Red Dog Saloon

If you like getting your hands dirty, then Red Dog Saloon is probably right up your street. Part of a chain, this Texas-inspired barbecue joint is all about meat, or meat slathered in melted cheese. Take a look at the website gallery and you’ll agree this ain’t no place for our vegan pals.

There’s such a thing as a carnivore platter, natch. It doesn’t come cheap, but it does give you a taste of all the smoked (as in barbecued) meats on the menu, served with homemade dill pickles, fresh-cut sweet Vidalia onions (grown only in the US state of Georgia) and a range of signature barbecue sauces. Those meats, since you’re asking, are as follows: hot links, blood sausage, chopped pork, wings, US Department of Agriculture-graded beef brisket, St Louis pork ribs and 30-day dry-aged beef rib. Burgers, they have them – 13 of the beef variety and five of the bird at the last count, with names like Punisher and Devastator. You can get single or double, or you can go the whole hog with the Smash burger – double, quad, sixer or 8-pack of 30-day dry-aged 3oz ground chuck patties stippled with wafer-thin onions, glazed with marrow butter, and topped with American cheese and red dog sauce. If all this sounds a bit too beefy, there’s quite the spread of chicken to choose from too, with trays of the stuff: marinated, floured and fried, your pieces, wings or jumbo tenders are then “doused” (their word) in a Nashville, Tennessee-inspired sauce spiced with cayenne pepper and brown sugar, and served with bread and homemade dill pickles.

Sides, like you need them, include fries of various types plus pit beans and burnt end mash. Drinks? Think American craft beers and the same bourbon that goes into the peach sauce. Desserts don’t really feature, but who needs a triple heart bypass at this time of year, anyway?

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