Backyard Barbecue was a BBQ restaurant in Soddy-Daisy near the lake. We enjoyed our meal there. Unfortunately, it closed just a couple of months after this review.
There’s a little spot near Soddy Lake that’s been a produce stand for as long as I can remember. I recall going there often as a little girl with my mom as she would buy tomatoes, squash, okra…of course, she knew the owners and they knew us. Small town connections. Anyway, a few years back half of that building was occupied by a restaurant. It’s been a couple of different places, but not all that long ago a BBQ joint, Backyard Barbecue, that had been in Daisy near Wal-Mart (in the old Delia’s location) moved in.
The owner of Backyard Barbecue contacted me a while back via the blog and invited me in. I had every intention of getting there before now, but I’ll be honest…I forget about it when I’m trying to think of somewhere to go. A friend texted me a few weeks ago to tell me that she had enjoyed her meal there, and my sister texted me the same thing this past week. I didn’t have anywhere else in mind for this weekend, so Philip and I decided to head over and get some barbecue.
There were no other patrons in Backyard Barbecue when we arrived around 12:30 or 1:00 on Saturday. The owners’ daughter took our order and promised us that we wouldn’t be disappointed with our meal. The joint is owned by a husband/wife pair; the man wasn’t there when we arrived but came in while we were eating. The lady heard us tell their daughter that we hadn’t been in before and brought us samples of the baked beans and potato salad, which she said were both recipes her husband had developed, to taste.
I didn’t take pictures of the potato salad or the beans; I guess I should have. In the spirit of full disclosure, I’ll tell you that I wasn’t too sure about the beans. They definitely don’t look like your run-of-the-mill baked beans…they are very dark in color, contain ground meat, and look more like chili than baked beans. I was a little suspicious but needn’t have been. They were delicious! They didn’t taste like run of the mill baked beans either, but I am not really a huge fan of baked beans so that was okay with me. They were sweet, tangy, and just a little bit spicy. The potato salad was actually very similar to the loaded baked potato salad I make (spoiler alert: I already have this recipe ready to post this Wednesday. Coincidence!) with red-skinned potatoes, bacon, and green onions. It was delicious as well. Neither of us ordered beans or potato salad to go with our meals, but we definitely will next time (and you should too!).
I considered getting a sandwich but decided instead to get a platter-meat, 2 sides, a roll, and sauce. I opted for brisket with fries and fried okra. They slice or shred the meat when it is ordered as opposed to having the meat already prepped ahead, allowing the meat to be served as fresh and moist as possible. The brisket was rubbed with a delicious, slightly spicy rub that I assume is made in-house and sliced thinly with the fat cap still intact. It was moist and delicious. Instead of drizzling the sauce on my meat, I decided to dip my meat into the sauce. The sauce was housemade…it was a thin sauce, not thick and tomatoey as you typically find around here. It was sweet and tangy and a little spicy, but not too much so. The fries were skin-on and appeared handcut; they were available seasoned or plain and I went for seasoned. The seasoning was a delicious rub. The fried okra was pretty standard for a barbecue joint-pretty sure it was frozen but it wasn’t bad. The roll was also pretty nondescript. I wish I had tried the honey cornbread that was listed as an available addition.
Philip decided to get the pork shoulder platter with slaw and fried okra. He was served a generous portion of pork shoulder that had been shredded. It had plenty of “bark” (the delicious dark bits from the outside of the smoked meat) mixed in and it was moist and flavorful. The slaw was a little sweeter than we would have liked. As I mentioned before, when we go back we will order potato salad and baked beans as our sides.
As I read reviews on Tomato (formerly known as Urbanspoon), as I typically do before visiting a restaurant, I noted that a few people said it was pricey. At $24 for two platters and two waters, it might be a little pricier than most barbecue joints in town but not too much so. Some also complained about the wait time. We didn’t have to wait long but there wasn’t anyone else in there while we were waiting. Since they prep everything as it is ordered, I could see how thing might be a little slower going on a busy night. If you are in a hurry, you might want to order ahead. The food was very tasty, though, and the people were very nice, so I’d encourage you to try Backyard Barbecue out for yourself!
Backyard Barbecue is located at 11210 Dayton Pike, Soddy-Daisy, TN, 37379. You can call them at (423) 457-9547. They are open from 11-8, Tuesday-Saturday. They do not have a website, but you can like Backyard Barbecue on Facebook.
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