Jimmy of Eat It, Atlanta notified me via Twitter that the owners of Fox Bros. Bar-B-Q were recently interviewed by Tom Maicon of Atlanta Cuisine. My name came up:
Cliff Bostock has been tough on your food pointing out inconsistencies. Do you think he’s here on only the bad nights, or does he just not get your barbecue?
Cliff has been documenting his dining experiences for much longer than I have been living in Atlanta. I regularly read his column, and as a matter of fact, his piece about a popular Athens restaurant that opened in Buckhead and the horrible server experience he had there, I made all my servers read it to enforce our demand on how important it is for them to give our guests the best service they can give.
So, I take his columns as a way to make Fox Bros Bar-B-Q better. Cliff loved our take on a burger once, but the next two times it was flawed and he called us out. Well, it was a matter of the way it was being made, so it has totally been re-worked because of his thoughts, and I think it is really a better sandwich because of that.
We make it a point to talk to each table to find out how our guests are enjoying their experience and anything we need to do to make ourselves better. We work everyday to make ourselves more consistent, it just stings a little bit to be called out in print vs. hearing about it firsthand during that dining experience.
We had some really big growing pains when we opened, and we finally feel like we have a great staff that not only loves our food and cares about the product, but also has the pride to make sure that the product they put out follows our main belief, which is to prove ourselves, one plate at a time.
So, like I hope that one day the Falcons will have back-to-back winning seasons, that one day Cliff will also share that he has continually had outstanding meals at Fox Bros. Until then, we will keep working at being the best we can be.
Of course, as soon as I read this Friday, I made plans to visit the restaurant that night. The “burger” on the Fox Bros. menu is actually smoked brisket smothered with pimento cheese, bacon, onions and tomato. The first time I ordered it, I thought it was a deliciously decadent way of inducing a heart attack. But, as the brothers told Tom Maicon, my next visits found it disappointing.
Happily, I did find the sandwich hugely improved last night, as good as it was my first visit. The restaurant appears to be chopping the brisket a bit finer and actually shaping the meat into something like a patty. The sandwich had a particularly delicious tomato slice on it.
Wayne’s mother, who is visiting from Columbia, S.C., went with us last night and ordered pulled pork, which she liked very much. Wayne ordered a special of smoked beef tenderloin that had about three layers of flavor — from the smoke, to the beef, to the sauce on the side.
The restaurant was packed, by the way. We were lucky to get a table. Actually, we were lucky to get a parking space. I had to move somebody’s Herbie Curbie out of the street to get a spot.
(Photo by Cliff Bostock)
