We were out & about today and decided to just get some take out ribs for lunch and dinner at Georgia Boys BBQ in Oldsmar.  There was a bunch of construction going on, so we made quite a little trek to get there.

Unfortunately, the ribs weren’t as tender this time as they have been in the past.  Still had a great smoky flavor, but definitely not fall off the bone.  Definitely enough for two meals with some beans & potato salad on the side.  All for $20.

Georgia Boy’s BBQ
205 E St Petersburg Dr
Oldsmar, FL
(813) 854-4498

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Chilly day in Florida today, so we caught an early movie and then got some BBQ take out from Eli’s BBQ in Dunedin.

$27 got us a full rack of ribs, cole slaw & baked beans which will feed us for both lunch & dinner today.  Eli’s got it going on when it comes to ribs.  They are fall off the bone tender with just the right amount of smoky goodness.  There’s a reason there’s always a line here for the two days a week he’s open.  It’s cash only and definitely worth every penny.

Today there was also a sign out front for free hamburgers & hot dogs on Monday, 1/16/2012 starting at 10am until they run out in celebration of MLK Day.

Eli’s Bar-B-Que
360 Skinner Blvd
Dunedin, FL
(727) 738-4856

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I’ve been driving by Pit Stop BBQ on SR 580 for a while now and we finally stopped in tonight.  It’s right over the bridge when you’re driving into Oldsmas next to the Hess gas station.

Loren got a thin end rib dinner with collard greens and baked beans and I tried the rib & chopped pork combo with mac & cheese and potato salad.

Loren liked it more than I did.  It had a very smokey flavor and I thought my ribs were a bit dry with not a lot of meat on them.  The thin end ribs Loren got had more meat on them and were a little more tender.  The chopped pork was ok, but I like a moister BBQ.  Loren really liked the collard greens, but the baked beans were too sweet for him.  The mac & cheese had good flavor, but was really dry.  The potato salad was ok.  Total bill was $23.

Pit Stop Southern Style BBQ
3665 State Road 580
Oldsmar, FL
813-855-3136

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We stopped for lunch at Highlands Smokehouse.  We were on our way to Glen Falls and decided to eat lunch before hiking the trails.   For an appetizer, we decided to split a bowl of Brunswick stew.

Best thing we ate here.  It had just a hint of spice along with some meat and lots of veggies, including okra.  It was really tasty.  Normally I don’t like hushpuppies, but this one  just tasted like cornbread to me.  As for the rest of the meal, we weren’t as impressed.

Loren got a half rack of ribs with collard greens and baked beans.

He said the ribs were ok, but didn’t really have a lot of smokey goodness.  He did like the beans, but the collard greens had a really odd flavoring to them.  I thought they tasted like sweet dill pickles.  He didn’t like them at all.  I got a pork sandwich with corn pudding and mashed sweet potatoes.

I did not like the taste of the pork.  It wasn’t smokey and it had an odd aftertaste.  It’s hard to describe.  It was really moist and almost had a beer like flavor to it.  That’s probably not the right flavor, but whatever it was, it just didn’t do it for me.  The corn pudding sort of tasted like scrambled eggs with lots of pepper.  The mashed sweet potatoes were ok, but would have been so much better if they were served with a cinnamon butter.  Overall, not the best BBQ we’ve had.  Total bill was $35.

Highlands Smokehouse
595 Franklin Road
Highlands, NC
(828) 526-5000

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On our way up to North Carolina to see the autumn leaves, we stopped for the night in Athens, Georgia and ate dinner at Rafferty’s.  We missed the entrance to the restaurant twice as there’s only one way in and out. 

For a chain restaurant, the food was pretty good.  We started off with some batter fried mushrooms. 

These were really tasty.  The batter was very crunchy and Loren liked the horseradish sauce that came with it.  I opted for some ranch dressing.   For his entree, Loren got the West Texas BBQ chicken. 

He said it was good and believe it or not, it actually had more bacon on it than he could eat.  It was a little crispy around the edges, but otherwise tender.  I got the rack of baby back ribs and a baked potato.

The ribs were tender, but I’m not sure how to describe the BBQ sauce.  It wasn’t sweet, but it had a fruity finish.  It was different, but I liked it.  Our waitress was really nice, but she kept apologizing for putting in our entree order after the mushrooms.  The wait really wasn’t all that long, but she seemed to think she had to constantly tell us how sorry she was about it.  Total bill with a drink was $40.

Rafferty’s
15 Huntington Drive
Athens, GA
706-613-0045

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