Puckett's, Hays, in TN

I am on a BBQ fact-finding mission lately, as I am preparing to open my own BBQ place in Nashville. I had lunch at Puckett's Grocery in Leiper's Fork, Tennessee yesterday. It is about 40 miles south of Nashville. I have been to Puckett's before, using the actual grocery, but never had lunch there. They have about ten tables set up, and a stage (it is well known around here for putting on world-class music -- yes it is a little roadside grocery store.) Anyway, I am now especially critical of BBQ, and I must say, this pulled-pork was really good. No sauce to hide behind -- it is on the table to be used at your discretion -- and the taste was pure moist pork and smoke. The sides were homemade and delicious, I had creamed spinach and baked apples, and they offer "blue ribbon, award-winning pies," and had homemade cobbler which I didn't try.

This place is so far in the middle of nowhere, I hesitate to shout a "must go" recommendation based on just one lunch. I wondered if anyone else had eaten there. A search here brings up nothing. The atmosphere is pure Roadfood. I will go back soon.

After reading the glowing reports about Hays here for so long, I am finally going to go, on the way to Tunica, this Friday.(Maybe study a little at the feet of the master.) There are so many postings about this place, but the one thing I can't find is specific directions from I-40. Can anyone help?

Also on my agenda very soon are Owensboro, Memphis, Tuscaloosa and maybe Kansas City. Of course, I've been a BBQ lover forever, but since I've started working on my own place, I've been to Big Bob Gibson's, Carl's Perfect Pig, Judge Beans (many times)and Dickey's in a mall (awful). I am getting most of my destinations from right here on Roadfood. Any recommendations of must-try BBQ within a reasonable distance of Nashville are appreciated. If folks are interested, I will chronicle my experience on my wonderful "fact-finding mission" here.

Please do. I'm looking forward to your report(s).

I forget the exit number for Hays but exit at the lexington exit off I-40. Go south until you reach downtown. Turn left at the light and it is about 2 miles on the right.

Pleae give regards to Dennis hays from the roadfood gang. We have been there many times. Plese ask him for a tour of his huge smoker. He had it built at a cost of somewhere around $20K. He is a prince of a guy and his restaurant is as clean as a pin.

I always get his combination plate. Ribs and pulled pork is super. The Mayor always request the bark for his "dogs". My guess is the poor dog gets very little

Paul E. Smith
Knoxville, TN

Paul,
The dog's don't even get a whiff!

To get to the Hays Smokehouse from Nashville,
Take I-40 west to exit 108.
Go South on TN-22 to Lexington (about 10 easy miles).
At the top of the hill (Bus. District) turn LEFT (East)on US-412. Hays is on the right side of the road about a mile or so from the intersection of 22 & 412. The building sits a couple of hundred feet off the road, but is in clear view and has a sign identifying it.

I really like the Hays Product. In addition to what you refer to as 'Pure Pork' (sauce on the side) The place is very clean and even when real busy the folks who work there are friendly. They really do make you feel Welcome. There are other types of BBQ operations that are good. I rave about the Moonlite over in Owensboro,KY a lot. The Moonlite is a different 'Style' operation. It is Very Large, A Buffet, and serves a lot of people every day of the week. Hays is small...not a tiny place like Craigs in DuValls Bluff Arkansas that sits 6 or 8 at best...but small enough that Dennis Hays can see everyone in his stand and can get around to the various tables to "mingle". Plus he is open Weekends Only. Check the review we posted on this site for Photos of the operation.

When Pogophile introduced a bunch of us to Hays Smokehouse almost 2 years ago he had copies of an Oral History Project dealing with Whole-Hog Barbecue in that part of Tennessee. There are several very good 'Cue stands covered in that write-up (and one not so good). But Dennis Hays Operation stood out head and shoulders above all the others.
Please read the report that got us all headed that way. Here is a link to it.

http://www.southernfoodways.com/projects/tnbbq/R06_hays.shtml

To me the word ambience is very hard to describe.... But I feel that the 'Ambience' of the Hays Smokehouse makes for a very relaxed dining experience. I have never visited Hays place without coming away feeling that I just enjoyed a meal with Old family and friends.

