So, turns out there’s great barbecue in Louisiana.
In the last ten years I think I’ve travelled to New Orleans well over ten times. I reckon that’s a pretty solid effort considering I’m usually covering around 9500 miles to get there from Australia. In all the times I’ve been lucky enough to visit, I was never prepared to “waste” a meal in such a culinarily endowed city on barbecue. It’s kinda like going to Berlin and trying to find tacos- you just shouldn’t bother.
Finally I conceded that I was obviously going to return again to the Crescent City and that I could probably afford to spend one precious meal checking out a place I’d long been recommended. And ya know, I’m sure glad I did! The Joint is not in the tourist path, tucked away in the Bywater. It looks like a BBQ joint should look, it smells like a BBQ joint should smell and it damn sure tastes as respectable as the better barbecue I’ve had in Texas.
The menu is very user friendly, offering a two or three meat combo so you can try a little of everything. You can even order single pork ribs if you need a lil lagniappe on the side. Choose from pulled pork, chicken, brisket, sausage or ribs plus they also offer chaurice, a locally made cajun sausage, for a nice local twist.
You can view their giant custom made smoker sitting out back of the restaurant, and I don’t think it’s coincidental that a real “stickburner” is behind the most popular of all the barbecue joints in this city. Standouts were the brisket and the pulled pork, and the selection of hot, vinegar and traditional barbecue sauces on the table allow patrons to customise to their own taste.
Pro tip: there’s a beautiful Live Oak in the park right across from The Joint with wooden swings tied to the high branches. Can’t think of a better way to digest that meal than swinging in the breeze on a gorgeous Louisiana day. That is, before heading out to find yourself another cocktail…
Visiting New Orleans for the first time? Check out my complete first-timers guide.
