On our way back from Plant Delights this afternoon, we stopped for lunch at Holy Smokes Bar-B-Que. The 'cue was amazing. Sarah had the chopped beef brisket. I had a taste and I'd say it was damn good. Maybe not quite as good as the Q Shack's but good enough to make me believe that the guys running the pits really did get their start in San Antonio. I had the pork ribs. The menu describes them as St. Louis style. Before I saw that, I'd have described them as Memphis style. Not that I've had ribs in either place but I've watched a lot of TV shows about barbecue. They were dry-rubbed and not sauced while they were cooking. Amazingly good and easily the best ribs I've had... I was gonna say in NC but actually those might have been the best ribs I've had in a restaurant anywhere. Evah. For sides we had green beans (which were forgettable; either canned or frozen and sadly lacking any noticeable evidence of pork products involved in the cooking process), creamed corn (fantastic; tasted like fresh, or really high quality frozen, corn and the sauce was creamy but not gloppy, and with a slight spicy kick), and hush puppies (fresh & hot, light and delicious). Slight disappointment that there was no mac & cheese on the menu. And the service was a bit chaotic. Everyone there was very nice. But they mis-heard my order for "short ribs" as "pork ribs" (I didn't notice until he'd already started cutting up the meat and, as the pork ribs looked good, I didn't say anything). Also, we didn't end up getting our hush puppies until we were about half way through eating. They dropped a batch when we ordered but they weren't cooked by the time we paid so we went and sat down, expecting they'd either bring them over or call us when they were ready. After a while, Sarah went to check only to have the counter person give our batch to someone else. They did get another batch over to us pretty quickly after that and they were, as stated above, really good. But even though a big group came in right after us, the place was pretty empty. They have basically the same service model (order at counter, get food, pay at cashier) as the Q Shack or Goode Co. but those places are models of efficiency. Holy Smokes (which has only been open since Feb 07) still seems to have a few service kinks to work out. Or at least they did this afternoon.
But, again, the 'cue was amazing. I'll definitely be going back. Altho it's ridiculously out of our usual way so I've no idead when. If it was in Durham, it'd be competing with Q Shack for my restaurant dollars.