My college roommate was commonly known around campus as Hillbilly. Also, my father was born and raised in West Virginia, ancestral homeland of the Hillbilly Nation.
My point (and I do have one) is that I know a thing or two about hillbillies. They're down-to-earth, hard-working and maybe a little bit on the wild side. And they love good barbecue.
With that in mind, I took the short drive to Lookout Valley to see what was happening at Hillbilly Willy's Bar-B-Q. George Foster's restaurant has been drawing hungry diners for years and was even featured on public television's "Tennessee Crossroads" a few years back.
With a strong word of mouth and lots of satisfied customers, it was high time I found out what all the fuss was about.
If you go
› Where: Hillbilly Willy’s Bar-B-Q, 115 Browns Ferry Road.› Phone: 423-821-2272.› Website: www.hillbillywillys.com.› Hours: 11:30 a.m.-8 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday.› Price range: $5.45 for a pork sandwich to $27.30 for a full slab of ribs and all the fixins.
THE SPACE
Anyone who knows anything about hillbillies knows that they don't go in for ostentatious displays. Hillbilly Willy's is easy to miss, tucked away in a shopping center on Brown's Ferry Road. Once inside, the restaurant is rustic with a down-home feel.
The theme of the decorations is pure hillbilly, with lots of photos of moonshine stills and good old boys with their jugs of white lightning.
Sadly, white lightning doesn't appear on the menu at Hillbilly Willy's, but the food makes up for this omission.
THE MENU
It's a barbecue joint, plain and simple. And that's meant as a total compliment.
Foster smokes all the meat on-site, and the pork is hand-pulled. They offer regular and spicy sauce made from the Foster family secret recipe. Ribs, pork, beef and chicken plates are offered, and sandwiches can be ordered as well.
Specialty items include the barbecue-stuffed baked potato and the barbecue fry plate (I will come back to this momentarily).
Homemade desserts are made fresh daily.
THE ORDER
Now, back to that barbecue fry plate. One of the most popular selections at Hillbilly Willy's, the barbecue fry plate is bed of fries topped with Hillbilly Willy's sauce, cheese, your choice of meat, a side of slaw and barbecue beans. There was no way that I was going to pass that up.
This is literally the Mount Rushmore of barbecue - fries, sauce and meat all blending together with beans cascading down one side of the plate. I'm not a slaw guy, so I passed on that. But shooo-mercy, that was a plate of barbecue.
The sauce is tasty with just enough tangy and sweet to complement the flavor of the meat. For those not up to eating a dish the size of a medium-sized cat, you may want to substitute a barbecue sandwich for the fry plate. But I don't regret my decision one bit.
Hillbilly Willy's also offer catering services, so keep them in mind for your next tailgate or family get-together. A pulled pork or beef party pack with all the fixings for four looks like the perfect plan for a picnic.
THE SERVICE
You order your meal at the counter, and Hillbilly Willy's friendly staff takes care of things from there. They brought my meal in a timely manner along with a massive jelly jar of sweet tea.
I arrived for my meal early on a weekday evening to find the place empty, but before I left, the restaurant was filling up with hungry customers. Clearly, Foster and his staff have developed a loyal following.
THE VERDICT
Hillbilly Willy's is a great little barbecue joint that will fill you up when you're hungry. The staff is friendly, the food is good and the restaurant is inviting.
And as I gazed in amazement at the looming barbecue fry plate before me, it was almost like looking into the Appalachian Mountains of West Virginia. Almost heaven, indeed.
Contact Jim Tanner at JFTanner@bellsouth.net. Follow him at twitter.com/JFTanner.