Nothin' Could be Finer . . .

Charlie Boy's Pit BBQ in Springville advertizes itself as "authentic Carolina BBQ." There are certainly signs that it is authentic. You can see the smoker and smell the rich BBQ smoke everywhere. Also, you can buy meat in bulk. That's always a good sign.

What makes it Carolina? There are several distinct regional barbecue traditions. The Carolinas are rich enough to have several of their own. Charlie Boy's provides an eastern-style Carolina BBQ, which means pulled pork, slaw, and a vinegar/hot pepper sauce. (They also offer a beef sandwich, but it is pulled brisket rather than the sliced brisket more common to Texas style.) I didn't find as many sides as I expected, but they did offer up a pretty good potato salad (a little on the sweet side) and good beans. Carolina usually means "whole hog" barbecue, which apparently CB's sponsors on occasion. I thought the sauce was great, on either the pork or beef. (The pork is more authentic Carolina, but I actually like the beef better.) Next time, I'll check into getting a bottle. I'm a big fan of slaw, and I like theirs a lot. And do you suppose you could just get a dozen of their soft rolls?

Charlie Boy's is on 1400 North Main Street in Springville, on the site of the old Brand X Burger (which I never had a chance to sample). There is no indoor seating, but some nice shaded outdoor seating for when things warm up again. (There is a second Charlie Boy's in Lehi.) I'll definitely be back in the summer.

Little Caesar's Hot N (Hardly Ever) Ready Pizza

I may come across as a bit of a pizza snob, and I do confess that I do have strong preferences, but I understand that part of the appeal of pizza is its convenience. There are some nights when you just want to get everyone fed in a timely manner. This need is answered by Little Caesar's Hot-N-Ready pizza, guaranteed to be ready for pick up.

But when it's not ready, it starts to lose its appeal. Little Caesar's has an adequate taste, but it's only really worth eating because it's cheap and fast. When it's not fast, then what's the point?

AnneMarie says that there has always been pizza ready whenever she has gone--except for the time she went with me. Perhaps I'm the problem. Tonight I only had to wait about ten minutes (someone had just come in and bought 17 pizzas for a Church youth night activity. It does say "no limit.").

Once I made the mistake of going in on a Friday night, when it was raining hard, and there was football on TV. That all adds up to no pizza. They told me I would wait for 20 minutes, but it ended up being 1 1/2 hours. (I stuck around because I had already paid. I was trapped.)

Part of the problem (apparently) is that some people confuse the Little Caesar stores in American Fork and Lehi. They'll call in one place but try to pick up in the other. I imagined on this night stacks and stacks of pizzas at the Lehi store with a bewildered crew wondering where all the customers were. It's Friday. Raining. Football. Why not make a whole bunch more pizzas? Although the service at LC's is usually adequate, this night it wasn't exactly the "A Team."
Let me try to explain this. They would run out of cheese pizzas, so they would start cooking a bunch of cheese pizzas. Then they would run out of pepperoni, so they would start cooking more pepperoni. They never seemed to have both cheese and pepperoni at the same time. I like cheese, and my kids say they like pepperoni (but then sometimes they eat my cheese pizza). On top of this, if someone came in just wanting cheese or just wanting pepperoni, the LC's crew would move them ahead in the line, ensuring that those of us who wanted both would never get our pizza. (While you're making all them there pepperoni pizzas, would it hurt anything to throw in a cheese pizza or two? Just in case? I only need one.)

So although the pizza is never ready on time, at least it's always hot.

Costco Ice Cream Bars

Costco food court has three frozen things that are worth mentioning: the berry smoothie, the berry sundae, and the dipped chocolate ice cream bar. The ice cream bar is pretty big, so you probably need two people. It's vanilla ice cream on a stick dipped in chocolate coating and nuts. Sometimes, they can be a little melty and messy, so grab a fistful of napkins.

Wingers

My oldest son had to work tonight (at Wendy's) so we took the younger two to Wingers. The kids like it because they get free popcorn, and they have pretty good meals for kids. But I always find myself a little disappointed. AnneMarie and I split a mango chicken salad with a poppyseed dressing. It sounds like a good recipe, but the mangos were still a little cold.

You're probably safe if you stick with their wings and ribs. I like their Amazing Sauce, but AnneMarie finds it too sweet. As I recall, they used to have a sweet sauce (the Winger's sauce), and a spicer BBQ sauce, but they've gone to a new menu, so some things have changed (such as no celery with the wings. How can they be Buffalo wings without celery?)

But spending just more than $20 we got free dessert, so that worked out all right. Wingers isn't unique to Utah, but it started here, and most of the restaurants are here too. There are Wingers in Orem, Provo, American Fork, Lehi, and several other places in Utah. They are also found in WA, OR, ID, WY, NV (but not California). There are also restaurants in Germany on the military bases. What's the story there?