Smokin' Southern eats in at Dowd's and Barrel No. 51 in Tacoma

Southern barbecue and the Northwest aren’t exactly synonymous.

Finding restaurants here that serve slow-and-low authentic Southern-style smoked meats is akin to finding El Salvadoran or French restaurants in the South Sound. They’re a rare find, and as soon as you find a good one, you should visit often to keep it smokin’.

Here are two new barbecue restaurants serving ribs, pulled pork and other classic Southern barbecue. Both were featured on the TNT Diner blog. Want me to check out your favorite barbecue restaurant? Visit the TNT Diner blog and give your recommendation.

DOWD’S BBQ & SOUTHERN CUISINE

Where: 10505 S. Steele St., Tacoma (inside the Union 76 station)

Info: 253-830-2086

There are certain things I never would eat from a gas station. Sushi is at the top of that list, along with deviled eggs. I remember stopping at a gas station once and seeing “homemade lunch meat” haphazardly wrapped in plastic. It looked terrifying.

But on occasion, gas stations yield unexpected surprises. Dowd’s BBQ & Southern Cuisine was my recent discovery. The tiny barbecue restaurant is in the back corner of the Union 76 gas station on Steele Street. A handful of tables offer seating for dining in.

The restaurant is fledgling and rubs rough around the edges. Counter help seemed easily flustered. A wait on a moderately busy afternoon stretched to 45 minutes for a small take-out order.

But you might forgive them for being s-l-o-w once you taste the pork ribs. Properly cooked ribs taste sublime, and Dowd’s understands how to smoke pork. The ribs were juicy with a tender bite. The supple pork slid right off the bone with little nudging. Tinged with pink, the meat was subtly smoky underneath a vinegary molasses sauce. It was a bargain at $6.99, which included baked beans and potato salad.

I wish I could give a glowing report about the pulled pork sandwich ($6.99 with two sides). The sauce tasted burnt, the meat was dry and chewy. The sandwich also cannot be ordered without sauce, which is disappointing for those who like their pork pure and simple.

Brisket ($7.95) looked promising, as did rib tips ($6.99/$8.95). Fish and chicken also are on the menu.

For sides, house-made macaroni and cheese was more pasta than cheese, but I appreciated the taste of real cheddar. (Processed cheese should be outlawed in mac and cheese.) The baked beans carried mustard pucker, but the texture reminded me of canned. The cole slaw was an unusual preparation – a very sweet thin mayo dressing barely kissed the crispy chopped cabbage.

BARREL NO. 51 BARBECUE

Where: 1222 S. 38th St., Tacoma

Info: 253-929-4419 or www.barrelno51.com/contactus

Have wheels, will travel. Such is the culinary path for mobile restaurants like Barrel No. 51, a barbecue trailer that I first visited last August when it was newly open and serving sandwiches in the parking lot at American Lake park.

Flash forward to now and the restaurant has a new location in Tacoma’s Lincoln Business District just off 38th and M (near Safeway), and has a newly expanded menu with more smoked meat offerings. I’m glad for that because my first visit to Barrel No. 51 left my barbecue-loving heart wanting. For a restaurant that has “BBQ” posted in big script on the side of the trailer, there was a shocking lack of things that comprise a barbecue restaurant – like smoked meats. On my last visit, the menu listed only a pulled pork sandwich. It was fine, but overly sauced. A sloppy Joe was less successful. I skipped the crispy chicken and fish fillet sandwiches.

Today, diners will find more authentic barbecue offerings. In both concept and delivery, Barrel No. 51 now makes much more barbecue sense. They still offer the pulled pork sandwich (it was far better than my last visit), but now they offer pulled/smoked chicken sandwiches, smoked pork riblets and pork ribs.

The sandwiches are bargain-priced at $6 with a choice of fries or slaw. I opted for slaw and was rewarded with a chile-tweaked mayo dressing clinging to crunchy, fresh cabbage. I was tempted to pile the slaw into the pulled pork sandwich, North Carolina style, but I resisted once I tasted the pork: smoky, sublime and slow cooked. It carried just the right supple texture pork achieves when the meat is cooked long enough for the collagen to dissolve into a delicious fat bath. A slight pink tinge confirmed the meat had the requisite smoke ring from a trip in a smoker.

I ordered my pork sandwich naked – I’m not a fan of too much sauce mucking up the smoky flavor of pork – and I’m glad I did. The smoky flavor was permeating, but not overly assertive. The thick, sweet molasses barbecue sauce would have masked that delicious smokiness.

My dining partner’s pulled chicken sandwich, also ordered sans sauce, was similarly smoky with just the right level of moisture to make it luscious.

Sue Kidd: 253-597-8270, sue.kidd@thenewstribune.com

Dine out for Thanksgiving

Visit the TNT Diner blog at blog.thenewstribune.com/tntdiner for a list of restaurants where you can dine out for Thanksgiving dinner. We’ll publish menus, hours and cost of Thanksgiving meals at local restaurants. Want us to include your Thanksgiving dinner in the list? Call Sue Kidd at 253-597-8270 or email sue.kidd@thenewstribune.com. The list will be published in GO on Nov. 19.