Scott's Walk-Up Bar-B-Q (Cartersville, GA)

To contact us Click HERE
206 North Tennessee Street
Cartersville, GA 30120
770-382-1600
www.scottswalkupbbq.com/


Another spot that's been on my short list recently has been Scott's Walk-Up Bar-B-Que in Cartersville, GA. You walk up to the restaurant, walk up to the counter, place your order, and wait for the food to be brought out to you. I suppose a lot of BBQ places these days share the same "business model," but it still makes for an interesting BBQ joint name. I've heard that owner, Scott Panter, was very involved in the BBQ competition scene with a lot of success before deciding to open up his brick and mortar restaurant. Restaurant BBQ and competition BBQ aren't always a seamless transition so I was curious on what kind of food would make its way to the table. Restaurant BBQ and competition BBQ are two completely different beasts. Competition style focuses on one bite of BBQ while the other aims to make a great meal.



The GBH team had one of our most memorable BBQ experiences on our first ever visit to Scott's. When we "walked up" and sat inside we both noticed how quiet and dimly lit the whole place was. It had a "Walking Dead" post-zombie-apocalypse feel. This isn't usually the mood you try to achieve at a BBQ spot. It was shortly announced that all the power was out which made a little more sense. My best non-electrical background explanation was that some of the wires had crossed near one of the breakers. That sounds pretty official, right? Anyways, we were still able to place our orders even though there was no ice or active credit card machines. They said if we didn't have cash that we could just come back later and square everything up. Now that's good people.


My $20 bill was worth a half pound of pulled pork, half rack of ribs, one all beef sausage link, and a side of baked beans...not too bad. Scott's only serves brisket on Fridays and we were in luck because it was Friday! We were also shortly out of luck since their three briskets that they cook sold out by noon and it was 12:30. Scott uses a gas-wood fueled Southern Pride smoker which hopefully wouldn't let anything get too far off the path of edible BBQ.


The pulled pork we indulged in was pulled into long, fresh, flavorful strands of pork shoulder interwined with smoke-kissed, delicious pieces of outer bark. No sauce needed here, folks. While a pork butt might be one of the easiest things to smoke, it's still nice to see places do it well. More than 75% of places we visit can't decently smoke a pork butt which should tell you a lot about the rest of the menu. Our meal went down hill after the pulled pork though. The ribs were old, tough, and greasy. The all beef sausage tasted like it was straight out of a pack of Oscar Meyers. That's not a good thing in the BBQ world.

I know I've got to cut them a little slack since the whole place had been operating without power. The pulled pork was great. I'll have to come back another Friday to hopefully get some of their brisket that I've heard good things about. Not sure how the fresh ribs compare to the ribs we had, and I'd avoid the beef sausage if ever visiting Scott's

New Pad. That's what's up.

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Hello all! I have been slacking on my blogging duties.
For shame!
I had an incident with my computer charger, so I have not had any battery power :( Luckily, Mr J let me use his new laptop to blog and obsess over Pinterest!
Ok, so here is the update. I should be going back to work soon! About 3 weeks. Crazy, I know. Well, in the meantime, we have moved! Our other house in the B-town was a shanty... full on SHANTY. When I say that, I mean it literally was falling apart underneath us. It's a 1930s farm house with no modern luxuries; like a dishwasher or closets. When we were moving out, we found hella mold and bugs. It was so gross. Thankfully, we are out of there and into our new rambler. WOOT! Our new spread was built in 1969 and has so much more space than what we are used to. It's completely updated and renovated, with granite counters, hardwood in the kitchen, brand new cabinets, 3 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms. The best part... CENTRAL HEATING. No more space cadet heaters! Ah! The yard is very large for our location, and it also has 4 fruit trees. Jenni, there is tons of space for me to finally plant my flowers hahah!
Yesterday, we moved all of our stuff out of the B-town house and hauled it down to P-town. We got moved in fairly quickly, but couldn't fall asleep to save our lives. 6a poked it's ugly head in so early, and we were off to go get my stuff out of storage. It's been over a year and I finally got everything out! What a relief. My couches are like brand new, they had only been used for 2 months before they sat and then got packed up. I have tons of clothes I don't fit in to anymore, and gobs of foofoo decorations.
Here are some pictures of the house as of now. We have a lot to move around and things to get rid of, and a lot to add. The weather has been crap, so the pictures aren't crazy bright.


