BBQ Wagon, Bryson City, NC
We were all in attendance tonight. It was a very hot, very humid day. We are in the middle of a heat wave apparently. We were anticipating sitting inside the cool, air conditioned restaurant.

It was also hot in the BBQ Wagon in the front. But once you got to the back where the tables were, it was nice and cool.

BBQ WAGON SIGN AND YARD DECOR

The BBQ Wagon is locally owned and operated. Monty Monteith owns it and the old A&P, which is now the IGA. Monty used to own and operate the sawmill at Hyatt Creek and Ela. The sawmill is no longer in operation. The BBQ Wagon has been open for several years and I have always heard good reviews about the restaurant. The decor is kitschy with movie and music posters and autographed photos of mostly country singers. Wood abounds in the Wagon. The place is clean, homey and the staff very friendly and accommodating.  They have seating inside and out if you want to sit and watch the river below. The place is usually packed on the weekends, but crowded on the weeknights and during lunch. They certainly do a brisk business.

The BBQ Wagon  offers a large selection including platters, sandwiches, and non BBQ fare like corndogs, fry bread. They also have several sided to chose from including french fries, onion rings (which are quite tasty), baked beans, potato salad, fruit salad (also quite tasty), slaw among others. It will take you awhile to decide what to order as there is a wide selection of pulled pork, ribs, sliced beef, chicken, beef, brisket, and more.

FRONT COUNTER

You place your order at the front counter and then go have a seat. Your number will be called when your order is ready. You get your own drink.
You know.. BBQ is probably the only food that possesses the ability to divide a  country, states, and even families. It creates disagreements, divides regions...  there are entire TV programs devoted to it. /There are  fairs, festivals and competitions solely to praise it, offer it to the public for judging, and prizes (mostly bragging rights) for the winners. Secret recipes are guarded with sealed lip and locked boxes with family recipes are passed down in wills.  There are chefs that not only specialize in cooking it, but will cook only it. Entire reputations are built around offering the best. It comes in countless varieties - chicken, beef, pork and fights have broken out over the best way to cook it - slow roasted, sealed up and grilled for days, smoked, braised, injected, not injected, tinfoil, uncovered, skin on, skinned. Then you can pull it, cut it, slice it, ribs or in slabs. That doesn't even cover the endless number of sauces- spicy, sweet, hot, vinegary, blazing hot, honey based, pepper (and that is another discussion) based, three mile island hot, and just plain Chernobyl hot.
And yet..it doesn't require any special, exotic, rare ingredients to produce. It is really just meat and sauce. But there are still bona fide, devote followers who will not hesitate to set you straight on what is the best way to prepare, cook and eat BBQ. Maybe it is just as simple as the statement that Sippsy said "Secrets in the sauce."

While we were waiting on our meal, we examined the decor. Therein started the conversation about Elvis. I have not met anyone yet who does not like Elvis. I am sure there are some out there.. but I guess its like BBQ. Its just plain UnAmerican to admit you don't like it.

THE REAL ELVIS.... 

CHRIS MONTEITH = OWNERS SON... 

As you can see from above, there is Elvis memorabilia on the walls. In addition, there is a photo of Chris Monteith, who is an Elvis impersonator. He has been doing this for many years and is quite good. Based on the reactions I've seen him elicit at shows.... the ladies sure seem to like him.
We talked alot about Elvis. His choice in spouses, Graceland, which one we like better. Lisa liked the black leather jumpsuit Elvis. I like the Movie, late 50's Elvis. I have not been to Graceland, but would like to go. I offered up the suggestion that we make a pilgrimage to Graceland for the annual convention. All the Designing Women girls and Anthony too made this pilgrimage, with the original idea being Charlene's. She was naturally in seventh heaven. As you can tell, I am a big fan of Designing Women. It is much funnier now than when I used to watch it in the 80's. It did not dawn on me back then how controversial this show could have been. Topics were current, and often stimulated lively dialogues. Those women covered topics such as AIDS, Breast Cancer, Affairs, Divorce, Premarital Sex, Racial Equality, Women's Rights such as equal pay, career vs. homemaker, Mental Incompetency, Spousal Death, Pornography, Women as Sex Symbols and the list goes on. If  you have not watched this show, it still airs. Susan Sugarbaker is the funniest damn woman I have ever seen on TV... next to Bernice.

There was also one advertisement that Pam couldn't quite understand. It was for vegetables. Ill let you decide.

WHAT DOES THAT WOMAN'S LEG IN THE AIR HAVE TO DO WITH VEGETABLES? 

We got our meal in a short time and we each ordered something different. I ordered the BBQ sliced beef plate. I ordered it with Okra, and slaw. It came with hushpuppies. Not being a BBQ connoisseur, I wanted to try the BBQ, but didn't really know the difference between all the selections. I ordered something I had not tried before. (Don't tell anyone..but I really don't like BBQ). I KNOW!!!!! That statement always elicits gasps when I say it.

BBQ SLICED BEEF PLATE


Greg ordered the BBQ Combo plate, which was beef and pork He also chose Okra and slaw.  He also ordered Onion Rings. 

