Bull's BBQ was a Bono's copycat, and not as good. The following day we tried a place called the Rib Shack just down the street. It was recommended on a blog somewhere. Man, I don't know what these people have been eating all their lives, but no one yet has come up with a good recommendation for BBQ. Jacksonville seems to have the suck factor on high when it comes to good Q!

We are now on another one of our infamous road trips. Today we hit Florence, SC and tried Roger's Barbeque. It was bragged about in a couple of places. First off, this place ain't even in the league. Its a family style buffet with seafood, BBQ, and home cookin viddles. It just happens to have some BBQ in it. That includes ribs, chicken, and some pulled pork. If you look at this place as just a home cookin soul food type of place, its ok. The greens had fatback in them, the fried fish were good. But this ain't no competition BBQ meat, that is for sure. It's smothered in sauce. There is no dry rub option. Its like someone cooked BBQ on their home GAS grill and stored it in tin foil until the relatives came over to eat it. So, although this is a good down home place, they should just name it "Roger's Placet". We wanted to at least give them a try because they are only open Thursday through Sunday and usually those are the kinds of places that are really good. So I would give this place about a 5 on the scale of 1 to 10 when it comes to real Q, but about a 7.5 as far as overall food. The place was a little bit TOO down home for my taste, as all the people looked like my relatives and I felt like I was at a family reunion or something. There were no booths or seperation of tables, just as many as they could fit in a room bunched up together. Right now my gut feels like someone sucker punched me in the stomache about an hour ago. Guess I'll need to sip the pink stuff tonight in order to get to sleep.

Still searching for the true Carolina BBQ. Tomorrow we hit Richmond, VA and we'll see what wonderful things we find.....

S