Serving up secret-sauce-slathered eats since 1980, Woody's has garnered praise from publications that include the Ledger and continues to woo taste buds with succulent ribs, chicken, pork, and sides. Patrons can perform cheek-stretching calisthenics with the Super sampler starter, a piled-high platter of popable bites, including fried garlic mushrooms, mozzarella sticks, corn nuggets, and onion rings ($9.99), before moving on to a main event such as a full rack of Woody's signature baby-back ribs, featuring pork that slips off the bone as sure as a cat slips off an ice sculpture of a larger cat ($14.99). Meat disciplinarians might consider the Sloppy Woody—pulled pork and Woody's secret sauce caught in a prison of formalist bread loaves ($7.99). Vegetarians are invited to pig out on a pint of coleslaw ($3.99) or a flurry of country vegetables ($1.99).
Serving up sauce-slathered eats since 1980, Woody's has garnered praise from publications including the Ledger and continues to woo taste buds with succulent ribs, chicken, pork, and sides. Patrons can perform cheek-stretching calisthenics with the super sampler starter, a piled-high platter of pop-able bites including fried garlic mushrooms, mozzarella sticks, corn nuggets, and onion rings ($7.99), before moving on to a main event such as a full rack of Woody's signature baby back ribs, featuring pork that slips off the bone as sure as a cat slips off an ice sculpture of a larger cat ($14.99). Meat disciplinarians might consider the Sloppy Woody, pulled pork and Woody's secret sauce caught in a prison of formalist bread loaves ($6.99). Vegetarians are invited to pig out on the tossed salad ($2.69) or the country vegetables ($1.89).
Woody Mills is thinking of his mother, Grace Meyer. In 1980, she collaborated with Woody and his wife Yolanda to formulate three recipes that became Woody's sweet, hot, and tangy-mustard sauces—the linchpins of the first Woody's Bar-B-Q in Jacksonville. At that point, Woody became the guardian of the family's legacy of southern-style barbecue, which medal-winning pitmaster Paul Kirk and barbecue historian Ardie Davis went on to feature in their roaster's anthology America's Best BBQ. And while the recipes remain a secret, Grace Meyer's legacy is anything but. Today, Woody's Bar-B-Q franchises bring the celebrated marriage between pickles and pulled pork to eight states throughout the country.
The menu kicks off with battered okra—fried exclusively with trans-fat-free oil—alongside the hearty and hotly contentious Brunswick stew, which both Georgia and Virginia claim as their own unique creation. Two types of pulled pork and ribs star among a roundup of beef brisket, shrimp, and chicken, all of which can be packed into a sandwich for a quick drive-thru meal or spread on platters for catered events. Through helpings of garlic toast, Texas gets a special nod on nearly every plate, whereas signature baked beans and fluffy cream pies evoke a broader southern tradition of using rich comfort food for physical comedy.
Slow & Low Bar-B-Que's master grillers heed the restaurant's apropos moniker, slow-cooking a menu of dry-rubbed meats over diminished hickory flames. Battered and fried pickle chips display cucumbers' progressive counterculture as they dip into dill horseradish sauce ($4.75), and a half rack of individually cut and brushed St. Louis–style ribs ($12.50). Cleaner hands can grip Joel's Crazy pork sandwich, packed with hand-pulled pork and slathered in a signature white sauce ($7.95), or pop morsels of deep-fried Malibu coconut shrimp into anticipatory mouths ($13.95). The restaurant's homemade desserts combat Candy Land's monopolistic sweetsarchy with sugary bites including slices of fresh homemade cheesecake ($4.95).