JB's Smokeshack

On our way out of Charleston, we detoured to Johns Island, a mostly rural farming area of South Carolina with a famous BBQ house called JB's Smokeshack. We weren't sure what to expect, given the rustic-sounding moniker, but they were listed in the New York Times as 'the place' to eat in Charleston. And you know how much Adam loves his BBQ.


We're so glad we went. Our lunch there was easily one of the most incredible experiences of our trip.

The actual dining room was small and clean, filled partly with rough wooden buffet tables. At the door, the fresh-faced man behind the counter informed us that the buffet is the best deal. "Is there any other way?" I wondered incredulously.

What we ate...

Country fried steak (thin pork cutlets fried in yellow corn grits); buttermilk fried chicken legs and a pile of pulled pork. Unlike most of the pulled pork we're used to in Canada, this meat was served all on its own, rather than heaped with sugary sauce. JB says "the flavor is in the meat, the sauce is on the side," and he's not kidding. The meat was succulent and smokey with sweetness from the pork and complexity from the rub. There were plenty of sauces on the table: ones based on mustard and vinegar; Mama's Sweet n' Spicy; a smokier version and a mild one. Adam sampled them all, so you'll have to ask him for the winner.

Anyway, I didn't go much for the meat, but for the sides. In the South, many are still cooked with meat, adding richness to collard greens (which you then douse liberally with 'pepper sauce,' a bottled vinegar stuffed with tiny finger peppers that's known around here as table wine of the South), lima beans and black-eye peas. JB's also offers house made sweet potato 'tater tots'; creamy mac 'n cheese with oversize elbow macaroni and a dark caramelized crust; steamed white rice and Carolina red rice; chunky potato salad laced with egg yolk mayonnaise; a pile of vinegar-dressed coleslaw, flavored with plenty of black pepper; a rough Southern version of chopped salad; whole pickled okra; pickled cucumber spears and the jewel in JB's BBQ crown: dark smokey slow-baked beans. Best beans I've ever had (although my brother's and my Dad's are both still up there).

Desserts were homemade Southern specialties we've been wanting to try: banana (or 'nana) puddin' and chocolate 'dirt' pudding. Also eclair pudding, in which Adam put a big dent.

The grand total for all this, plus huge styromfoam glasses filled with ice and all the cold tea you can drink? Nine dollars per person. 

On our way out the door, they said "Y'all have a good day now." We did, indeed.