Puckett's is good. I wouldn't hesitate to include it in a guidebook. I think you'll like Hays'. You should make plans to join us in Owensboro in February. Good Q is in short supply in Nashville proper, but you sound as though you're on the right track. Keep us up to date, and Pogo and I will volunteer to be your first paying customers.

Poverty Pete, I may have you two bring your educated roadfood palates by before the opening to be testers.

Mayor and Sundancer, I have read every word of every posting about Hays, which is why I am going on Friday. I will also have Moonlight in my sights soon.

Meanwhile, today, I went (spur of the moment -- this is really fun) to Dreamland in Huntsville for lunch. I know there is a seperate thread for that, but I guess I will just continue reporting on my experiences here. Here are my observations of Dreamland.

I have heard about the ribs at the original in Tuscaloosa for years and wanted to go there, but H'ville is only 90 mins. The first thing I noticed was that you go there for ribs. The only other choices are pork and chicken, but I didn't see anyone eating anything but ribs. They have three sides, potato salad, cole slaw or beans -- pick two. And here are the dessert choices: Banana Pudding. They also have one sauce, not a hot and a mild and a Memphis and a Kansas City, as some places do. For someone who worries about opening with a limited menu, this was reassuring, the place was busy.

I ordered a half slab. I recieved 4 slices of white bread with some BBQ sauce as an "appetizer." I have gone through many, many attempts to get just the right sauce for my place, and I test them with bread, so I am used to trying sauce that way. I thought the sauce was pretty good. I ate the first rib, and thought that it, too, was just pretty good. Then I tried the second rib and BAM, it was like I was eating a herion popsicle or something. It was otherworldly. It was unbelievably fantastically, freakishly delicious. I was already planning to commute every day to eat ribs there for lunch. The way the sauce mixed with the meat was truly incredible. I completely understood why Dreamland is legendary. I had another one just like it, then the last few were just OK.

Why the inconsistency? They use spare ribs, and the flavor is really affected by which bone you are eating. The round ribs were the unbelieveably good ones, as they got flatter and wider, the flavor wasn't nearly as good, and it became much harder to find meat on the flat bones, with one bone offering nearly nothing.

Until today, I was planning on using spare ribs. I suppose I had noticed this "round vs. flat bone" phenomenom in the past, but just shrugged it off. Now that I am going to be the one selling the ribs, it makes a huge difference to me. I think the best spare rib is better than the best baby back, but I am really going to have to experiment with both before I decide which to serve. I seem to remember a thread on here with that debate, I guess I'll do a search.

The key at Dreamland is the sauce, and how it affects the natural smoked flavor of the meat. It is 4:00, I ate at noon, and I can still taste the flavors of the sauce. In some cusines that's a bad thing, but, in my opinion, in BBQ it is a good thing.

Next stop, Hays.

Jim

You can experiment on me all you wish! I know my barbeque pretty well, but I believe Pogophiles is even better versed in the subject than I am.
If you can get his approval, you've got something to peddle.

You may want to track down Papa KayJoes in Centerville and/or Hohenwald. The thing that I think is distinctive about the 'cue joints around Lexington/Henderson is their approach to whole hog barbecue that allows you to specify which part of the hog you want the meat to come from. Middlin' for me...

BTW, I really like that Dreamland sauce as well (need to restock). I think that it is especially good on chicken. Also, you might want to make the pilgrimage over to Ridgewood in East Tennessee. Different approach, but mighty good...

One more thing -- Smoking Ed's in Smyrna makes some fine barbecue (shoulders) and the smoked chicken wings at the Slick Pig in Murfreesboro are also worth checking out. And as PP said, just let us know where you are and when you're ready!

