Byron's Smokehouse

2 of 5 tails


Sorry for the slack dear reader. I've been putting in the eating, but falling behind on the writing. Never fear. Today we drop our first barbecue review.


Big props to Byron's for the stack of hardwood they have under their porch. You see it as you drive out, and you can taste it in the food. REALLY taste it like some of that wood is put on your plate with the entree.

I ordered the chipped pork which came with two sides and whitebread (I know it's two words, but it looks better as one). The sauce was ridiculously tangy, so tangy that it kicked me in the stomach and took my wallet. I'd go with the hot version. The sauce and pork combo had a nice spice finish, but I wasn't floored by it.

I give it two tails.

While eating, I noticed that it's across Opelika Road from Summer Brooke apartments. I wonder if this Brooke girl they named the place after was just cooler in the summer than the other seasons of the year.

Tenda Chick

I ask you to pass legislation to prohibit the most egregious abuses of medical research - human cloning in all its forms: creating or implanting embryos for experiments; creating human-animal hybrids; and buying, selling, or patenting human embryos.
-Dubya 2006 State of the Union Address

Tenda Q: 2 beaks, 2 tails (4 of 5).

Chicken Fingers: 4 beaks of 5.


Well I encountered a different kind of dangerous hybrid at Tenda Chick, but not the kind that would make up an army of superhumans. No, dear reader, this was dangerously delicious.
I'm not going to bury the lede on this one in a cheap ploy to make you spend more time on this page. Let's just talk about the TendaQ sandwich.
The blog's about barbecue and chicken fingers, and it's like they knew I was coming. The sandwich is chicken fingers tossed in barbecue sauce dropped onto a bun and topped with pickles. YES! The tangy barbecue sauce complements the sour of the pickle, and the secret "sprinklings" that make the chicken fingers work so well. I'm going to give this two beaks and two tails for a grant total of four appendages of five.

The fingers are wicked, as I've already alluded to, but they're different when left to fend for themselves without a delicious barbecue glaze. What really hit me was the sprinklings on the fingers. They're using some herbs in the batter, and I was floored. Most chicken fingers have two things going for them breading and chicken. Nobody uses salt. This adds the ability to eat them sans sauce. I'm not sure what's going to happen with this sauce business. I haven't really tasted any difference from one to the next, and I'm thinking about just excluding it. By the same token, I guess the finger and sauce couple to make the food. Your thoughts? I'm going to give these fingers four of five beaks for novelty and deliciousness.