Great Food In A Jiffy! - Smokehouse 52, Chelsea, Michigan

Chelsea, Michigan. This little town is the home of Jiffy Mixes, The Purple Rose Theater,and one of the tastiest barbecue places I have been to in Michigan, Smokehouse 52.  We first heard about this restaurant from my wife's friend from work.  It took us a couple of weeks to get there, but once we tried it, we were happy that we did!
  The restaurant is located on the main drag of downtown Chelsea, which happens tobe M52.  Look for the cow hanging on the corner of the building.  We went on a Saturday afternoon and there was no wait.  The hostesses and wait staff .were superb. The building the restaurant is in, is an older building complete with brick walls,metal ceiling,and large beams.
  I ordered the half rack of ribs, pit beans and cole slaw. A choice of two sides came with our meal. Rebbel chose the fried chicken and house made chips.  She also got the macaroni and cheese, which was a signature side and well worth the little extra it cost.
  My ribs were outstanding.  The baby backs had a nice, smokey taste with a little pull coming off the bone. They are smoked on site for 18 hours.  There is a choice of sauces on the table to add to the meat, but after tasting these ribs, you may opt for no added sauce! My sides were hearty and delicious. There was also a slice of Jiffy cornbread to go along with it!
  Rebbel's chicken was outstanding too. Buttermilk dipped chicken breasts that were drizzled with honey.  We usually don't go for chicken breast meat because we prefer the juicier dark meat.   This chicken was so tender and juicy,and fried to golden perfection,  that we would order them again. The house made chips were fried crispy and crunchy and were a perfect side dish.They really ought to bag these and sell them, the are that good. Rebbel knows her mac and cheese.  It is rare for her to like anybody;s macaroni and cheese,  but she loved theirs. It was cheesy and was a good sized portion.  In fact the portions of all the food was big enough for left overs later on
  The food we had was all made with lots of care. It is a rare to find a restaurant like this.  I would trust them ith just about anything on their menu, and will be back to try other dishes.  You can find them on the web at: https://www.sh52bbq.com/

South Carolina; Land of Trees, and Yellow Barbeque - Maurice's Gourmet Barbeque

On our way back from sunny Florida, we traveled through not as sunny South Carolina.
On the Interstate, we mostly observed pine trees. I don't know exactly what South Carolina is hiding, but obviously there is something they don't want you to see.
As we were coming into Columbia, there were less trees and more billboards. The one my wife noticed was for Maurice's Barbeque. We were going to eat at another place for lunch, but she really wanted to try this place. We thought that he had been showcased on the Food Network on regional barbeques, but we weren't sure. I could tell she really wanted to try it out by the way her tongue was hanging from her mouth. I told her that maybe we could share a sandwich and still try the lunch place.
Now I have to admit, the first time I heard the name, I thought to myself, "What would a guy named Maurice know about barbeque. Maybe French cooking, or something like that, but not barbecue." She went in and came out with the sandwich. It smelled very good, but something wasn't right. The sauce was yellow. That's right, yellow! It turns out that Maurice uses a mustard based sauce that is popular in South Carolina.
It turned out to be the best barbeque sandwich I ever tasted. My wife was so crazy over the sauce, she ordered a case of it when we got home. Maurice's turned out to be the highlight of the day. I can't even remember where we ended up eating lunch, but our 'snack" was definately memorable. The sign was correct. "Maurice's Barbeque makes you happy." Happy indeed. You can find out more about them and order sauce at:
http://www.mauricesbbq.com/

You Have Reached You Destination, Sort Of - Bubbalou's Bodacious Bar B Que - Orlando, Florida

On our recent trip to Florida over Christmas vacation, my wife and Grand kids were very hungry after our excursion to Universal. Rebbel had planned a few places out in advance that she had seen on t.v. We had discussed going to a barbecue place called Bubbalou's Bodacious Bar b que, but after spending close to $40.00 on four cheeseburgers, fries and drinks at Universal, we decided to just go to Pizza Hut, after all we were tired and hungry and didn't know where exactly this Bubbalou's was located.

Before the trip we bought a Tom Tom One XL, so I plugged in Pizza Hut as a Point Of Interest.

We had already left the Orlando area and were making our way down Florida's Turnpike. The GPS took us back what seemed like for miles. Of course time always go by slow when you have hungry Grand kids in the backseat and a hungrier wife driving.

We finally got to where Tom Tom sent us. There was that English lady saying "you have reached your destination." (We have the English lady because she sounds a lot more pleasant than the other voices and less bossy.) We looked all over the place and there was no Pizza Hut.

We pulled in to this shopping center's parking lot and what did we see??? Bubbalou's Bodacious Bar b que!! We decided that we were supposed to eat there and so we did!

The ribs were delicious. They had a smokey flavor and were tender. The prices were reasonable and service pretty good. I would still put Oakwood first, but these were good ribs too. So if you are ever in the Orlando Area, just put Pizza Hut into your Tom Tom and let it take you to Bubbalou's. They have at least three locations, we still don't know which one we were at, and you can check them out on the web at http://www.bubbalous.com/.