UYE: Best BBQ on Earth – Lunch @ Nola Smokehouse

I have to thank John for organizing this UYE so I could finally get my butt over to NOLA Smokehouse. After literally months of watching John and Angie check in here, I was hankering for some of every delicious thing they described. Unfortunately I work far enough away that I can’t swing a weekday trip, and for some reason I can never get out on Saturdays. But where King John goes, measly-​3-​year-​elite Katie must follow.
Not only was the food fantastic, the company was even better! We ended up with a crowd large enough to take up most of the restaurant and I was happy to see familiar faces and meet some new people! For the record, I had the brisket chili and the spoon bread and they were both divine. I was very fortunate to get a couple tastes of some hot sausage, pork belly, pulled pork, and possibly potato salad from a neighbor with a sampler platter and each bite was better than the last. Thanks for that, and I can’t wait to come back and see what damage I can do to that sampler platter myself!

OMG my first UYE and it happened to be in New Orleans at NOLA Smokehouse thanks to John L. H. I can’t say thank you enough John we had a conversation about a week before and you made it happen unbelievable my friend. Angie T. it was so nice meeting you finally, we’ve been friends from the beginning of my introduction to Unilocal and you have never led me wrong you’re just the bestest :-) I am so sorry I can’t remember everyone’s names but this is a special group. Great meeting you Kate, Bert (and brother), Lindsey, Joel, Mike and everyone else.
We actually parked at the aquarium and walked the several miles but it was a great day and we enjoyed the walk and well worth it, John offered up some delicious Covington Brewery Anonymous IPA which made the walk forgettable it was great. Since this was our first time at NOLA Smokehouse we decided to take on the «sampler» I highly recommend you try this especially if you have plenty of friends to share it with. I am going to apologize right now because I am going to describe everything I tried so bare with me…
— Boudin — Growing up in Louisiana I’ve eaten boudin from the time I could eat solid food. Everyone has their favorites but for me it’s all about texture, seasoning, quality meats and of course the rice and casing. I like mine a little drier so the casing snaps so NOLA Smokehouse had me sold at the first bite, not as spicy as I like it but there’s hot sauce on the table.
— Burnt Ends — Say whatever you want to about burnt ends I absolutely love them, the smoke, the bark, the fat, the tender meat these were awesome.
— Pork Belly — Perfect thickness succulent is the best description I can think of they were excellent.
— Smoked Sausage — I just love sausage (to validate that statement I actually had 75 lbs of this in my Yeti iced down in my truck I got in Iowa, Louisiana the day before). This was a great grind of lean smoked meat in a great casing smoked perfect for dipping in the NOLA Smokehouse spicy bbq sauce.
— BBQ Hot Links — Yum, spicy smokey a very nice contrast to the smoked sausage.
— Pulled Pork — Wow this is the real deal tender, juicy, smoked and covered with pig skin that with the vinegar sauce and you just hit a home run.
— Beef Brisket — Soooooo tender, smoked to perfection loved the bark and the smoke ring I can imagine this between two slices of french bread drenched in sauce this was brisket done right.
— Smoked Brisket Chili — Covered with melted cheese this is real comfort food.
— Potato Salad — This is an absolute must try
— Creamy Coleslaw — Another perfect side
— Spoon Bread — I don’t know all the ingredients but I want a bowl of it now.
My hats off to NOLA Smokehouse very nice people serving up excellent BBQ. We were very fortunate to be able to attend such an awesome event and enjoy some great food with some great friends. I can’t wait to do it again thanks again John for putting this together I can’t wait until we do this again sometime somewhere. :-)
In case your wondering we took a cab back to bourbon street…

I know, I KNOW! I would be partial to this UYE for a few reasons.
First of all, I like any John UYE, right? Well yeah, because, you know. It’s John. Secondly, it’s at my favorite BBQ place in New Orleans to date. I was already excited.
But it turned out to be so much more. My favorite UYE so far. Here’s why:
–Dave and Mary making a special trip from Florida to meet us at their first event ever.
–Finally got to meet the elusive Bert. He’s even funnier in person. I heart him. And his brother.
–Lindsay coming on her lunch break and being her awesome self and laughed when I made an off color joke.
–Speaking of lunch breaks… Mike came and couldn’t stay but stopped in only to say hey cause he knows Nola Smokehouse is worth supporting.
–Joel driving from BFE just to try it because of our (many) check ins.
–The lovely Kris who had to work but still sent her beautiful children and hubby to make the afternoon great.
Chef Rob and staff at Nola Smokehouse. For accommodating us and feeding us the best BBQ in the world.

I used to think that everyone was aware that Nola Smokehouse has the best BBQ on the planet. Then I started noticing an alarming trend on my check ins. People saying they had never been! Imagine the horror when I learned that people I call friends had yet to experience the incredible aroma wafting from the smokers or the taste of their perfectly smoked brisket. I knew what I had to do, and that was set up a lunchtime UYE.
When I first arrived I was a little worried that this would be one of the smaller UYEs I’ve organized. Those fears were completely unfounded and our group soon occupied nearly the entire restaurant.
I want to give special thanks to the folks at Nola Smokehouse. They not only served up some incredible BBQ, but they allowed us to rearrange their restaurant so we could all sit together.
I also want to thank Florida Unilocalers Dave and Mary for making their first ever event our UYE. I hope they take back the message to Florida that Nola Unilocal knows how to eat and have fun.
As for food, I saw lots of brisket, several chilis, a few sampler platters, ribs and potato salad along our table. A couple of lucky folks got a Covington Brewery Anonymous IPA to go along with their meal. Had I known so many people were coming I would’ve brought a case instead of just a six pack.
Everyone seemed to really enjoy the food and as I looked around at our group I saw nothing but smiling faces and empty plates.
If you missed this lunch event, I hope you make your way to the next one.