Food review & Tweeting for business

Earlier today, Chris and I made a short trip to Republic to try out a BBQ restaurant.
(Retirement has its perks!) If you are a follower of mine on Instagram or Twitter (or maybe you just follow any of the various food hashtags), you have seen some of my recent food pics.

Apparently, the social media folks at Heady BBQ follow food tweets and they have commented on some of mine. After a few back and forth tweets and an invitation to come try them out, I decided it was time to make the short drive from Ozark and see what they have to offer.

Chris' simple review was, "I'd come back here!"
Given that it is a little out of our normal area, that means that it was pretty good.
She had the pulled pork sliders which was their pulled pork on small Hawaiian bread buns with their sauce and a fried pickle. Her only complaint was that there was enough pork on each slider to cover the taste of the one fried pickle. She said next time she might ask for an extra pickle on each!

I ordered the two meat platter so that I could try both the pulled pork and the brisket. My sides were baked beans and cole slaw.

Before I get to the meats, I want to say that these were the best pit beans I've had in a long time! Unfortunately, many places add too much sugar to their baked beans and sweet beans are not what I want with smoked meats. Heady's beans were great--a little smokey and seasoned just right! I'm going to guess and say a little cumin and garlic along with a little smoked pork. Whatever it was, be sure to order a side of beans when you go!
The cole slaw wasn't anything out of the ordinary, but it wasn't too creamy and, again, it wasn't too sweet. It is the kind of slaw that is perfect for topping a pulled pork sandwich if you like that kind of thing (and I do!).

As for the meats --
I am a pulled pork kind of guy and rarely order brisket if given the choice. I ordered it here just to get a better feel for the restaurant. I thought about getting the hot link, but I am of the opinion that few restaurants have good hotlinks, so I went with the brisket.
Both meats were tasty and tender. I really liked the pork and the beef was also very good. I tasted each without any sauce or additional seasoning so that I could get a better idea of the smoked flavor and natural juiciness of each. Then I used a generous amount of the cayenne bbq sauce and added some slaw to the pulled pork ('cause that's what I like) and used just the sauce with the brisket.

I'll probably skip the brisket in the future, but that is more of a personal preference than an indictment of their product. I'm up for a nice pulled pork sandwich with slaw and some of their spicy cayenne bbq sauce. And I'll be sure to have a side of those awesome beans, too!

The platter included a piece of toast which seemed out of place. I suppose that it needs some type of bread, but the toast seemed more like and afterthought than a part of the meal. A thicker 1/2 slice of Texas toast, a cornmeal roll or even a cornbread muffin would have made a better plate appearance and added to the platter rather than just being kind of ... meh.

The place was clean. The price point was what you would expect. The portions were adequate and the service was friendly.
There is a Buckingham's BBQ place about a mile from our house and it is pretty convenient when we are looking for a quick bbq dinner out. If the two were next to each other or the same distance from us, I'm sure that we would head over to Heady's!

As it is, I am sure that we'll be back.
After all, I still need to try the hot link, the ham, and the smoked turkey!

Bon appetit!

John <><