Welcome to Round 2 of the pork sandwich bracket. Four sandwiches have made the cut and now they’ll be judged on the sandwich with slaw, service, atmosphere, price, a side item, and the number of napkins needed.
Let’s meet the contestants for the first round two match up.
Holding it down for Midtown, we’ve got Central Barbecue:
Sandwich with slaw from Central Barbecue
And in this corner, representing for extreme East Memphis, behold Captain John’s:
Sandwich with slaw from Captain John's
Sandwich (with slaw):
I’m not usually the sort of person who orders slaw on my sandwiches, but Central’s sandwich may have made me a convert. Their super fresh homemade slaw added a nice crunch to the sandwich. The vinegary slaw mixed well with the slightly sweet, spicy sauce. The meat was crazy tender. The pulled pieces were big and light in color. So tasty. (8.5 points)
The slaw on the Captain John’s sandwich added a nice kick. The meat was chopped rather than pulled. It was tender, and there weren’t any gamy bits. The texture of the slaw was a little bit weird. While Central’s slaw was more like adding lettuce to the sandwich, the slaw at Captain John’s was more like relish. Tasty, but a little distracting. (7 points)
The Mess
I tried to pick up my sandwich from Central. After moving the fries out of the way and digging around a little with my fork, I couldn’t find the bottom for all of the sauce, meat and slaw. I gave up and pulled the top of the bun off and made a little open-faced sandwich and ate the rest with a fork. Even with the fork, there was all sorts of sandwich all over the place. (3 napkins)
Captain John’s sandwich was comparatively easy to pick up. However, I didn’t get a very good grip and half of my meat and slaw fell off of the bun. The sandwich had a good sauce to meat to bun ratio. Though, bearded men beware – when my dinner companion looked up from his plate, his lumberjack beard was covered in