These are all pictures without much decorating. The 2nd bath is my "travels" bathroom. I put my worldly trinkets I have acquired myself, and from deployed friends over the years. I have a boomerang about the toilet and a rug from Baghdad on the floor. The kiddos room is going to have some cling-on deals on the walls, and I found a rug I am thinking I should put down...seeing as the carpet is white.. The guest room I have put on my never been used zebra bedding and my semi-used bed and dresser. Mr J suggested I put up all of my achievements there, so I put all of my awards and certificates and pageant stuff in there. Ok, so the master is like 50 feet bigger than our old bedroom. It feels monstrous! I have a DIY headboard project I have in my head I want to make, but money and my injury are preventing my tufted headboard from being completed. The living room is nice and big. I should've taken more photos, but eh, I will later. My semi-used furniture fit in PERFECTLY! It's so weird to go from hearing frogs and coyotes at night to cars and trains. I don't mind the suburbs so much because I grew up with a major road in my backyard, plus I am half deaf from C-17s. It's weird to be back in the 'burbs, and moving is still surreal, but we are adjusting well so far.  Anywhoski, I am tired. Good night -- sweet dreams.
xo

I'd like to buy a 'high five' please!

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There you have it! It is official, I will be on Wheel of Fortune! I got the phone call today and I will be taping on 3 April! 
Typically, I am super reluctant to answer the phone for any area code that I don't know, but LUCKILY I answered and to my surprise, it was well worth it!
The episode will air during the week of 21 June- 25 June.THE GREAT OUTDOORS WEEK
Stay tuned :)

Sorry it's been a while...

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Well hello friends, family and visitors!
I haven't really written a new blog since my pity party after Wheel of Fortune. Well, good news. I am no longer pouting and I am out of my hermit shell. Since Wheel, not much has really gone on. PSYCHE! Everyday is a new journey, duh! How freaky deaky is this, so most every day, Mr J sends me my horoscope. Typically I read them and think, "hmm, oh Leo..." But recently, the best 'scopes have been sent. A few days ago, Mr J sent me one saying something like, "Leo, you are worried about finances and blah blah blah, just wait, something good is coming. When the opportunity arises, take it." I shrugged it off, thinking maybe my Wheel check will show up 5 months early, or I will win some lottery. Around 8:30p, I get a text from my Aunt Ellen. She sends me this link to a job post and asks me to read it and see if it's something I would like and not to worry because she had connections. I read it and show Mr J and he agreed, it's the perfect job for me. I text back, long story short-- Sign me up. Tuesday rolls around and I meet up for comida with AE (Aunt Ellen) and we catch up, shoot the breeze, and discuss the fab opportunity. Oh, hello! It's my cousin's company, and I get to go work for him! How exciting! Him and I met over coffee, I know, it's sooo Seattle... and he said the job is there if I want it. Sold, I am there!
Today is the day I am putting in my 2 week notice at my job. I think to myself, although they have not been the nicest people to me, and it's definitely not been the most pleasant place to be employed, I professionally owe them 2 weeks. Who knows what will happen, they could just let me go here and now, which I am hoping they do, or they could keep me on for the remainder of my employment. Either way, SAYONARA!
---UPDATE---
I left for therapy midway through finishing this blog, and I got a lot accomplished while I was out. After massage therapy, I went down to T-Town to put in my resignation. I wanted to keep it formal and quiet without  a huge hullabaloo. The girl in HR is so nice, and I filled out the proper paperwork, put in my last date of work, and that was that. I am a free woman! It's rather sad how miserable people are there. The company, whom shall remain anonymous but I am sure everyone knows where it is, was not the best place, as aforementioned, but the opportunity I have been given is much greater than working on-call with no schedule. Instead of my fridge calendar looking a muck, I have consistent hours, consistent schedule, and a steady income. What a sigh of relief.

