Smoakies Bar-B-Que, Cordele, GA

Right off exit 102 on Interstate 75 in Cordele, GA, (pronounced Kor-Deal) one finds a workhorse of a barbeque joint called Smoakies. As it should be, the building was nothing fancy, but a hair above a shack and painted plain brown. It had a porch with a few picnic tables, another good omen. Inside, the pig motiff dominated the decor, the walls, nooks and crannies. Pig pictures, figureines, statuettes, you know the drill.

I took a seat and the countergirl came to my table to take my order, and I asked my usual questions:

What do y’all do particularly well? Like, what do I have to try?

She replied that she really loved the brisket.

I wasn’t sure what to do with that. Brisket in Georgia is always a craps shoot, but as per my rules, I always go with the countergirl’s recommendation.

So, they didn’t have a combination plate listed on the menu, but she told me I could design my own plate, so I chose the brisket, the chopped pork, and the ribs.

Side are always, per the rules, beans and slaw, and then the next question:

Do you make your own potato salad?

She replied, “No, but people really like it.”

So, no on the potato salad. These are just the rules, folks. Always a no to food service potato salad. Sides must always be made IN HOUSE. No exceptions. These are just the rules, and that’s a knock against Smoakies, I’m sorry to say. All upper-tier Barbque joints make in-house sides with utmost care and pride.

NEW RULE: Get Banana Pudding if offered.

Here’s a picture of the plate I designed:

Looks pretty good. It was good.

First, the recommended brisket didn’t arrive sliced as I am prone to expect, but rather sort of chopped. I’ve had Texas brisket at Pecan Lodge in Dallas, so yeah, this wasn’t even close to that, but nothing is, really, so it’s really unfair to compare the two. It was fine. It was tender and enjoyable.

Next, the chopped pork was moist, tender, and bland. It usually is in Georgia, even at Fresh Air in Jackson the smoke is next to undetectable. I like it to be detectable, else just roast it in the oven. That’s how I see things. Still, in complete fairness, if it is moist and tender, you’ve got two out of three, so you’re doing okay.

The ribs were the best meat on the plate. They had the fall-off-the-bone tenderness, but not so tender so as to be baby food, and the rub had crystallized into a nice black bark with a hint of cumin. Very nice.

Sides were fine. I’m sure the beans were just Bush’s Best, which is fine. No detectable meat content, though, and that’s a knock.

The slaw was a minced sweet but not over-sweet concoction with pickle relish. It was fresh and crisp.

Sauces were four: Two mustard-based, one hot and one mild. Two tomato-based, one mild and one sweet. I’m pretty sure the mustard-based were just Mrs. Griffin’s decanted into a squeeze bottle. (Have you had Mrs. Griffin’s out of Macon, Georgia? It’s the premiere mustard-based barbeque sauce, a real regional delight. Order some right now.) I was most pleased with the mild tomato-based sauce because I haven’t seen it presented that way before. By mild they meant no-so-sweet-you-could-put-it-on-ice-cream. I liked it. It was sweet but not crazy sweet, and I used it the most, and I found it complemented the ribs quite nicely.

Oh, and the banana pudding was delightful. It was a trifle-type pudding with hunks of banana and a more-cake-than-cookie wafer in it, which I liked quite a lot.

I would say of Smoakies, I’ve had better, but it was solid, a workhorse. It isn’t going to knock you down with its theatrics, but it is going to get the job done if a barbeque plate is what you need. The biggest knocks were, again, no in-house potato salad, no meat content in the beans, and no detectable smoke in the chopped pork. The slaw, ribs, and banana pudding were good enough to offset if not completely redeem the knocks, but they were enough to push Smoakies into I’d-eat-here-again territory.