Mothership BBQ in Nashville
UPDATE: Mothership BBQ is closed at this location.
In general, I do not go to new restaurants because the food is usually still a work in progress, staff is slow and error prone, and the level of stress hormones is high. Well, today I went to a new restaurant for some takeout BBQ because I thought I knew of every decent BBQ place from Dickerson Rd, to Clarksville Pike down to Moores Ln, and I was stunned to see the Mothership when I searched blogs with "Nashville Food". I was intrigued that I did not know of this BBQ place in Berry Hill, within jogging distance from my house, and I made a bee-line there. I get there, I was the only customer. The owner seemed to know what he doing, I got a tour of the place and the BBQ rig, and service was going to be fast, stress free and correct to my order. We chatted about his new business, and then 3 more parties come in after me, all saying they found Mothership the same way I did! - the Blogs!
Jim "Knucklehead" Reams owner/pitmaster, who used to cater and got sick of it, opened the Mothership on June 10, just 4 short days ago. I like the menu, as it seems that it follows the philosphy of do a few things well. There are only 2 choices, Nashville style pulled pork shoulder, and Nashville style dry ribs. If you want to go crazy, order the combo plate of ribs and pulled pork. As I normally do, I get dry ribs, as to assess equally between all other bbq joints I have been to. These are baby-back ribs which are light on the dry rub, deep in the hickory smoke flavor, and done to falling off the bone ease. Knucklehead only serves dry ribs, and lets you decide what sauce, mild or hot, you want to use. As you know from my other blog entries, I prefer dry ribs straight up, as to not destroy the delicate wood smoke flavor.
I gotta talk about the sides! If only every grub joint could make their own sides like this place! I got the potato salad and the coleslaw. I was expecting the same old yellow cubed potato salad and limp grayish-green coleslaw offered by all Sysco food distributors, and are served at nearly every low-end chain bbq joints. To my surprise, the coleslaw was made fresh by this former caterer, it has a nice fresh cabbage crunch, real cabbage color, light dressing, and it has a lovely citrus endnote. The potato salad is also freshly made with new (red) potatoes that hold up to boiling and stirring, and was made with good black pepper, not just the the "on the shelf" tin can of pre-ground pepper. These 2 sides showed where years of catering had paid off. The only other side is pinto beans, dessert is a cobbler, and the drinks are from the soda fountain. The Mothership exemplifies LESS IS MORE, and does each item well.
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