Beefing Up Eats in Oglethorpe County

If you ask a resident of Crawford, Georgia, how many red lights his city has, he'll tell you, "Just one."

If you ask a resident of Oglethorpe County in Georgia how many red lights her county has, her answer will be the same. Hint: It's the same light.

For the longest time, that red light had an old car dealership on one side. I drove past it every time I went from Athens to Evans and vice versa when I was in college. It had some antique cars in the showroom and new wheels outside. The dealership closed a couple years back and the beautiful white building sat vacant. Crawford is a rural area — all of Oglethorpe County is, honestly; there's a reason why it only has one stoplight and that's because there's a lot more farmland than anything else — so part of me wasn't overly surprised to see a big, shiny place like that close shop in a tiny city. But I did wonder what would go there next.

I'm never a fan of progress for progress' sake. Small-town Georgia shouldn't be overrun with commercial businesses and fast food franchises [y'all don't even get me started on That One Giant Clothing Store That Opened In Downtown Athens ...], in my humble opinion. But at the same time, that was a gorgeous, historic building. It had potential. And I'm not talking about the "big developer from big city wants to tear it down and build high-rise apartments" potential. I'm talking this place could be anything and draw people to Crawford, people who may learn to appreciate the charms of this little place as more than just the only place in Oglethorpe County with a stoplight.

A former Ford dealership gets new life as Crawford,
Georgia's latest restaurant.

One day a few months back, I scrolled through Facebook and stopped at a picture of a familiar building. That old dealership was getting a makeover as a barbecue place! And even better, it was going to be owned by some of my favorite beef friends in the state, the Gretsch family. Yes, it's the same family that owns the guitar company.

The first day I saw the "coming soon" sign up on the building, I was so excited that I accidentally forgot that I was at a stoplight and I drove right through it. Sorry Oglethorpe PD; that's my bad.

G Brand BBQ (the name coming from the "G" brand the Gretsch family uses to market its Angus beef cattle, under the moniker Gretsch Brothers Angus) opened to the public last week, and y'all know I was there opening day!

I rolled up after work and was a little concerned I wouldn't be able to find a parking spot. Let me tell you, the place used to be a car dealership, but it barely had space for the amount of BBQ fans coming out to eat and to support this new venture for the Gretsches! The building itself is spacious, with plenty of seating on the right-hand side and a large waiting room area and to-go counter on the left. There's nothing fancy. It's Southern, it's homey, there's some pig decorations; it's exactly what I want a barbecue place to be like.

The menu is straightforward: you choose your meat(s) and your side(s). Plates come with two sides, or you can snag favorites a la carte. Meat choices include chicken, St. Louis ribs, babyback ribs, pulled pork and brisket. Sides are stew, beans, coleslaw and applesauce. I got JE a half-pound of pulled pork, which comes with bread in case you want to make a sandwich, and for myself ... I couldn't help but get the brisket sandwich plate.

Pause for reflection ... I met the Gretsch family in about 2012 or '13, not long after I started working as the communications director for Georgia Cattlemen's Association. Now, when you work for Georgia Cattlemen's Association, or you're a GCA member, or you know a GCA member or maybe you just show up for a random membership meeting, you don't eat fish. You sure as heck don't eat chicken. You can maybe get away with pork. But you are 99.999 percent more likely to be eating a hamburger, a steak or brisket for whatever meal is provided. We ate A LOT of beef brisket. So it seemed completely appropriate to indulge in some nostalgia on opening day of G Brand BBQ.

Brisket is the cut of meat that comes from the chest area of a beef animal. Think of it as the beef version of the chicken breast. Because that's a pretty heavily muscled cut of meat, it's best done rubbed down or marinated, then slow-cooked or smoked to get it nice and tender. Then you can chip it or slice it. My sandwich was chipped brisket (a little messy; don't be me and wear a white shirt, as you will regret that life choice) and I could've eaten two, I was so hungry. The meat had that iron-rich flavor of beef and was a little dry, but it had such good taste that was fine by me.

The stew was a tad sweet, thanks to the corn inclusion. I loved its consistency — very even, not overly chunky, but not runny, either. (Wow, that was a lot of commas in that sentence.) It got eaten straight with a spoon, but I bet if there was an option to serve it over rice that would be incredible. Since I'm into spicy food lately a touch of heat wouldn't have been a bad addition.

And the slaw! There are only two places I will now willingly eat slaw, and this made the list. It's crunchy, a little sweet and tastes good on top of a brisket sandwich or mixed with the stew or by itself. I love that it had mayonnaise as the binder, but it wasn't watered down and gross like a lot of Southern slaws tend to be in my mind.

A brisket sandwich, stew and slaw from G Brand BBQ.

Now, I didn't get dessert ... but G Brand also has dessert options, including banana pudding, peach cobbler, cakes and brownies. Some are provided by a local bakeshop called The Crafty Spirit, and I believe the 'nanner puddin' and cobbler are in-house. By the time I got there, it looked like there were only a couple slices of cake left, so that's going to be a return trip treat for sure! And maybe I'll grab some peach cobbler while I'm at it (y'all know how I feel about bananas ...) for, you know, taste-test purposes.

I'm going to be hard-pressed not to stop in on every single dad-burned trip to and from Evans. It's hard for me to say "no" to BBQ, especially when there's so much more on the menu left to try! Like, I am pretty sure the ribs were gone within hours, so they were long-gone by the time I was able to slip out that far down 78. In fact, they were sold out of everything on opening day before 8 p.m!

