Phoebe's BBQ: Soulful and Affordable

My little brother married a Southern belle from Charleston who also happened to be an Army brat.

His father-in-law has spent most of his life in the Air Force. What I found out much later was that his father-in-law is quite the pitmaster and cook. The day after the 180-guest formal wedding, his in-laws and Air Force buddies prepared a barbecue feast that could have easily fed 200 people at the Air Force base in Charleston.

It was awesome. Make no mistake, I love barbecue. It doesn't matter if it's Carolina style, (vinegar based sauce), Texas style, (tomato based barbecue sauce), or Korean, (soy sauce, sugar, onion, sesame oil, ginger and garlic), I love it all. I was overjoyed when my editor suggested Phoebe's barbecue for my next review.

is on a nondescript stretch of road. It is not in a heavily populated area. It appears to be housed in a renovated industrial warehouse evidenced by the sky-high ceilings and large doorways. I liked the open air feel of the dining area. 

I went in and pored over the menu and decided on the pulled pork sandwich platter (1/3 lb on kaiser roll with cole slaw and sauce, $5.49), and side sampler (3 sides and corn bread, $9.49).

The pulled pork was tender and delicious. It was even better with a healthy dose of the "X marks the hot" sauce. The original sauce is quite sweet while I felt like the "X" sauce was just more interesting and had more going on. I'm not saying that one is better or worse. I think it's a matter of preference. I wasn't a huge fan of the cole slaw. I wanted more acid and more salt. 

The side sampler was fantastic. I chose the "bar-b-q beans," grandma's macaroni and cheese and the sneaky spicy greens. The beans are most definitely not vegetarian. There are big chunks of bacon throughout which added so much flavor.

The beans were well cooked, smoky, salty, sweet and delicious. I loved them. The macaroni and cheese was pretty good. It was not super cheesy and decadent. The sneaky spicy (collard) greens had a good amount of heat. You could see the chili flakes dispersed throughout.

I enjoyed these very much, but I am Korean and love spicy food. The corn bread was quite dense and also on the sweeter side. A friend from Alabama once told me that traditional Southern corn bread is not sweet at all. He actually said that Northerners add so much sugar that it turns into a "corn cake." Well, he would have called the corn bread here, "corn cake" as well. I actually liked it but it is better with plenty of butter.

The food at Phoebe's is good; there's a ton of love in the preparation. There are numerous dining options for one to 10 people. Be sure to keep an eye out for lunch specials, dinner deals and meal deals as they are all quite cost effective.

I had a great lunch there the other day and had plenty of food for leftovers (the side sampler was even better re-heated). The last time I had spicy greens was at my brother's wedding after-party. His father-in-law's secret ingredient was jalapenos. Well I guess it wasn't so secret, but the Jack Daniels in his BBQ sauce was. Oops! I let the cat out of the bag. I hope he doesn't get mad.

Nah, barbecue is usually quite friendly, unless you touch their grill. I'll never forget when I asked my brother's enormous brother-in-law (260 lbs, 6'3") if he ever helped his dad with barbecue and he replied with the fear of God in his eyes, "Oh no... I'm not allowed to touch my Dad's grill"

At Phoebe's you don't have to worry about grill etiquette, since they do all the work for you. You just have to arrive hungry. You can BYOB too if you'd like.