Henry's Smokehouse and the conversion to BBQ

Having my little sister Zinta in town was marvelous! The last two days she was here I got more done since before both boys were born. Monday was spent running errands, but of course we showed Zinta some of our favorite haunts: the State Farmers Market, Tomato Vine, Swamp Rabbit Café & Grocery… Lauris went in for his summer haircut (it was a mutual decision to leave it to the professionals instead of attempting to do it ourselves after his last “haircut by mom”), we hit the post office and grocery store, and ended up at Henry’s Smokehouse for lunch.

If there is one thing “Southern” that I have grown to appreciate and love, it is barbecue. Before moving down south the word “barbecue” to me meant anything cooked on the grill or the actual event of firing up the grill and cooking on it. If you had said “pulled pork” to me I would have imagined a stretched out pig. In the years I’ve lived in Georgia and South Carolina I’ve received quite an education, and now one of the Southern traditions we introduce our visitors to is BBQ, barbeque, barbecue or bar-b-que.

Henry's Smokehouse

Our favorite place in Greenville, Henry’s Smokehouse, has three locations: one in Simpsonville, one on Woodruff and the original on Wade Hampton Road, just a few minutes from downtown Greenville. The barbecue there is done the old fashioned Southern way, by cooking the meat in open BBQ pits at low temperatures. Often driving by we can smell the mouth-watering combination of the barbecue and hickory smoke from the wood they use, as all the cooking is done on location and takes time; pork butts cook for 12 hours and ribs for over 8. It’s called pulled pork because the meat is hand-pulled off the bone.

Henry's is a great place to eat on a hot summer night!

We ordered two regular BBQ sandwich plates, they come with a pickle, bread and two sides. My favorites are the mac and cheese and the sweet potato casserole, but lately I order the fries (very yummy) for the boys, who do a good job of cleaning off their plates. I’ve had the ribs also, if you’re very hungry get a full rack of ribs and you’ll thank me forever. Supposedly the hash is good too, although I've yet to give it a try. That Monday afternoon we grabbed the last open table inside, because even though there are picnic tables outside, on a slightly windy day with two kids you tend to lose plates and napkins very quickly. I watched my sister try out the different sauces, a tomato-based mild BBQ sauce, and a mustard-based spicy sauce (both delicious), and wondered how a two year old can put away so much mac and cheese.

Stomachs full we headed home for a long afternoon spent in the backyard. We’re having some issues with our garden; all the seeds I’ve planted are sprouting and there is a certain one year old (I won’t name any names…) who is intent on pulling every last one up. Our stops at the Farmer’s Market and Tomato Vine yielded a number of plants that needed to be planted in the beds, and Zinta was an invaluable resource in keeping the boys from “helping” too adamantly.

Tuesday was more of the same, we fit in a visit to the zoo before lunch at the Runway Café for some fried oreos. Don't worry grandma, we did have lunch, not just the oreos! And a side note; Zinta has officially been converted y'all, because for lunch she ordered bar-b-que.

And then, six very short days after arriving, she was gone. And things haven't been the same.