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.

Zaxby's

Chicken Fingerz - 2 beakZ (har har) of 5
Buffalo Fingerz - 4 beakZ (never gets old) of 5


It's the place you see on all the exit food/gas/lodging description signs when you're driving up here. Zaxby's is a chain based in Athens, GA. We didn't have them in LA where Raising Canes ruled the roost, so I was very interested in what I was going to get.

I ordered both their Buffalo Fingerz and their Chicken Fingerz. How cute are the Z's? You know since the name of the place starts with a Z? Anywhoo, what I really dig about this place is that you can just order straight chicken fingers without side items. Most places let you do it, but it's generally always a hassle and someone always looks at you like you've got a second head growing out of your shoulder.

So the food. The tenders were good sized, and they came with sauce. I'm REALLY curious about this sauce phenomenon. Once again, I get crawfish sauce with my chicken. For those of you who aren't following my blog out of pity for me and don't live in LA, crawfish sauce is a combination of mayo and ketchup with additional optional ingredients (Tony's Seasoning and Worcestershire Sauce). So crawfish sauce goes well with chicken, but I'm not sure how all this business started. This sauce was a little mayo heavy.



I was pleased with the chicken fingers. Warm and thinly breaded, but lacking seasoning. The chicken was quality, but I felt like the addition of some salt would've been nice.

Holy snap! While doing research on the proper naming of all these things, I just realized that Zaxby's Buffalo Fingerz have nine different sauces to choose from. GET OUT OF TOWN. I really felt the Buffalo Fingerz were the strong point of the menu. You get celery attached which rounds it out, right? The wing sauce was heavily hot sauce based, but there are a couple of other flavours which would be good. I've since lost the ones I was going to mention. Zaxby's website probably doesn't like Firefox.


So for the ratings. We're working on a five beak system for chicken.

Let's Begin With the Purpose

We just moved to Auburn, AL in order for Dr. Wife to do an internship here at AU. While exploring the town, I seemed to run into a barbecue or chicken finger joint with alarming frequency.

It's become my goal, as an outsider to this cultural phenomenon, to eat and rate each of these establishments. I've got a year, so I better get started...