Friday, May 6, 2016

BBQ for Lunch – Galax Virginia

As we continued our drive along US Hwy. 58 in SW Virginia, lunch time approached…but I had a plan!


Since the best BBQ we’ve been able to find near where we live in East Tennessee is the mobile smoker that sets up in front of the Food City locations in our area, we’re always on the prowl seeking quality BBQ when were on the road…

This is Galax Smokehouse in Galax Virginia.  This restaurant is located in a nice looking building in the center of town. 



The interior of Galax Smokehouse is expansive, clean and decorated with photos and a collection of kitsch, especially in the pig format!  There is a full bar at the back of the restaurant and it was fairly busy given the fact that it was after 2 PM by the time we arrived.


I ordered the Boneless Rib Tips. ($13.50) This half-pound plus of meat was accompanied by a hunk of bread, some decent coleslaw, some very nice baked beans and 2 small but tasty hush puppies.

The rib tips were plentiful and they were better than average.  Our only issue was with the too runny (for us) vinegar based BBQ sauce.  We like sauce that adheres better to the meat and which provides more ‘heat’.  It’s just our personal preference.

Notes:

·       Galax has a population of around 7,000.  The Appalachian Trail goes right down the middle of Main Street. (Now I can say that I’ve ‘hiked’ part of the Trail) The New River Trail State Park, a 57 mile long multi-use trail also goes right through town.  Galax is also the home of the annual “Old Fiddlers Convention”, a major annual event that started back in 1935!


Laurie ordered the Half Slab of Ribs. ($15.50) Her meal came with that hunk of bread, a couple of hush puppies and some corn nuggets.  For her sides she ordered the house fried potatoes (homemade potato chips) and green beans.
 
The ribs were nice and meaty and she had to ‘work’ the meat off the bones.  That’s our preference!  She really liked the potato chips, those corn nuggets and even the green beans!… It was too much food for her, so I ‘had’ to help her with the ribs and potato chips.  She even let me have one of those corn nuggets and the bread!  They can best be described as corn and cream sauce fried in batter… Yum!

Galax Smokehouse is well worth the stop if you’re anywhere in the vicinity.  This isn’t the best BBQ ever but it is better than average and its far better than what we can find in the Knoxville area.  Galax Virginia is only 10 miles west of I-77.  Address: 101 North Main Street.  Phone: 276-236-1000.  Website: www.thegalaxsmokehouse.com.  

Just click on any of the photos to enlarge them…

Thanks for stopping by for a big lunch!

Take Care, Big Daddy Dave


4 comments:

  1. This is some good eating, for sure! It all looks delicious! Wish we had a good restaurant for BBQ near us, but we know they're all down your way. And I love hush puppies! Took them for granted when growing up in the South, but most folks here don't even know what they are, much less see them on a menu here! Now I'm hungry for BBQ this morning.

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  2. I like Laurie’s meal – looks very yummy. When I saw that you stopped in Galax I thought “I wonder if it is the same town as my record.” When I met my husband in San Francisco he introduced me to folk music and also bluegrass. I bought a 33 LP from the fiddlers’ convention in Galax and listened to it very much. I don’t know from what year the convention was but I bought the record in the mid 1960s, a Folkways recording, and the music was excellent. When we drive in the South I often like to listen to bluegrass music. We do have some very good BBQ places around Atlanta – but I like the ribs from one restaurant, the beans from another and the Brunswick Stew from another. If I had the time I buy each item from each restaurant then bring everything home and have a super BBQ, but I don’t …

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  3. What a nice looking place and the food looks delicious!

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  4. Dear Dave, I like the ribs on the bone; so I would go with Laurie's meal.
    It all looks pretty good though.

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