The Barbecue Food Truck - Scooter's

The Memphis City Council recently passed an ordinance allowing food trucks to roam the city beyond the festivals and special events they'd previously been confined to. Yesterday I noticed the Scooter's Bar-B-Que truck parked at Winchester and Riverdale in Hickory Hill on way home from work, so I decided to grab some food truck que for dinner.

The truck was piping out barbecue smoke from a little vent on its side and Prince tunes from a flat panel TV hooked to a stereo in the back of it that were playing concert footage. The operator of the truck was standing beside it enthusiastically singing and dancing along with the music, which he continued to do while he put together my order of two pulled pork plates and a half-slab of dry ribs.

 

 The words "authentic Memphis Que" are guaranteed to grab my attention.

I was glad to see a real, metal barbecue pit inside the truck that was responsible for the appetizing smoke drifting from the vent. The sign on the menu board said Scooter's has been serving mobile barbecue since 1992 and the truck has been a longtime familiar site at local events like Memphis in May Beale Street Music Festival. 

 

The pulled pork was overwhelmed by the overuse of sauce. The sauce wasn't bad, there was just way too much of it, making it impossible to judge the flavor of the actual meat. The coleslaw was creamier than I prefer but had a nice vinegar bite while the beans seemed like standard canned goods. The ribs were definitely the best part of the meal with an excellent dry rub and plenty of juicy meat that was bright pink from absorbing smoke flavor hiding beneath a deliciously charred exterior.