Well, let's see, what else has been going on?

The air date for Wheel has officially changed. The episode I participated in will air 23 MAY instead. Stay tuned and watch it! 
My parents came over for a fabulous meal! I made my famous turkey burgers with fiesta ranch, and might I say, they were fabulous. We got to showcase our awesome 3D TV, and my dad was watching Deadliest Catch and was acting like a kid. haha it was so awesome to see him get to excited! He told us about what he used to do for DEA and when he worked in Alaska and Florida and it was so cool to hear those stories. I am almost 25 years old and haven't heard stories like that, so it was cool! Also, PLEASE look for this man's mug on the side of Gordon Trucking trailers in the Western US! He tends to be very modest and doesn't want people to know these things, but now I have officially put him and his accomplishments on blast. WAY TO GO DADDY!

He's very "google-able"

Let's see... what else...
Mr J took me to the tulip festival as well. It was so lame for him, but A+ for his efforts to do something totally lame for me! I loved the colors and the assortment, but I must stand on my soap box for just a moment. Mr J and I are walking through the fields and fields of tulips, and I am taking pictures, doing my thing. Well, I wanted a picture of both of us with the tulips as the background... sigh. I asked a man to take our picture, keep in mind, we have taken pictures for other people, and he says NO, NO NO and shakes his head and walks away. Um, what? After numerous expletives pouring out of our mouths like vomit, we left. It really put a huge damper on the day. Everyone was just very rude and unmindful  and it really soured me. Luckily, we could laugh about it later on through the day.


The photos are uploaded and updated in the SONY SHOTS page of my blog!
That is what has been going on. Stay tuned, I will be sure to write some fabulous things more often when I get back into to groove of things! See you later!

WHAT A HUNK-- lookin' good! winky face winky face

What's New?

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Happy Tuesday, amigos!
So, a lot has been going on lately. Let's begin. First of all... just to clear the air. I have found out some things about my ex that has made his death much easier to handle. Apparently, he had another girlfriend as well. Ouch? Yes, ouch. Some people have mocked me and said that I am crazy, but really.. put yourself in my shoes. If you had no idea there was someone else, you would act like any normal person would if your significant other passed away. However, I am just a normal person who was fed lie after lie. Do I feel like a fool? Completely. Has it made me never want to date again? Absolutely. Unfortunately, it is a hard pill to swallow, but in the end, it will all be ok. Life does go on!

