To many, the art of perfectly crafted barbecue is a tradition of unwritten recipes and family secrets passed down through generations. It means hours spent watching smoke rise from the roasting pig, adding spice and season until the meat drips with mouthwatering juices and is perfectly tenderized in all the right places. Following this ritual — with a 21st century culinary twist — is the newly opened Southern Belly BBQ.
“People seem to have a real affection for barbecue. They really hunt it out, and there are some serious connoisseurs about their meat,” said owner Jimmy Phillips. “Something about slow-cooked meat just seems to bring out a primal interest in people.”
Known previously as “The Rolling Stone Bar,” The Southern Belly sits tucked between a lush canopy of green trees and the bustling roadway that is Rosewood Drive.
The small, painted building boasts a wide front porch adorned with heavy hanging ferns and roughly hewn plank benches. The handful of dark wooden tables are topped with crystal tumblers full of handpicked flowers, and red-and-white checkered napkins were weighed down with heavy stones to keep them from blowing away in the warm spring breeze. And it’s hard to miss the porcelain commode planted right outside, recycled to house a spray of brightly blossoming wildflowers.
This concept of taking the ordinary and transforming it into the extraordinary makes up one of the largest layers of the Southern Belly metaphorical sandwich.
“We’re trying to create our own niche here,” Phillips said as the soft sounds of Sam Cooke played over the outdoor loudspeaker.
“We’re going with the same model of where you can have a sandwich the way you want it, and I want to focus solely on creating delicious barbecue that’s good to eat on its own.”
While the full-service bar still invites guests inside for a cold one after a long day, that brew has now found its perfect mate: a steaming hot barbecue sandwich piled high with all the fixin’s. But this isn’t your grandmother’s typical plate. Phillips, who spent plenty of research time last winter traveling to pulled-pork capitals like Georgia and Tennessee in search of the perfect pig, collaborated with chef Abby Rose to come up with the Belly’s unique and unexpected menu combinations.
There are seven sauces to choose from on the menu, not to mention a number of fresh toppings like jalapenos, grilled pineapple and applewood bacon. While there are the typical (if slightly tweaked) mustard, vinegar and tomato-based recipes that go hand-in-hand with classic barbecue cooking, there are also sauces like the Yum Yum, which fuses Asian flavors with remoulade. The Asada Vinaigrette blends together Afro-Caribbean and South American tastes to create a light, tangy sauce.
Now it’s time to get to the meat of the menu. Diners can select from eight unusually delicious barbecue sandwiches. Phillips said the most popular item right now is the Django ($9.50), a traditional barbecue treat piled high with pepper jack cheese, bacon, grilled onions, jalapenos and roasted red peppers. The stuffed sandwich has thick chunks of meat brimming from nearly every side and oozes juiciness with every bite — at times, the spicy Sherman sauce is not even necessary. Other sandwiches include the Castro ($8.50), a variation on the traditional Cuban, with Caribbean barbacoa melted together with pickles, banana peppers, swiss cheese and the King Midas mustard-based sauce. For a more tropical flavor, dig in to the King Kahuna sandwich ($9.25) with grilled pineapple, Maui onions, bacon and Yum Yum sauce on Hawaiian sweet bread. Each plate is served with a hearty helping of potato chips and cole slaw.
Though they’ve only been smoking stacks of pork for two weeks now, Phillips said he has been experimenting with different meats and flavorings for some time. He said they slow cook about two Boston Butts a day, smoking for about 12 to 16 hours with unconventional ingredients like Fiji apples and sweet onions to add that special zest.
”It looks just beautiful coming out of the oven,” he said with a laugh.
Everything is cooked daily from scratch, using as many humanely raised meats and organic products as possible. Still in the experimental phase with executive chef Zach Andrews, Phillips said he’s OK with things not being overwhelmingly busy — yet. One day, he said, he hopes to see a bar lined up with people chowing down on delectable barbecue sandwiches.
“If you want great barbecue tomorrow, you have to start planning today; it doesn’t take a lot to add a little extra effort,” Phillips explained. “We want people to get really creative and have fun with their sandwich. We’re really proud of the food we’re putting out there.”
The Southern Belly is located at 1332 Rosewood Drive and is open Monday through Saturday from 11 a.m. to 2 a.m.