Barbecue from the Dirty South

This meal sponsored by **

When people think of food in the South, they almost always immediately think of barbecue. Now, this is a fair argument, since barbecue is made quite well in the South, but it’s not the only food we have. This is why I tried to stay away from doing a Barbecue review until now. I feel like I have shown the full spectrum, and can shine the light on the kings feast that is Dirty South ATL Barbecue.

If you ask someone where Harold’s Barbecue is, most likely you’ll get something like this;

“Hey, where’s Harold’s Barbecue?”
“You mean the place down by the prison?”
“Yeah, where is it?”
“Down by the prison.”
“Thanks.”

Basically, you have to smell your way there. No one knows precisely where it is, but every day for lunch it fills up with business men, workers, and local folks who are lookin for some good, old school, southern style, barbecue.

Once you get there, the menu is a relief. There are very few menu options, and your biggest decision comes when you order your pork chopped or pulled. (There are also some secret options, like inside/outside, which refers to the inside or outside cuts of meat from the roasted pig.) Clearly the most popular option is the large pork plate which comes with a big bowl of spicy, thin soup with huge chunks of meat, cole slaw, and about a suckling pigs worth of meat. On the side you get cracklin’ cornbread (cracklin’ referring to the pieces of pork skin in em), and any true Southerner washes it down with some sweet iced tea that has been poured by the same gray-haired woman for the last 20 someodd years.

On all the tables are two squeeze bottles. One is hot barbecue sauce, and the other; sweet. Personally, I like a lot of both, all over just about everything. Once you’re done dressing your meat to your personal preference, dig in. Once you feel like you’re about to burst, eat some more cornbread and take a sip of your iced tea. Pause. Dig back in. Repeat until finished.

All the meat is either chopped or pulled by hand, right behind the register. You can even see the roaster in the room behind. Everything is made on property, and it absolutely shows.

Don’t let the cars parked out front confuse you. Three quarters of the lot behind the building are either Lexus or Mercedes. The one thing you can’t forget about Harold’s is how to find it. Just follow your nose.

**This is a joke. I don’t want to get any emails starting with “This message is being sent by or on behalf of a lawyer. It is intended exclusively for the individual or entity to which it is addressed. This communication may contain information that is proprietary, privileged or confidential or otherwise legally exempt from disclosure. . .”

Those emails scare me.

Don't be shellfish...