I will let you know when I have taken my recipes as far as I can without outside opinions. You guys can certainly be official tasters. I am in a converted house in Berry Hill. I chose the location for my catering business, with no regard for people having to find it. It is really out of the way, with a lawyer on one side and a hair salon to the other. That is why I want to do a "passion" food, to create a destination, which for me is BBQ. With Judge Bean's moving, there isn't any Q in this area that I am aware of. I have come to the conclusion that there are so many different styles, that there is really no "Best" bbq anywhere, but there is plenty of bad bbq. So all I can do is make what I think is the best I can make, and leave it to people's opinions. That's why I am on this "fact-finding" mission. I woke up in the middle of the night thinking about those Dreamland ribs. That is what I'm trying to create. Thanks for the suggestions, I'll put them on the list. It's lunchtime, maybe I'll head to Smoking Ed's

Jim

Lucky me! I work in Berry Hill. I can attend a smoke-off on very short notice.

I think you would be very fortunate to have Poverty and Pogphiles as a sounding board for our BBQ. These guys are very good.

Poverty, I am leaving at 4:00AM in the morning as my wife has a open MRI in Franklin. She should be through by 9:00AM. She wanted to stop by Opry Mills for some shopping. Any good place around there for breakfast?

Paul E. Smith
Knoxville, TN

Sundancer,
First, let me say that I hope all goes well in the morning.
If I had your schedule, I think I would just grab a quick bite in the morning, visit the doctor, do my shopping, then go to Wilma Kaye's for a wonderful lunch. It's right there on your way back to Knoxville, and with New Orleans in the condition that it is, may be some of the best cajun food anywhere. I highly recommend the etouffee. I think I spelled it incorrectly, but there's no mistaking the food. Wilma Kaye's is at exit 219, on the north side.

Paul, if you're leaving Knoxville at 4:00, You'll be arriving in Nashville around 7:00? I'm going to be having coffee and a bagel at a little place called Sam & Zoe's at 6:45. Can you make it? I'll call you with directions.

quote:

Originally posted by yeahyeah101

I am in a converted house in Berry Hill.

I was super excited to read you were opening a place in Nashville, but I nearly stopped breathing when I saw Berry Hill!! A new BBQ joint in my neighborhood? Thank you Thank you Thank you!

My kitchen/office is actually walking distance from Sam and Zoe's. I would come by and meet you (it's okay to invite yourself if you can't make it) but I can't make it. At 6:45 tomorrow I will be sleeping in a bed in Tunica surrounded by the piles of money I am going to relieve the casino of at the blackjack tables and piles of rib bones from Hays Smokehouse. I will tell Mr. Hays that I heard about him on Roadfood and that you all send regards.

I had breakfast at a wonderful place in Franklin that Poverty Pete told me about. Franklin is a beautiful wealthy town. After Judy had her open MRI, I took her and Mamaw Smith to this place that Poverty told me about. I am like Poverty as I cannot remember the name. Poverty will name it later on On. I am ssure of that. I had a real whole chicken breast with grits, gravy, hash browns, two eggs, coffee and a diet coke for $6.99. Mamaw smith had biscuits, gravy and sausage and judy had two eggs, hash browns and grits. All of it came to $21.00 plus a $5.00 tip.

Biscuits were super. Nice and brown and crispy and hot. Grape jelly was super.

We made a stop at the Opry Mills mall where i bought some more gifts for the February Glee Club BBQ stop in Owensboro, KY at the Moonlite.

Thanks Poverty.

Paul E. Smith
Knoxville, TN

That breakfast place in Franklin was probably Dotson's...

Pogo: Dotsons got it. Breakfast was super. Biscuits were great, gravy was super and the entire chicken breast was great with the breakfast. Thanks for your idenity and thanks to the very talentened Poverty. Perhaps he will play classical musical for us when we meet at the moonlite in February.

Paul E. Smith
Knoxville, TN

That IS the correct answer. Would you like to go double or nothing on a video bonus question?

Poverty, we woul like to hear your beautiful music.

Paul E. Smith
Knoxville, TN

Puckett's and Hay's are both excellent. I would recommend them to anyone. If going to Puckett's from Nashville I suggest taking the Natchez Trace Parkway, a beautiful drive.

