Wanted: The best barbecue in town

By Michael Lowe

Published: July 23, 2008

When it comes to barbecue, I set the bar pretty high. Luckily for me, and now everyone else in Dothan, so do the folks at Smokey’s Authentic Outlaw Barbeque.

The city’s newest barbecue joint, which opened Monday at the former location of Pizza Hut next to Home Depot, is a family-owned-and-operated restaurant that combines a Wild West theme with scrumptious, made-from-scratch food. Owner Kathy Drymon, along with some help from husband Ronnie, cousin Sharon and others, have definitely created something special.

Inside, the seating arrangement is what you’d expect to find in a Pizza Hut-turned-something-else. However, the building, especially with its oddly shaped windows and red brick walls, lends its self well to Smokey’s Western theme.

The interior of the restaurant is decorated with wanted posters and other Wild West imagery. It’s just enough to get the point across but not so much (a la Cracker Barrel) that you have to worry about an old and imposing wagon wheel falling off the wall while you’re trying to enjoy your meal.

Also, whoever decided to wrap the silverware in red bandanas instead of napkins is just plain genius.

As I said before, everything at Smokey’s, from the fried green tomatoes to the chocolate peanut butter pie, is made right in the kitchen. So you won’t find any of those out-of-the-box, freezer-burned desserts here.

The menu also follows the restaurant’s theme with categories like First Draws (appetizers), Chuckwagon Specials (brunswick stew, chili and Smokey’s Super Stuff Tater), Shootout Sandwich Combos, Killer Sides, Desperado Dinners and Sweet Rewards (desserts).

There’s also a nice variety of menu options to choose from, including chicken wings, stew, chili, sandwiches, ribs, turkey, catfish, grilled chicken, chicken tenders, burgers, steak and more.

Smokey’s homemade pies include coconut cream, chocolate peanut butter, banana cream, lemon meringue and chocolate cream. There is also a dessert of the day.

After looking over the menu, my girlfriend and I decided on the beef brisket sandwich combo, both sliced and served on toast instead of buns. For our sides, Polly picked the potato salad, and I went with the sweet potato fries. We also split an order of fried green tomatoes.

Our server, Hanna, was super friendly (“She’s great,” as Polly put it.), and our food arrived a lot faster than I expected.

Smokey’s has two barbecue sauces, sweet and spicy, and Polly and I both decided to drench our giant sandwiches with the sweet stuff. The sandwiches — overflowing with huge slices of meat — were awesome. My fries were pretty good and the tomatoes were tasty, but the potato salad was possibly the best I’d ever had in my entire life (Sorry, Mom.).

The total for our meal with tax and including two drinks came to $28.29. While that’s slightly more than one might expect to pay for a barbecue lunch, there were plenty of leftovers to take home, and the entire meal was absolutely worth every penny.

As we were about to leave, Hanna asked if we were sure we didn’t want to try a dessert. We were stuffed and had already passed on her first offer. So how did this Wild West showdown end?

“When the dust settled, the two bandits rode off into the sunset with their monster-size Bodacious Chocolate Chip Cookies — and they were delicious.”

Cue cowboy music.

Reach Michael Lowe at .

Smokey’s Authentic Outlaw Barbeque
Where: 3455 Ross Clark Circle, Dothan
Hours: Monday-Sunday, 10:30 a.m.-10 p.m.; will be open later on Fridays and Saturdays when they begin serving alcohol in about two weeks.
Phone: 671-5560
Rating: Four out of four stars