We’ve been planning on trying a couple of Q/soul food restaurants in
the area. Pammie’s is up first. It’s a tiny storefront on Copley
Road with terrible parking…most of which is taken up by the trailer
with the smoker. Very little and rickety seating, a couple of
windows in the wall for ordering and delivery. It ain’t pretty.
Having been lucky enough to have dined as some Q stops in the South
and some of the best have been far from pretty. |
What really had me thinking of the South was the frighteningly and
fierce friendliness of the service. If you’ve ever been, you almost
can’t walk down the street without making a dozen new friends. The
woman working the counter at Pammie’s was fun, funny, helpful and
seemed genuinely interested in our experience. Our brief interaction
with others was the same. I instantly wanted to love the place…and
there was a fair bit to love. |
Parking Is For The Pit |
Not Long On Fancy...As It Should Be |
||
We ordered two combos (rib & ½ chicken) (fish & shrimp) which came
with four sides and although the menu said premium sides were extra
we were told pick whatever you want. That ended up being coleslaw,
fries, mac and cheese and potato salad. The slaw was mostly cabbage
and tasted much like cabbage and little else. The potato salad had a
much more active set of ingredients resulting in a creamy and tasty
balance to their sauces. The fries were brown and crispy and I will
have them atop their polish boy at some point. The mac was also more
southern than you would typically see ‘round these parts…not noodles
in a dairy based sauce but sauced noodles baked in bunches of
cheese. It’ll do. |
|||
Slaw Did Very Little For Me |
Well Done Crispiness |
||
Old School Southern Mac |
Tasty Bound Taters |
|
The ribs were huge, meaty, and tender, not competition quality but then again, who's is? The chicken had noticeable smoke. I found myself hoping for some additional flavors supporting both. Their sauce(s) lean towards a mild heat based. Think very lightly spiced tomato based hot sauce. There isn’t much in the way of sweet, veg, herb or spice that shines through. I would have liked a more noticeable rub or a couple other layers in the sauce, but it is a unique combo of flavors I haven’t seen elsewhere.
We did get a couple cups of orange sauce with the combos. I would do
shooters of this stuff. There is a light sweetness underlying the
round warming spice, kinda like honey mustard with hot sauce instead
of the mustard. Almost licked the cup. We were told they do
everything from scratch. |
||
Similar Sauce On Smoky Chicken |
Magic Orange Make It All Better Sauce |
||
The shrimp were fat and coated with a batter, which brought extraordinary texture and flavor. It even stayed crispy after long lounging dips in the hot sauce. There have been times we’ve had seafood battered with something that turns out leathery and distasteful. Pammie’s is what those wanted to be. It looked like it was going to lead to disappointment but was, instead, stupendous. The catfish struggled. Likely long frozen it turned to absolute mush in the fryer. Is there baby food made of fish? Baby fish? Even so, with the addition of the orange cup of happiness, we ate it all.
On the way out, we took a couple desserts to go. Can you get any
more Southern than peach cobbler and banana pudding? The cobbler was
fine…seemed spiced like apple pie, but the banana pudding with it’s
classical thick rich vanilla custard, slices of fruit and ‘nilla
wafers…so good. Pammie’s had fairly good Q served by really nice
people. They seem to do a lot of takeout…I’ll be back to try the
polish boy…with extra orange joy. |
|||
The Batter On The Seafood Was Perfect |
But The Catfish Itself Suffered Texturally |
Ratings | |||||||
Food |
Service |
Ambiance |
What's Best |
What's Worst |
Overall |
||
C | A | B | A | D | C+ | ||
Orange Sauce | Batter Saves Mushy Fish From An F |