Off to fight the good fight with my M16

In other news.. Recently, I came back from a Military exercise. It was so much fun! We got to play in a simulated war! The first few days, we brushed up on last minute "deployment" items, and then we headed off to the middle of nowhere via C17 to play in the CASF (Contingency Aeromedical Staging Facility). We had our chemical gear and helmets, and I was part of the PAR (Post Attack Recon) team. This job means that I go out along with a buddy after an attack to check for UXO's (Unexploded Ordnance) and other potentially threatening devices. Every exercise or training something we have going on I always get tasked for this job. Either I must be good at it, or people want me to be the first one blown up! Ha!
If anyone has experienced Chem Gear, you know how god awful hot it is, how heavy it is, and how much of a pain it is to go to the bathroom. Battle thong anyone? We were in MOPP 2 the entire time, and MOPP 4 for over 6 hours two consecutive nights! MOPP 4 is your chem pants, jacket, chem boots, gloves, glove inserts, and gas mask. Not to mention a helmet as well, a weapon, and sweat dripping down every inch of you. Needless to say, we all looked so good once the masks came off. Haha..
We worked 12 hour shifts, which made my sleep schedule so off. Not only was the time difference a challenge, but so was the 6p-6a shift. Off course, once you get used to it, you have to get back on the plane to come home. After being up for 41 hours, going through the Persco and redeploying, we all had to get mandatory flu mist. UGH. The past few days I have been quite snotty and congested, and feeling like crap. Ick. All in all though, it was such a fun time. Now the real fun begins when we get our inspection by the IG in a few weeks. It's pretty much the same thing as I just got back from, but it's the actual inspection to check our readiness and capabilities, not to mention it's longer.
I am happy to report that I am not dating anyone and I am focusing on myself and what my next adventure is going to be. Once the inspection in October is over, I am hoping to focus more on finishing my education and taking short trips to see different places and experience new things.
My inbox has been flooded with messages from people who found me on theCHIVE, and I wanted to say thanks for all the kind words! (Boo to some of the haters, jerks) but for the most part, thank you! John, the owner, has even asked me to be COTW! Yay! I am stoked! 
Now that I have more closure from the whole other girlfriend thing, I feel like I can move on and close that chapter. I found out that I was forbidden to go to his memorial service in order to keep myself and the other girl away from each other. I have no idea who she is, and I would not even try to cause a problem. I doubt she knew or knows who I am as well, but in all reality, both of us were lied to and I can't be mad at her for that. I send her my condolences as well, and now it's time for me to move on.
Work has been busy since getting back. I have tons to catch up on, and even more to do when I get home at night. Currently, I am studying for Airman Leadership School in hopes of getting promoted to Staff Sergeant here in the next few weeks. It's all computer based now, which makes studying a little more difficult for me, but from what I have heard, the test isn't too hard. It's just a matter of actually finding the time to study and get it out of the way.
My little sister got married! I am so excited for her and her new adventure ahead. Currently, her husband is deployed and upon his return, the big wedding will happen! We were talking about her wedding and it's fun to get to help her plan it and send her over ideas. I am sure that it will be spectacular, and I am so happy to be a part of it. Not only my sister, but one of my best girl friends is getting married too! She is going wedding dress shopping this weekend, and I wish so badly I was back home with her. There are so many great things to look forward to next year! Let's put this crappy year behind us, and make next year a brand new beginning.
I should get going now. But thanks for the nice comments and words from everyone. My blog has 13k viewers, which is incredible! Again, thanks!

Have a great day everyone. Stay away from drama, don't be a child, and stay classy.
xo

Walker's Southern Style BBQ (New Orleans, La)

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I really wanted to like this place. I really really did. But I did not.

The ribs had a great taste, an ok texture (despite the fact that they left the membrane on), and yet they SMELLED awful.

They ran out out of the brisket so maybe I'm not being fair. However, I'm just going off what I was served.

Not much left to say. The women that ran it were really sweet and there wasn't an ounce of that presumptuous attitude that lurks many New Orleans establishments.








Walker's BBQ will be receiving a 2 out of 5 stars.


p.s. I'd like to say that maybe I'll try it again someday but I'd rather smoke my own BBQ than give second chances. I will also put a disclaimer up, Walkers is known for their couchon du lait po boys. I didn't get it because this is not a po boy blog.

Thelma's BBQ (Houston, Tx)

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Really?

This place came under the recommendation of a BBQ Documentary I watched called "Barbecue: A Texas Love Story". I took this recommendation in good faith because it was a great documentary. I'm going to have to rethink my product review on that documentary now. Thelma's BBQ was also voted in Texas Monthly's Top 50 BBQ in Texas. I'm also going to have to rethink my feelings on Texas Monthly magazine. Thelma's BBQ is also a BBQ staple in Houston. Again, I will be questioning the character of Houston and their BBQ from this day forward.

Thelma's was horrible. The sauce was a diabetic nightmare which tasted like Sweet and Sour Sauce from a Chinese restaurant. They just dump the sauce right on it. Imagine a red soup and you have to fish bbq out of. That my friends was my experience at Thelma's BBQ. There was more sauce than meat (and there was plenty of meat mind you).I'm a no sauce/no bullshit kind of guy when it comes to bbq. I like to taste the meat, texture, and enjoy the moistness of a good rib/brisket. I read a sign that said "Sauce on Side - $2". Yea...F* That.

Atmosphere was horrible. Granted it's in the middle of the hood, but I don't like watching talk shows and listening to AC window units in the background while I try to enjoy my food.

My advice. Skip the BBQ at Thelmas and go down the block to Frenchies which is closer to U of H...it's like a home cooked menu from Popeye's.




Also, I stepped in horse shit on the way out. That's never helped anyone.

Thelma's will be receiving a 2 out of 5 stars.