Well I visited Dreamland BBQ for dinner last night (http://www.dreamlandbbq.com). It is a great place in Norcross and in the mornings you can see the wood fired smoke rising from the roof. Having never been to this place before I found that it is one of two BBQ joints in Georgia for the chain and they have another XX stores in Alabama.
My first impression of walking in the door was that it was a place where you come to eat. It isn’t a place where you have to come in with dress shoes, or upscale but it is a homey place where you can be yourself. I was greeted as soon as I walked in the door.
I was seated by myself and given a plate with three pieces of bread, and a bowl of sauce. I inquired what the sauce was and was told it is the house BBQ sauce. I was excited to try this. It was thin sauce with a bold mustard taste. This is not uncommon in the South. What I really enjoyed about it was the hot sauce on the underside. It could have been simply some chilli powder, or hot chilli pepper in it.
I ordered the 2 meat combo as I couldn’t decide on what I wanted. I also ordered a Brunswick Stew. This is a definite Southern dish that is essentially a thick and hearty vegetable soup with meat in it. It is typically served with either pork or chicken. In this evening’s case it was chicken. It is a tomato based soup with corn, tomatoes, potatoes, and the meat. Here is a picture of it.
Dreamland BBQ Brunswick Stew
While I did enjoy it, smoked chicken would have been better and knowing my affinity for smoked food, I would have stewed the whole pot and then 2 hours with apple wood in the electric smoker. (You can never have too much smoke right?)
Next was the main course of the 2 meat combo. I went with Pork Ribs and a Quarter Chicken. I wanted to try a couple of different things and not eat too much. I went with 2 sides; baked beans and mac & cheese.
2 Meat Combo Plate
As you can see, nice simple presentation. The paper on the plate was for the chain. As for the meal, you can see that the food is prepared without applying sauce to the meat while being smoked. The sauce is applied just before being sent to the table. Again, the mustard sauce I’ve already mentioned. No choice of different sauces. The ribs were nice and juicy, separated easily from the bone. They were dry rub smoked and the smoke flavor was minimal. As for the chicken, the skin was crisp however the meat itself was dry. I don’t know if was due to sitting and waiting or if they did not brine the chicken before hand. This quarter piece was obviously cut prior to cooking over fire as the cut side was cooked.
All in all it was a good BBQ but left me wanting something a little more. That lead me to consider Shane’s Rib Shack. Look to my next posting on that one.
