Mike and Ed's is just across the railroad tracks from Auburn's campus town. You can smell the smoke from the street. Inside, it is an appealing and unassuming place. The walls are decorated with record albums from Conway Twitty and Tony Bennett, an eclectic collection. And their BBQ is excellent.
I ordered the ribs. They were cooked to a very tender, pull-off-the-bone state but with some tooth left. The smoke flavor came out nicely. I ordered the hot mustard sauce. It wasn't especially hot but it was very tasty and made a great complement to the smoke of the ribs. It had a fairly thin texture; it left only a thin coating on the meat that enhanced the flavor without distracting. The beans were excellent. The creamy cole slaw was rich and not gooey.
Luella's is a nouvelle BBQ outfit on the north side of Asheville. It is nestled among the trees in a lovely neighborhood. The restaurant has lots of windows for inside seating and plenty of outside seating. Service was courteous and amazingly fast. This is a combination plate with pork and brisket. Both were very moist and tender. For the pork, I tried both the mild and hot vinegar sauces. To my surprise, I preferred the milder one because it didn't assert itself too much. I enjoyed the spicy tomato sauce for my brisket. The hushpuppies were very good. The fried okra was fresh out of the fryer and excellent. The slaw was of the vinegary variety, which I usually enjoy, but this version is heavy on the white stuff and didn't have quite enough variety in tastes for me.


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