Shawn's Smokehouse BBQ -- Culpeper, Va.
March 19, 2014
It was a Wednesday night when we visited and nothing special was happening at the restaurant, so we thought it was probably an "average" night of cooking to sample.
OVERVIEW
Shawn's is in a tiny strip mall, but the interior is very spacious and bright with both booths and tables with red checked table cloths -- very typical, family friendly bbq restaurant atmosphere. You order at the front counter and, if you are staying in, you are given a number and your food is brought to your table. Drinks and silverware are self-serve. You can view the menu at the link -- pretty standard bbq fare, but I did like the fact that he had sampler plates with the 4 competition meats -- a fairly rare thing to find in my experience of bbq joints.
When I ordered, I begin to think that maybe these folks were the real deal. I asked if the meats were bare or sauced and was told the ribs and chicken were lightly sauced, but the brisket and pork was "bare" with only a rub. I was told that sauces were on the table if we wanted to add any. The only downside on the brisket order was that you could not select between point or flat, only sliced or chopped. I ordered the Smokehouse Sampler -- a quarter chicken, third of a rack of ribs, pulled pork and brisket sliced -- to share between me, Mom and Bentley. It came with coleslaw and the other two sides I selected were mac-n-cheese and baked beans. I got additional sides of potato salad and dirty rice and cornbread. I also ordered a banana pudding for dessert. My total was just a hair under $50. This was the total for all 3 of us.
I put our order in and went to sit with Mom and Bentley at our booth. We noticed that the owner, Shawn Moss, was wandering around the restaurant and greeting people. He did not know us from Adam or why we were there or that we were going to do a review, he just came up to greet us and welcome us to his place. I thought this was a very nice and personal touch missing from restaurants in most places -- or maybe it is just that we are in small town in the South!! But I liked it.
THE PITS AND WOODS
At that point, we did tell him about Pelletheads.com and our bbq experience and that we would be writing a review. We asked about his pits -- he cooks on 3 Southern Pride smokers using lump charcoal with green hickory and mesquite. We talked about his sources of beef -- Harris Ranch from California -- and about his meat preparation techniques. Shawn shared that his sauces are homemade as well as his sides and desserts.
THE SAUCES
After Shawn left, we sampled the sauces while waiting for our food. He has 5 -- Mango Chipolate, Southern Gold, Sweet & Sassy, Carolina Love, and Carolina Cussin. The Mango Chipolate was excellent, with a real kick at the finish, but a bit too hot for me (I really have no tolerance for heat). The Southern Gold was a mustard sauce -- really good! spicy and bold, but smooth at the same time. The Sweet & Sassy was my favorite, a KC type of sauce but with just a little hint of heat in the finish. The Carolina Love was VERY vinegary and a little hot, a bit too much vinegar for me, but maybe the folks from Carolina would say it was perfect. The Carolina Cussin was also vinegar based with some heat, but more balanced in my mind and very good. Overall, all the sauces were good to excellent.
THE FOOD
Bent will post some pictures of the meats and sides. I though everything looked good. Shawn did tell us later that he gave us extra brisket. When he realized that we knew the difference between the point and the flat, he wanted us to sample both, so we did get a bit more meat than a normal Smokehouse Sampler would have. The sides were just what we ordered.
The Sides
I will review in the order of worst to best.
Mac-n-Cheese -- sorry to say that I did not like this at all. Not real cheesy and it was a bit dry and clumpy/pasty as opposed to a creamy texture that I like. I could not recommend.
Dirt Rice -- I thought it was good, but I am not a connoisseur of dirty rice and have not had that much in my life so not a big data base to compare to.
Beans -- very good. They use the big white Northern beans cooked in a sweet tomato sauce with brisket. A bit heavy on the sauce, but I liked them.
Coleslaw -- very fresh and crispy, very good, but a sweet slaw with no vinegar, so not my preference (I like a vinegar based slaw). With that said, it was a very good slaw and I would eat it anytime. Shawn later asked if we could identify the "mystery" ingredient, which we could not. He then told us it was coconut milk and at that point, we could then taste the hint of it in the sauce. It made it unusual and I think it is what gave it its sweetness. I think most folks would like this slaw even if they do like a vinegar based slaw.
Potato salad -- really, really good. Firm potatoes, sauce was not runny, nice balance of flavours so nothing overpowered. I could recommend this side.
Corn Bread -- only one word for this: OUTSTANDING!!!! If I was condemned to die and given my last meal, this would not only make the menu, it might be the only thing on the menu. I have eaten -- and made -- a lot of cornbread in my time. Nothing touches this cornbread!
The Meats
Again I will put in order of preference.
Ribs -- tender, smokey flavour, not oversauced, but a bit on the dry side. Still, a good solid above average rib.
Pulled Pork -- in all fairness, I have gotten to the point of having eaten and sampled so much pulled pork that I really am not drawn to it anymore. With that said, I thought this was a very good pork. Tender, but firm, you could taste the smokiness. No sauce, so I could sample a few of his sauces on it which I really liked. Again, a very good pork which I think would do well in a competition.
Brisket -- very, very good. The point was "overdone" by competition standards, but I thought that made it great for eating standards!! Tender, juicy, smokey. I would give it an 8 at a KCBS comp. Again, I liked that it only had the rub, no sauce.
Chicken -- really outstanding. Juicy, tender, smokey. I later told Shawn that even though the sauce was very light, I wished it was bare, that is how good this chicken was. Wish I could turn this in at competitions!!!
Dessert
They offer several desserts, but I got the Banana Pudding because it is a bbq classic. They have just added it to the menu and isn't even on the printed dessert menu yet. A huge portion -- easily feed all 3 of us. It was a good, solid banana pudding, but not exceptional. In fairness, it had tiny chocolate chips spread on top and I think that detracted from the pudding. The whipped cream on top was also a bit heavy for me. But good, fresh bananas used and a nice smooth pudding so I don't think most people would be sorry they ordered it -- if they had room!!!
OVERALL IMPRESION
I know most folks are not ever going to get to Culpeper or even near by, but if you do and you would like some good to great bbq, I can unequivocally recommend Shawn's Smokehouse, something I can not say about most bbq places I have visited.
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Topic: BBQ Restaurant Review -- Shawn's Smokehouse, Culpeper, Va (Read 1668 times)