When I met William some years ago, he told me that he’d been selling barbecue out of this little brick building on the little side street in West Memphis, AR for years. Not far across the bridge from downtown Memphis, Williams Bar-BQ is a sandwich-only place (no ribs), so I grabbed a smoked pork sandwich with sauce and slaw to-go. At first glance, the bbq sandwich looked like the kind you’d typically find in a Memphis-area bbq shop-nothing fancy, you just wanna eat it. The meat had slight smoke flavor, but I found the sauce to be too sweet for my taste, and it was over-used and the sauce overpowered the smoked meat. But that little bit of smoke with the slight tangy crunch of the slaw to balance the sweet sauce created an enjoyable bbq sandwich overall.
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Quick-Fire Guide:
Here are a few notes about the ‘que:
Tenderness-
- Shoulder-Was moist and tender. Some bits of bark were mixed, but I like more than my sandwich had.
Smoke-
- Shoulder-Had slight smokiness.
Sauce-A little too sweet for my taste and poured on too heavily.
Slaw-The finely chopped slaw added a little tangy crunch to help balance the sweetness some.
Thanks for visiting my Memphis bbq blog! Comments, rants, raves, disagreements and downright bbq feuds are welcome below. Tim Shirley