As a card-carrying introvert, there are no two things that make me more socially anxious than 1. a two-laned traffic round-about or 2. a communal table. I’m more of a one-way street, back-to-the-wall, alone at a corner-table kind of girl. (Not having to merge into oncoming traffic? Baby in a corner at a table by herself? Both are fine with me.) I prefer to have the road all to myself (a 25-in-a-35 mosey) and the ability to watch a room, observe the comings-and-goings from afar. For the promise of Southern Soul victuals, however, I happily suffered the dread of both in exchange for the restaurant that’s been on my barbecue bucket list since I happened upon them on Insta.
And introversion be damned, as soon as I saw that they were named the best BBQ in the south by Southern Living Magazine, I knew that I’d waited long enough.
With all of that said, I’ve never been made to feel more at home than at Southern Soul, where not one, but TWO, generous employees came out to chat and offer my old hound dog some water. (If you want my friendship FOR LIFE, just offer my dog water. Those two will probably be in my will. I hope they like vintage typewriters and vinyl albums because that’s the best I have to offer.)
And the food? Worth the wait and months of drooling over online photos that COULDN’T POSSIBLY BE TRUE.
Y’all.
They were TRUE. The Brunswick stew was something poets might, well, stew over, and the pulled pork with sweet sauce might just change the way you look at life all together. And after a couple of close calls with a nearby traffic roundabout, you might just need something to lift your spirits.