I’ve been meaning to write this recommendation for almost a year. I
know, because it was December 23rd last year when, after several
visits to Ronnie’s Barbecue in Johnson City, I decided that the place
definitely deserves some blog love.
I know it was December 23rd, because Ronnie and
his family were closing up early for the holiday. They hadn’t sold out of
sliced brisket that day, but they had switched the “Open” sign on their window
off (I hadn’t noticed) and were wrapping up their remaining meat and sides.
But they didn’t complain when I walked in—instead, they
cheerfully unwrapped what they had and sold me a sliced brisket sandwich, with
jalapeños, and a slice of chess pie. And they didn’t complain about the fact
that I missed another sign, on the door, saying that their credit card system
was down and that they were only accepting checks, cash, and debit cards.
I didn’t have checks, cash, or a debit card. “That’s okay,”
Ronnie told the girl working the register. “I’m sure this gentleman will pay us
on his next visit.”
That was very cool, but I’m not recommending Ronnie’s just because of their
hospitality. It’s like this: I’ve eaten two barbecue sandwiches in my life that
I would call revelatory. One was a pulled pork sandwich in West Memphis, bought
on an Oklahoma to Atlanta road trip with my grandmother and her cat, in the
summer of 2009. The other was the
sliced brisket sandwich at Ronnie’s.
Go there, amigos.
No comments:
Post a Comment