Tuesday, April 1, 2014

The Search for Louisville Barbeque: Mark's Feed Store

I love barbeque. I’m not highbrow about it, and my tastes are a source of mockery for some (looking at you, Alan!), but I know what I like: pulled pork with a tangy sweet tomato-based sauce. I have heard it called Kansas City-style barbeque, and if that’s the case then KC has it best. I am also a major fan of great baked beans, so any time I eat at a bbq joint, I’m investigating the beans too. You can’t get a top score without great beans, which in my world means this: thick, tangy sweet beans with a smoky note, preferably with at least a little chopped meat in them. Other sides and the bread come in for their own notice – for example, Jim ‘N Nick’s in Birmingham has amazing corn muffins.

Barbeque is a family affair – my brother Alan Cornett at Pinstripe Pulpit has been doing a bbq survey of his own, mostly in northern Alabama. His example has spurred me to do a bbq survey of Louisville and possibly its environs, seeking bbq bliss. Oh, the things I do for you!

I went to Mark’s Feed Store, a chain based in Louisville, when I first moved to Louisville over two years ago. I was NOT very impressed, and despite living almost across the road from one of their restaurants, I had not been back. Until last night. I decided I would start my survey there, and give them a second chance.

As the name implies, Mark’s Feed Store has a country theme. The one I went to, in Middletown, is a gray wood frame building with a porch. The inside is welcoming, with wooden pew-like booths, wooden chairs, and blue and white checked vinyl tablecloths. Each table comes with three bottles of sauce: the original yellow vinegar-based sauce, a hot tomato based sauce, and their “red” sauce, a take on the standard tomato-based sweet bbq sauce. The waiter was friendly and the food arrived quickly and hot. I chose the pork dinner with two sides and Texas toast; my sides were baked beans and baked apples. The meat came in a little paper dish, with the sides in small white plastic bowls, all arranged on a metal cookie-sheet type pan lined with waxed paper.
 

The meat was pulled pork, and I decided to try it without sauce first. It nearly melted in my mouth. Emboldened, I poured some of the sweet red bbq sauce onto the waxed paper – not on the meat, in case I didn’t like it. The sauce was a little thin for my tastes, but as it turned out the flavor was okay. Not great – acceptable. It tasted tomato-y, a bit sweet, but with an afterburn, which did not make me happy. I didn’t try the original or hot sauces, because I knew I wouldn’t like them.

The sides were both quite good. The beans were flavored like the bbq sauce, with the same sweet taste and mild afterburn, and little flecks of meat enhanced the flavor. The apples were like a chunky cinnamon applesauce, a nice counterpoint to the bean and bbq sauce afterburn. The Texas toast was standard, good but not special. I was too full for dessert, but I may go back just for the homemade buttermilk pie, which sounds amazing.

Overall, I would give Mark’s a 7 out of 10. The meat was melt-in-your-mouth tender, with a good flavor – the best feature of the meal. The beans were good, above average but not fabulous. The apples were standard fare, like what you would get buying a jar of Cracker Barrel baked apples. If you’re hungry for bbq, but don’t want to work for it, Mark’s is a reasonable option. But, for me, it isn’t a destination bbq.

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