Not Quite National BBQ Tour - Part 2: Full Moon BBQ

** Re-Posted From June 2009 **

Well … here it is: the second of the likely-to-be-short-lived note-blog series on my sight-seeing and dining in Birmingham Alabama. The 3 brave friends that commented to yesterday’s post have been thank-you-tagged. Whether that makes you more or less inclined to comment is up to you; but hopefully the note-blog will be a bit more interactive that way and give you a chance to meet other people that actually care about what I had for dinner.

... Full Moon Bar-B-Que.....

I’m a sucker for marketing – especially marketing that sounds more like interesting semi-useful facts than TV-jingles. With that in mind, I have to confess that I may have been mentally dishing out the Expense Reports* even before I got up to the counter to order. For starters, the menu has the History of the restaurant right on the cover (in quasi-readable 10-point font) and gives all kinds of good-to-know stuff. For example: “Chow-Chow” is apparently not an annoying dog, but a spicy-southern-sweet-relish. Another good bit of tid-bit marketing … the slaw is listed in “100-Dishes-To-Eat-In-Alabama-Before-You-Die”.

* Expense Reports are my not-so-catchy version of restaurant review points … instead of using Stars, Diamonds, Pepperoni, or Wagon Wheels etc. In this case it refers to the number of company-paid dinners I would eat there on a two-week business trip.

THE PLACE

Two words on the decorations: ‘Au…Burn’. Not being much of a sports fan, much less a life-long-lover of Alabama college ball, I’ll just say that the atmosphere has some “opportunities”. That being said, the tables were made of actual wood and I got to sit in a booth by myself … so I was ok.

THE FOOD

* Black Angus Beef-Brisket: That’s what I’m talkin’-bout-Willis-I-mean-Arnold. The meat was flavorful in itself, and the small amount of sauce it was served with was just right.

* Slaw: Very good: … The fact-based menu describes it as a vinaigrette slaw and it is certainly worthy of the Alabama’s Food-Bucket-List status.

* Baked Beans: Not as good as Fiorella’s Jack’s Stack … but worth ordering.

* Bread, Pickles, and Chow-Chow: I don’t usually care much about these auxiliary side dishes - treating them like parsley. Maybe it was because I didn’t have fist-sized onion-rings to eat around, but they really added to the meal.

* Coconut Cream Pie: Last night, I called it “awesome” and it was again tonight. Either they have the same recipe, the same supplier, or somebody’s got the other restaurant on speed dial. It was exactly the same … and $2.50 cheaper.

THE WRAP

No surprises at the end: Full Moon Bar-B-Que was great. I give it 4/10 Expense Reports and will be going back soon. After all, I still haven’t tried their signature half-moon pecan-chocolate-chip cookies (half-dipped in chocolate sauce). By the way… you can stop counting now Drew. I used the hyphen/dash 55 times in this post. What do you expect from a Bar "-" B "-" Que review?

(oops, make that 58)