmill, STAT......
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