I love BBQ. From the smell of the smokers filling the air, to the sweet and spicy homemade sauces. I have written about so many restaurants from Tennessee, Texas, Alabama, North Carolina, and even as far north as Chicago. I was completely surprised to learn that there is a 70 year old BBQ joint in the tiny Florida town of Auburndale. This family run restaurant is a very unassuming on the outside. You could easily pass them and not realize it. You need to make sure to look for the sign for Peebles Bar-B-Q.
When I pulled up, their parking lot was already packed. They are only open Thursday, Friday, and Saturday so that definitely explained why they were so busy. I could only assume that people actually plan their day around a visit.
As I got out of the car I could smell the smokers. There were chimneys on the roof of the restaurant that were pumping out that savory smell.
When I walked in I was greeted by the actual smokers. They were packed with ribs that were in several stages of readiness. It made me so hungry just looking at them.
You can sit wherever you want in the restaurant. There are menus already on the table. Glancing over the meat choices there was beef, pork, chicken, sausage, and of course ribs. They can be ordered as sandwiches, plates, or loaded on top of baked potatoes. Normally I order pulled pork because that is my absolute favorite. However, today I decided to make an effort to try something else.
I went for the chopped BBQ chicken plate. It came with homemade potato salad, coleslaw, and a choice of one other side. Naturally I went with the baked beans. Sometimes I can be so predictable!
The chicken was chopped up into great bite size pieces. I made sure to taste it before I put BBQ sauce on it. There was a fantastic smoky taste to the chicken. There was also still a nice juiciness to the chicken even though it had been smoked.
They offer two different BBQ sauces, an original and a sweet. The original was a little smoky and had a slight spice to it. Since I was not in a spicy mood, I went for the sweet sauce. It paired well with the smoky chicken. It also added additional moisture to the chicken. They include two slices of bread on the side. Once I put the BBQ sauce on the chicken, it was the perfect texture to then make a sandwich.
The baked beans were not sweet at all. They also had a rich, smoky taste. The coleslaw came on the side, but if you wanted to add crunch to a sandwich, adding this was the way to do it. I have noticed that people in Alabama like coleslaw on their BBQ. The homemade potato salad was exactly what you would expect at a 4th of July cookout. There were huge chucks of tender potato mixed with a creamy mayo mixture.
Now this plate I ordered did come with a lot of food, and I ordered the “small” plate. So if you are really hungry they do offer larger portions.
I had visited Peebles with some friends and one of them ordered the loaded baked potato covered in the BBQ pulled pork. It looked really delicious and I got to taste some of it, which I was grateful for. The potato was baked really well; it was tender but not too soft. It was loaded with butter, sour cream, cheddar cheese, and bacon. Then it was piled high with the pulled pork.
The pork also had that great smoky taste. It was moist but did not have a lot of that crunchy bark that I like. The combination of all these ingredients went well with their original BBQ sauce. I think the sweet version would have overpowered all the flavors.
I would never have expected to find this 70 year old restaurant off the beaten path in Florida. I am so glad I heard about them. I would highly recommend checking them out. But remember, they are only open Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. And they close down for the months of July and August (Hey they need to enjoy summer too!).
Check put their website at http://www.peeblesbbq.com/
Enjoy!
T
