Monday, February 15, 2010

Sunday's Lunch: Troutman's Barbecue, Concord, NC

Sara and I went riding east today, with the idea of eating at a BBQ restaurant in Albemarle, NC. When we got to Albemarle, though, we discovered that, like so many barbecue restaurants on Sunday, this particular place was closed. So we continued our Sunday drive, heading back toward Charlotte on NC49. When we reached US 601 we turned north, because I knew that Troutman's Barbecue was just up that road, although I had never eaten there.


Luckily enough they were open, and a fair-sized Sunday crowd was eating post-church luncheon.


Lots of senior citizens in evidence. Looking at the menu we discovered that Troutman's featured many down-home dishes in addition to barbecue; Sara was tempted by the pot roast, but ordered barbecue so as to see if it was any good. I also ordered barbecue.

The barbecue was pulled and chopped pork; don't know if they used whole hog or just shoulders, didn't think to ask. They had both eastern-NC vinegar-based sauce and Lexington-style tomato-based sauce. The meat was reasonably smoky and juicy, not dry. Hush puppies were small and shaped like dog turds, and were cooked properly and tasted good. My plate and Sara's were $6.75 each, a pretty good bargain.

The sign out at the street promised ice cream, and I asked for some, was offered a choice of chocolate, strawberry or vanilla; what was brought was a paper tub of it rather than a hand-scooped bowl, so I declined the ice cream.

Service was prompt and our orders were correct. Only minus I noted was the ice cream, which as I say was in those paper tubs that children eat, rather than hand-scooped in a proper bowl.

Troutman's advertises that they have been serving barbecue for 50 years, so I imagine that many of the senior citizens that we saw in the restaurant have been eating there for much of their lives.

I'll score Troutman's Barbecue a 3/5 on my scale: 3 out of 5: average; reasonably good food, moderate effort by staff/management.

My apologies for not including pics of the food, I forgot to take my camera into the restaurant.

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