Good Food in the Lowe's Parking Lot - Elwood's Shack

I'd recently seen some impressive-looking pictures of some of the food from Elwood's Shack that a friend posted on Facebook. This friend was the same barbecue judge and competitor who told me about the Wing & BBQ Shack when it opened and between my faith in his opinions and what I was seeing in the pictures I knew I needed to try the place.

Elwood's Shack is located in the parking lot of the Lowe's at Summer and Perkins in the building formerly occupied by the Pizza Shack. The new restaurant still offers pizzas; but barbecue, smoked wings and an enticing selection of sandwiches are also on the menu along with breakfast foods in the mornings. Since it is so close to Covington Pike I decided to stop in on the Friday before last while I was already going to be out that way for work.

I almost changed my mind when I opened my copy of the Commercial Appeal that morning while I was eating breakfast and saw a glowing review of the restaurant. I'm wary of visiting restaurant's immediately after positive reviews are published in the paper since they can frequently end up being overwhelmed by the sudden influx of new customers. But I was going to be driving past anyway and I decided that if the place was too crowded I could always head a few blocks down Summer to Jack's Bar-B-Que Rib Shack (somehow every single restaurant mentioned in this post has the word shack in its name).

While Elwood's was indeed full of customers with a line of people at the register when I arrived I could see that the kitchen was getting food out to customers at a steady pace so I went ahead and ordered a barbecue pork sandwich. It comes with either regular or jalapeno slaw so I went with the intriguing-sounding jalapeno variety.

 

The sandwich ended up being a gloriously big, sloppy beast that I mostly ate open-faced with a fork. The pork was well-smoked, the jalapeno slaw added a nice extra kick and the bun was perfectly toasted and buttered, which showed some impressive attention to detail despite the unusually high volume of customers that day. For $6 it is one hell of a sandwich. It should also be noted that in the mornings you can get the barbecue piled on a breakfast burrito along with eggs, jalapenos, tomatoes, onions, potatoes and cheese for a Ron Swanson-worthy start to your day.

 

After I finished my sandwich I decided to head back to the counter and try an order of smoked wings since a small order was just four wings. They ended up being huge as well. They had a delicious smoke flavor and the order includes a piece of grilled pineapple, which was a nice added touch. I was only able to eat two of them after already having the sandwich. I took the other two home with me where my wife later devoured them on sight.

The menu at Elwood's Shack was extensive enough that I have plans for my next couple visits. I want to try the barbecue sandwich with beef brisket. And the restaurant makes its own roast beef that looks amazing in pictures I've seen of the sandwiches made with it.