YeahYeah, if you open up a place in Nashville let me know. I'm local and will gladly volunteer to be a tastetester.

Glad to add you to the taster list. Hays was everything promised. So much has been written about it, I won't repeat it here, but I will say I found out that Mr. Hays has the same fondness of blackjack as I do. We stopped at Neely's Interstate BBQ in Memphis on the way home. I found the sauce to be a bit heavy-handed. I prefer to have the meat on its own and the sauce on the side. Note: Hays is only open Friday and Saturday, and this Saturday they were closed because of a catering job. Anyone planning to drive a long way should call ahead to make sure they are going to get that killer bbq. I think I'll seek out Papa KayJoes this week.

I went to Papa KayJoe's yesterday. They only have ribs on weekends, so I had the pork sandwich. It was fine. I will go back sometime to try the ribs. Today, I stumbled across a place called Jim N Nick's BBQ in Smyrna. It was a new building, obviously a chain, so I went in with low expectations. It looked like a Chilis or Bennigans inside. The open-beams on the ceiling that were supposed to give an authentic "bbq joint" feel were compromised by the smokey loss-prevention camera domes attached.

Anyway, the food was just short of fair at best. A half rack of ribs and pulled pork combo with two sides was $17. I think the same thing was $9 at Hays. The bartender bragged that the food was so good because they make everything there, no freezer. (She had a Wisconsin accent. As we say around here, "she don't know much about real bbq, bless her heart.") I asked who owned them, expecting it to be Denny's or PepsiCo, and she said "Nick. Jim was his dad, he's dead." Come to find out, this chain started as a real bbq shack years ago in Birmingham. Well, somewhere along the way, it appears to me that Nick teamed up with some upper management "professionals" from someplace like Darden or Fridays who managed to run the concept through the taste-remover and the soul-extracter. I don't want to open the ugly "all franchises are terrible" debate, because I don't believe that, but if anyone is familiar with the original, I wonder if Jim N Nick's truly is legendary in Birmingham. Because if it is, the franchises are doing their reputation a disservice.

That's good information. I saw one of these out on Charlotte Pike, and meant to stop in. I'm not encouraged. On a happier note, I found a place in Alvaton, Ky. the other day, that I can give the nod to. It's on Scottsville Rd, called Split Tree BBQ. the chopped pork is pretty good, the sides not as much, but the highlight of the visit was their corncakes. I think they're as good as the hoecakes that Paula Dean serves at her place in Savannah. At $.25 each, I can easily imagine making a meal at very little expense. You get two of them with a q plate. I need to investigate further.

That Jim-n-Nick's has only been there a few months and seems to be doing pretty good business (though I'm not sure why at those prices). I know that my wife likes to take business clients from the Northeast there. It kind of reminds me of the Corky's franchises a bit. You can find OK food there and it's in a comfortable environment for business conversation (kind of like going to PF Chang's for Chinese). As for myself, I'll keep driving the extra five miles or so out to Smokin' Ed's when I take a notion for some barbecue in the Smyrna area. The taste of their pulled pork more than makes up for their lack of "comfortable dining atmosphere"...

PF Changs for chinese is a great analogy.(I once ate a roasted duck's foot in Beijing. I don't see that on Chang's menu. I digress.) There are so many styles of bbq, I am not one to complain just because something is not the style I like. The ribs were coated in a sticky, gooey sweet bbq sauce, which is not my favorite style. They were tender enough and probably as good as you can get at Fridays or Applebees, so the combination of OK food and sterile atmosphere would make it a good place for corporate entertaining. Roadfood it ain't. I was actually looking for Smoking Ed's when I saw Jim N Nicks. Is it the same Smoking Ed's found up somewherenaround Fairview or Dickson?

I don't think they're related, but not sure. It's in Fairview on highway 100, east end of town.

Don't know. The Smoking Ed's I was referring to is on Murfreesboro Road as you head South out of Smyna (toward Murfreesboro). Just look for the small shack with the big smokers on the right side of the road just a 1/2 mile or so past the Nissan complex. If you roll down a window you can't miss it...