"See if you can find us somewhere to eat," my wife said as we drove into Virginia last month.
Back in the days before we all had the collective knowledge of mankind available at our fingertips on our cell phones, if you were driving out in the middle of nowhere in an unfamiliar area and got hungry, you just had to chance it. If we could have magically read online reviews in our car in the 1980s, perhaps my family would not have gone to the $5 seafood buffet at a place called "Bob's" out in the woods of Horry County. We would have read customer feedback that said "they have flies," "I was afraid to eat the shrimp" and "that thing in the toilet scared me." Back then you just sort of took your chances, which would have actually been sort of fun if not for the risk of salmonella poisoning and mental trauma from whatever that was in the toilet, but those days are gone now. We were just outside of Petersburg, Virginia, so I did a search of "places to eat near Petersburg." One of the first things that popped up was "Saucy's Walk-up Barbecue." That was obviously my preference (since the name of this blog is "Pigskin and Pigskins" not "Badmitton and Kale Chips." I've had the opportunity to enjoy the unique regional dead pig offerings of my home state, North Carolina, Kentucky, Georgia and Texas. The sauces, rubs, meats and general philosophy vary from region to region and though I'm partial to South Carolina Q and mustard-based sauce, there's something to like about each. I've never had Virginia Q before, so this was an exciting proposition to me. I didn't know a whole lot about it's distinct qualities but I was eager to find out. I happily reported my find, which drew an eye roll. "Gah, you and that barbecue. Don't you ever get tired of eating that?" Ashley asked. "Um...no. No I do not." I read off every restaurant that was listed. "How about Seoul Fusion. It's described as a 'mellow Korean restaurant with Japanese beer and a karaoke lounge.' We could eat rice, I could sing some Waylon Jennings songs, it'd be great," I said. "What else?" Ashley said, which I took to mean "no, you can't get tanked on Sapporo and sing country songs today." "There's something called Jade Garden," I said. "The description says it's a humble outpost for..." "No," she interjected. I think "humble outpost" was a red flag for her on that one. She probably envisioned being fed hot gruel out of a cow trough or something. I decided the best course of action was to just go on a site that ranks restaurants, we'd look at what was the most highly rated and go from there. "According to this, Saucy's is number one," I said. "WOO BARBECUE!!!!" Obviously the internet never tells lies, so Ashley gave a pained, resigned sigh and agreed that we'd eat there. VICTORY! She looked at their menu as we drove. Another magical, and especially helpful, aspect of modern technology is that by touching "directions" under a little picture of Saucy's, we got an address and turn-by-turn directions of how to get there. I appreciate that, since I have a long history of getting lost, sometimes frighteningly so on unpaved country roads, deep in the woods where no one could ever hear me scream. As it turns out, we were only about two or three miles away from Saucy's. When we pulled up to Saucy's, I was a little confused as to how I was supposed to go about eating meat there. There was a little trailer called "Saucy's Takeout" and an actual building called "Saucy's Sit Down." I went to the little trailer, since we were intent on eating on the road. The girl working there explained the trailer was for quick, on-the-go, pick-up. They didn't have everything offered by Saucy's in the trailer...so it might be necessary to go inside if you wanted anything beyond pulled pork sandwiches and potato chips. So I bought pork and brisket sandwiches and potato chips and took them to the car. Ashley was disappointed that I had not brought her sweet potatoes, as she had requested. "Ain't no sweet taters in the trailer," I told her. I thought about it, though, she had relented to my desire for barbecue, so the least I could do was get her some sweet potatoes, I figured. I went inside and was immediately taken by the interior. It was one of those places that looks kind of dumpy, but in a great way. I don't know what used to be in that building (it's apparently in the city's old industrial section), but the inside of Saucy's was all old brick. I liked it. I also liked the menu, which started at something like "small drink, 85 cents" and went up to "smokers, $3,200." They also had a huge craft beer and wine selection, which sadly does not qualify as "road food" for very obvious reasons. I ended up buying a couple of sides and took them out to the car. My only minor complaint is that Saucy's served you barbecue that already had sauce on it. I like to try some dry, then add my own, but hey the name of the place is "Saucy's." Might should have been a hint. The pork was moist, had a little spicy bite from the rub which I really liked and was embued with an excellent smoke flavor. They went with a red sauce, which was sweet (I may have detected molasses) with a nice acidic balance, either from some especially tart vinegar or lemons. I liked it. The brisket was cooked perfectly, which is not an easy balance to strike. It shouldn't be shoe leather but it shouldn't be as soft as roast beef either. Flavor-wise I tasted not much more than salt and pepper and a very light helping of sauce, as it should be. The potato salad I had brought a nice, bold flavor...they may have used some of their rub in it actually and the mac and cheese was creamy with a little smokey taste. I personally loathe sweet potatoes, but Ashley proclaimed them the best she's ever had. We ended up just eating in the parking lot instead of on the road (so we should've just gone inside, I guess) so we could let Tucker the Wonder Mutt out to walk around and use the bathroom. When we did, we found a cupcake bakery, so hey, dessert. I successfully found us somewhere to eat that was cool, had great food and lacked flies or scary bathrooms. My wife even liked it. In my very limited experience, Virginia offers good barbecue.Thanks internet!
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TravisI am Travis, the king 0f SC 1A Football Archives
November 2021
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