All that jazz… Jazzy’s BBQ, Tampa FL
The humid afternoon Florida air clung to my sweat soaked skin as I slogged home from another full day of shooting. Suddenly there was something else in the air, hitting me like a dense wall almost physically knocking me back a step–startling me from my heat induced stupor…
The rich, thick aroma of charred wood, charcoal and singed meat threw me back 20 years and instantly I was back at the family cottage, warm sand between my toes with the familiar smell of barbecue smoke filling the summer air. The smoke billowing out from the chimney wrapped around me like warm, comforting arms pulling me back to reality and towards the front door…
(a bit dramatic? perhaps or maybe you haven’t read enough of my posts to know how I feel about BBQ!)
As I walked into the dark restaurant I knew this was the place. This wasn’t just a BBQ restaurant, this was a smokehouse. The bbq dominating the open kitchen was packed with fresh meat, the entire room coated with years of char and smoke. A big friendly smile and hello from the guy lounging at one of the tables and you knew he owned the joint.
It smelled amazing and I was starving, having not really had a decent meal since I had arrived in Tampa. I won’t get into all the flowery, wanky words we food writers use. They don’t apply here. This was just a good old southern smokehouse with red vinyl cafe chairs, styrofoam plates and plastic cutlery. Nothing fancy but I would be dubious of any BBQ joint that was.
The food was pretty darn good. Huge ribs with a ton of meat,perfect amount of juicy fat to keep it moist and just enough sauce to add some sweet heat without masking the subtle smokey goodness of the meat itself. I’ll admit, I wasn’t stoked on the pulled pork. It was a little dried out for my taste but mixed together with a little bit of the creamy coleslaw it made a mean little pulled pork sandwich.
Everyone was super friendly, from the staff to the steady stream of locals coming in to eat. Now that I think about it I think I chatted with almost every group that came in.
While I won’t pretend it was the best BBQ I’ve ever had I would definitely go back, I may even go back tonight and try the sausage. It was $9.50 well spent. I just wish I was still going to be around on Friday when they serve collard greens and cornbread.
All in all I would rate Jazzy’s 7 paper napkins out of 10.
That’s my new rating system for BBQ, I figure the really good stuff I go through a least 10 napkins.
I just made it up. Think it will catch on?
Jazzy’s BBQ
5703 West Waters Avenue, Tampa, FL 33634
