Beetle’s BBQ

150 Townlake Parkway

Woodstock

(770)592-8295

www.beetlesbbq.com

The logo for Beetle’s BBQ, a sunglass-wearing porker with a guitar strapped over its back driving a Volkswagen bug, says a lot about the tone of owner Bill Beadle’s cheerfully unpretentious ‘cue joint in downtown Woodstock.

So does the old VW beetle he turned into his first barbecue smoker. It resides outside in the restaurant parking lot, occasionally still pressed into service.

The smoker he uses regularly is more than 50 years old and started life as panels from an old grain silo. Beadle acquired it from an old pecan farmer near Cordele, who said his family used to smoke venison in it when he was growing up.

Beadle can tell you these stories, but he’d rather let the food do the talking for him. Order up some baby back ribs and prepare for a treat. They literally fall of the bone and by official barbecue judging standards, they’re overcooked, but who cares? The meat is unctuous, smoky and truly almost melts in your mouth.

Beadle says they stay on his stick-burning smoker for 24 hours, as do his pork butt and beef brisket. Chicken smokes for 12. How he gets them to hold together and not fall apart during the long hours of slow cooking is a trade secret.

Beadle isn’t a believer in a lot of seasoning on the meats prior to smoking. “I just cook naturally. I don’t fuss over it. There’s a little dry rub on the ribs. Everything else is just smoke. And no salt.”

In fact, nearly everything at Beetle’s is pretty much low sodium. Even his tasty Brunswick stew has just one cup of salt to 35 gallons of stew, which incidentally takes three days to make and is so chock full of meat you could stand up a spoon in it.

Almost all the sides and all the desserts are homemade, as are Beetle’s five sauces —Carolina vinegar, apple smoked tomato, Low Country mustard, Cowboy and fire sauce.