FOCUS, E. Brack: The mouth waters at Rodney Scott’s BBQ

Scott in his Charleston restaurant. Photo via RodneyScottsBBQ.com. Credit: Andrew Cebulka.

EDITOR’S NOTE: My father, longtime Georgia journalist Elliott Brack, recently wrote this ode to Rodney Scott’s barbecue before learning Scott had just won a prestigious James Beard Foundation award as best chef in the Southeast. Enjoy.

By Elliott Brack  |  The first thing that hits you when stepping into Rodney Scott’s Barbecue at 1011 King Street here is how very clean the place is.   It pristinely sparkles and shines with neatness, everything in place, while the  floor appears clean enough to eat on. It’s a far cry from most barbecue joints, often in rundown shacks with sawdust on the floor. Even his outdoor seating area, if you don’t mind the Charleston humidity, is clean and neat, with wood for the cooking in half-cord stacks of oak, pecan and hickory.

His headliner, the barbecue, itself is beautifully pulled, just as neat and clean itself, with no untidy pieces of scrap meat  or fat, included. Sprinkle of Rodney’s various sauces, and start to salivate in anticipation!

Everything at Rodney Scott’s is simple and direct, from the menu to the counter. His menu also includes several vegetables including collards, and a mac and cheese. People rave about his cornbread. And each  staff greets you easily with a smile and without an attitude.

You feel you have arrived at a home when you visit his barbecue palace. Then you must get down to business of figuring out what to eat among the smoke-fired whole-hog barbecue, or ribs, or chicken cooked over coals or perhaps you just want to have a  southern-fried catfish dinner.  Either way, you are at the right place, your palate will soon tell you.

Once you have eaten your meal here, you feel you have eaten the best in the area, maybe as good as it gets anywhere. It is a wonderful experience.

Many laud the Holy City of Charleston for its fine food, often upscale, and often many varied items of seafood from the Atlantic Ocean. But anyone who loves southern barbecue will happily find Rodney’s a place they can return to time and time again, knowing the quality and taste will be the same, and the satisfaction enormous.

Taking newcomers who appreciate barbecue to Rodney Scott’s will make them friends for life, often thanking you for pointing out this special place.

We talked to Rodney himself, 46, who grew up from age 11 around cooking whole-hog barbecue at his parents’ grocery store, know later for its food, in Hemingway, S.C.  Early on, people started raving about the flavor and expertness the family put into its barbecuing. People would drive from miles around (Charleston was 90 miles away, but low-country barbecue lovers came), and so did the media. Rodney has been even written up in the New York Times.  The other day, his picture was on the front of the food section of the Atlanta Journal and Constitution.

Yet Rodney remains the genial person he has always been, making sure all is done right every single day, whether it’s having the right wood, the firing of the barbecue pit, the preparing of the food, and the care in taking care of his customers.

Elliott Brack, a veteran Georgia newspaperman, publishes GwinnettForum in Gwinnett County, Ga.

• To learn more, and perhaps to find your mouth watering seeing the various menu items, visit http://www.rodneyscottsbbq.com.
• Have a comment? Send to:  editor@charlestoncurrents.com