For openers, if you believe the best barbecue is usually found in the worse part of town, in a place with bars on the windows and just enough grease on the table to write your initials, then this isn't it.
If, on the other hand, you're willing to stop at an old gas station (as they used to be called) that has been serving up great cue for 38 years and you believe the proprietor here in the deep South is really named, Jefferson Davis, then you've found Shuford's Bar-B-Q right on the outskirts of Chattanooga and some good eating.
Jeff (as he prefers) started up by not only buying the location but also paying more money than was reasonable for the Shuford's barbecue sauce recipe back when he got started. In today's dollars that'd be a six figure sum. And he still follows that same recipe in a back room of this tiny little shack, stirring a huge mixer with a canoe paddle. Takes 12 hours, he says to brew up 45 gallons. Never thought of Carpel Tunnel as an occupational hazard in a barbecue joint..
But we're getting ahead of ourselves. The guy who has spent a lifetime in pursuit of the perfect barbecue (90+ barbecue reviews on Yelp) found the Shuford Smokehouse just off the highway on Signal Mountain Road. The two gas pumps were removed years ago and the driveway now houses an additional room where folks sometimes have to wait for one of the very few tables.
The prices are reasonable ( $4.35 and $5.35 for regular and jumbo sandwiches); plates range (with a tender green onion for garnish) from $8.35 to $12.95 for a half slab, and they all come with a couple sides. More about that further down.
Of everything sampled, the brisket out paced the pack by a length and a half. Doesn't make the pulled pork, the ribs are the turkey sandwich bad, but rather good - just not as. Too many pittmasters slice away that thin layer of fat atop a slow smoking brisket, leaving the cash paying customer with a piece of perfectly seasoned (in some cases), but very dry meat. Fat (not too much) captures the smoke and keeps the flavor. Shuford's brisket is exceptional.
Pulled pork was moist and with good, but not overwhelming smoke flavor. The turkey sandwich, topped with slaw (more about that later) was likely equally as good. Shuford's Smokehouse (sometimes they call it that) also has ribs, Polish sausage and turkey legs. All on the agenda for next time.
The Brunswick Stew (some folks omit the 'c'), is literally a tomato sauce based stew with a chunk or two of potato and carrots floating around. Different? Yes but very flavorful and clearly a barbecue dish.
The slaw and potato salad are both in the very good to exceptional class. The slaw being finely cut and crisp, not drowning in sugar and mayo. The potato salad has small chunks of potato in a nice mustard based sauce. Were told the fried okra are even better, but too full; to try. Didn't try for the fries or onion rings, smiling lady at the counter honestly answering they came frozen.
Now about that sauce. Not sure what all the ingredients are. Certainly tomato based, likely sorghum or molasses, maybe a touch of clove - and very distinctive. Their regular sauce is on the table and if you ask, they have a "baby" hot sauce and a "good" hot sauce as well.
You don't ask a man who paid a fortune for the recipe what's in his sauce.
And here's the rub: there is none. Jeff Davis (real name, he swears) doesn't believe in rubs. Good meat, cooked slow and low over a bed off season hickory adds all the flavor he says is needed.
Décor? Starts with the first letter in the alphabet and is almost all Alabama. The man has built a barbecue shrine to the Tide. T-shirts are a badge of honor, and Shuford's was good quality, clever design and reasonably priced at $12 per.
Finally, banana pudding. Not just banana pudding, but really, really good banana pudding. As in "don't miss this even if it means not finishing your slaw and potato salad.
Five stars to the place that looks like a barbecue joint ought to, has a true Southerner minding the store and whose food is mighty fine. read more