Between the food and the family who owns it, I think G Brand will be a destination joint for Athens townies, Georgia fans on their way into town and residents of Oglethorpe and Oconee. You should find time to stop in, too. I'm a firm believer in supporting our farmers and entrepreneurs. Patronizing these locally owned, family-run, one-of-a-kind businesses is what keeps them around. And as much as I love me some McDonald's French fries ... there's a whole lot more charm to your meal when you can take a left just after a county's only stoplight and know your brisket sandwich purchase helps keep a family farm afloat to feed the rest of your country.

This Beer, I'll Eat.

Food things I like: beer, bacon, burgers, beef, bread, cheese.

I mean, secretly I'm clearly a stereotypical man, apparently. So it should surprise exactly zero people that Justin and I celebrated our birthdays (mine was March 19th, his the 20th) with beer at the original Taco Mac. 

Yeah, ya heard me: Taco. Mac.

Do not be fooled, my friends. First of all, I've said it before: I don't get paid to do this. I am not a "real food blogger" by any means. I do not even like the word "blog," to be honest with you. So, I can go into a chain restaurant and tell you what I think of the food if I so dad-gum please, because not all of us are hired by Atlanta Magazine and given a $100 bill for just the appetizer section of the menu.
Disclaimer: No idea if that's how real food critics work. 

Anyway! Back to the point of the matter. The original Taco Mac is located in our neighborhood of Atlanta, the Virginia Highlands, in a section on the corner of Virginia and North Highland. It's small, it's unassuming, it probably seats a grand total of 40 people. The inside is a little dark. The bar has cool bottles on a shelf and draft beer taps in front of the stools. I'm not kidding when I say my apartment may be the same size as the original Taco Mac.

What I'm getting at is that you shouldn't judge a chain restaurant. My first Taco Mac experience was at the chain version, and I felt a little bit like I was in an Applebee's with more of a tex-mex feel. The layout was similar; the local high school football pennants were there; it was bright and sunny and felt more like a restaurant than a bar that just happens to serve good food. Chain Taco Macs, like most franchises, vary greatly. In fact, Justin flat-out refused to go to the original because of how miserable his experiences were at other locations. It was only by the prodding of our friend Peter that we finally ventured forth behind the screen doors of the patio and into the depths of this fine bar establishment.

And now we go back at least once a month.

This particular night, I'd heard on the radio something about limited time menu items featuring Sweetwater beer. I am not a fan of the Sweetwater beers I've tried. They've been a little weak, the pale ale a little too pale, and indeed ... sweet. One day I'll write about the Meateterian's drinking habits. But today, I present you with a beer that I may not drink, but I'll sure as heck eat.

Taco Mac's 420 Fish & Chips.

Sweetwater 420-battered fish and chips at Taco Mac

Now, take this with a grain of salt: I cannot speak for the fish and chips meal at all of the Taco Mac locations. But if you come to the original, I suspect you'll be pleasantly surprised by the atmosphere and the menu items.

According to the manager, Sweetwater 420 is the beer added to these traditional beer-battered fish. Ever since my first trip to Captain D's as a toddler (at the time, my favorite things to eat were the crispy bits of breading), I've had a bit of a thing for fish and chips. The fact that fish are now found in sandwiches and tacos only expands my excitement. These fish and chips were GOOD. The breading is light, a little peppery and crunchy. The fish itself was nice and flaky -- I did forget to ask whether it was fresh or frozen, but it tasted fresh -- and had a good meatiness to it. Fish and chips that are soggy or heavily breaded or don't have the right fish (meaning the fish falls apart) may have good flavor, but are not worth your time to eat a fish stick with a fork. Thankfully I was able to eat these with both my hands, and even better, they weren't really greasy.

The slaw that comes on the side of this meal isn't half-bad. Slaw is a great side for fish because it's light, has a good crunch and adds some color to a brown plate. My only qualm with this slaw was the flavor. I liked that instead of strips of cabbage and carrots, these were thinly diced (which had a good texture, like a crunchy couscous) and the veggies weren't drowning in Duke's mayonnaise. However, and this is mostly because I've gotten really into slaw other than coleslaw, it tasted kind of bland in comparison to the fish that starred on the plate. I feel like there's room for improvement.

Bottom line on this one, folks, don't judge a book by its cover, a flavorful beer batter by its sweet liquid counterpart or an original location by its chain compadres. Come to the original Taco Mac, join Brewniversity (Athens folks, it's like Pauley's, but you have an app that tracks your beers instead of a card) and eat these fish and chips before they're gone off the summer menu.

Photo cred: Jailhouse Brewing

Boozy Bonus!

Because this is a post about Taco Mac and I did mention Brewniversity (of which I am a proud student), this blog would  not be complete without a beer mention.

Our waiter recommended Jailhouse Mugshot. Jailhouse Brewing is a Georgia brewery located in Hampton, a little southish of Atlanta. I like hoppy and flavorful beers. I like supporting Georgia breweries and distilleries (as long as their products taste good). Mugshot is hoppy and flavorful and from Georgia. The website says it pairs well with pizza and sharp cheddar cheeses, but it also pairs well with beer-battered fish and chips.

Mugshot is an IPA, which can come off as either bitter all the way through or end with a bitter aftertaste, but I enjoyed that this brew presented with bitter and finished with a warm sweetness. It was also light, a good thing when you're eating anything fried.