Oakwood Smokehouse – Florida BBQ at its best!

KEVIN:  Aimee and I went to Oakwood Smokehouse shortly after arriving in Florida.  We met a few friends for lunch.  Scott knew that living in New York gave very little opportunities to eat real southern BBQ. We met Scott and Jeremy at the restaurant and when we entered we were promptly seated. The young waiter, I think was named Michael, served us.  He was very laid back and talked with a slow southern drawl.  It kind of made me feel more at home, since I do miss Florida.  I had the special and Aimee had fried shrimp with hush puppies.  I drank sweet tea…and I do mean SWEET!  A better name for the drink should of been Tea Syrup.  I am not complaining…I was in a BBQ joint after all.  Southern BBQ at that!  The ribs were fall off the bone tender, the sliced pork was juicy and the sides were tasty.  The sweet and tangy BBQ sauce served on the side was great.  It was a Memphis-style BBQ sauce.  I enjoyed every bite of it.  Here is a pic of the carnage, mid-meal.

 

AIMEE:  Kevin had been talking about Oakwood for the few days leading up to the trip and he was extra excited to go because he swears he hasn’t had ‘good’ BBQ since he left Florida.  We’ve tried a few BBQ places around here but it’s just not the same for him.  I’m not a real BBQ connoisseur but I planned on being a good sport and ordering some kind of messy bbq with the guys.  When we were seated by our waiter (who was extremely friendly and very laid back) the guys knew EXACTLY what they wanted within a minute or two and I felt pressured to order. Me, being totally BBQ-Clueless I spotted my old standby ‘Fried shrimp’ and went with that.  I didn’t want to order BBQ and end up hating it and wasting money so the shrimp may have been a cop-out but it was a tasty, worth-my-money meal either way!  My meal came with 2 sides so I ordered the mac & cheese and of course corn fritters..  Yes, everywhere I go where they are offered, I get those hush puppies or corn fritters.  These were DEEEEE-LISH!  Even dusted, evilly so, with powdered sugar.  Yeah, maybe the shrimp was just the same ol’ fried shrimp you can get anywhere, but the corn fritters were to die for.  I could have done without the mac & cheese, it was pretty average.  Overall, if it were local, I’d go there again! We both would