BBQ COMBO PLATE - BEEF AND PORK


Lisa ordered the Beef Brisket Hoagie with Fried, Slaw and Fruit Salad.  I have had the Fruit Salad before, and it is quite  yummy. I don't care for Fries that are that big.. but having the declared food issues that I have.. I only eat one kind of fries. Eating Fries that big is like eating a baked potato to me. 

BBQ BEEF BRISKET SANDWICH PLATE

Pam ordered the pulled pork sandwich plate with fries and slaw. She also ordered onion rings.

The BBQ Wagon's claim to fame is their Onion Rings. So we had to try them. Actually, I 've had them before. They are good. The are large, not greasy, lightly breaded. Not frozen tasting at all. Unlike the little uniformly round flat tasting rings at other places.

DID HE KNOW HE WOULD BE FAMOUS?? 

While we were talking and laughing, one of the patrons was leaving after his meal. He was so caught up in our conversation, that he wanted to be part of it. We didn't get his name;  probably a tourist, but he was very  sweet and joked along with us. He must have enjoyed his meal too! He looks happy, huh? 


After we received our meal, we had to decide which house sauce to load on. There is quite a selection to chose from. I liked them all, but chose to put gold on my beef. They all had good flavor and the hot/spicy is not TOO our the top. Greg likes hot stuff to the point you can't taste your meal. I like hot flavor..not just heat. 

HONEY, SWEET, GOLD, MILD, HOT & SPICY, TEXAS PETE, VINEGAR

 Everyone seemed to enjoy their meal as evidenced by the empty plates. The O rings were a bit greasy. More so than previous times I had eaten there. Not bad.. just a little. The hushpuppies were also dry with no flavor. This was also different than previous meals. My sliced beef was very tasty. Everyone's plate was served very generous portions. All in all, we had a satisfying meal and would return. 
After the meal, I took a coupe of photos in the room where we sat. As you can see... lots of country decor. BUT!! no blue or pink ducks. Remember those? They were everywhere for awhile. Now and again, you will still see one of those ugly critters somewhere. 

Whenever I see this much stuff collected in a restaurant.. I always wonder if they dust it? I  know in some they don't as you can see the cobwebs, dust bunnies and layers of dust. I always think about dust falling in my food off the decor. Maybe that's just me.

Pam's question of the week was prompted by the Colorado wildfires, where so many folks lost everything they had. She asked if our house was getting ready to be burnt to the ground and we could only take one thing out of our house, what would it be? The pets apparently have already been saved, so we dont' have to pick one of those.
Lisa chose her moma's medicine book, which is very old and kept under lock and key. It has old timey herbal remedies for ailments. Pam selected a tape which has her grandma's voice on it. I could not choose as I have several family heirlooms and if I picked one, then I would lose the others. I finally chose the quilt my grandma made me. Its the Little Dutch Girl pattern. It is kept in a cedar trunk, wrapped up. Greg chose the Pendleton blanket his grandma gave us for our wedding.

I also had a question for the group. This question was prompted by some of the TV show ads I had seen recently. Why is it that men are obsessed with finding how many different ways they can utilize to hit each other in the nether regions? I have never seen anything like it. Is it just in America or does this strange phenomena occur in other countries? There are just hundreds of home videos on TV lately that show men/boys, being as creative as possible with only one goal in mind... to hit each other in the privates. What is that about? Are they hoping if they hit each other hard enough little candies will fall out like a pinata? Or do they hate children so much they are subconsciously trying to eliminate their ability to reproduce? What is the big deal about? I mean.. you NEVER see women vidoetaping themselves hitting each other with homemade bombs, projectiles, or explosive devices in their hooha's or the boobs for that matter. I have never in all my years felt the desire to hit another woman in her crotch or grab it.
Maybe that explains why men think everyone else is obsessed with their junk. And can't figure it out when they realize we are not focused on them. If anyone has an explanation, let me know.

Anyway... we also talked about books we had or were reading. I have one recommendation. Jim Harrison's "The Road Home." Excellent. Also anything by Willa Cather. "Antonia, Antonia is fantastic. Pam likes Willa too. I just finished reading "The Invisible Wall" by Harry Bernstein. This is a true story and the author was 96 when he wrote it. Great book about a small English village during WWI, that struggles with Jewish families on one side of the street and Christian families on the other separated by the invisible wall  of racial prejudice. Fabulous book. I also just finished "Camp", by Michael D. Eisner. Michael has worked in the entertainment industry for over 40 yrs, the last 21 as chief executive officer of The Walt Disney Company. As a child growing up in Vermont, he attended camp at Keewaydin, a summer camp that was a family tradition. This is a recount of his experience at Keewaydin, from his first nights as a boy to his time spent as a counselor and his return as a father of the next generation of Keewaydin campers. His family also started a scholarship program to provide this summer camp experience to selected young boys and girls from the Los Angeles area. It is a very sweet memoir that brings back memories of my own time spent in summer camp. A great experience that every child should have the chance to participate in.

Well, we just about closed down the joint. Next week was Yummy Yummy, the Chinese restaurant in Bryson. BUT! since this is one of Lisa's favorite restaurants and she has a work commitment, we decided to wait until the following week. So... instead, we will meet this Thursday, July 5th at Sazone at 6:30. Come join us! On July 12th, we will reconvene at Yummy Yummy! Same time- 6:30. Come on and eat with us.. you never know what turns the conversation will take.