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Smoke over Midway: The Hickory Pit By Judge Dave
On our recent visit, my friend Jim and I, along with my five- year-old grandson (you gotta train'em young to appreciate the finer things in life), ordered up a couple of jumbo pork plates with a side of barbecue beans, coleslaw, and rolls, half a slab of big meaty spare ribs and a smoked chicken sandwich. The first thing you notice about your plate is the generous portion of pork Eric serves up. Jim and I both agreed there must have been a half pound of pork on each of our plates. The pork is served with a vinegar sauce already on the meat and there is a fairly good red sauce on the table. For you meat purist be sure to ask for the sauce on the side. The pork was tender and had a good smoky taste to it. The barbecue beans were chocked full of barbecue pork and were better than a lot of the better know barbecue joints I have visited in the past. The slaw was so-so, but then again I personally prefer a mayo based slaw. My grandson gave the smoked chicken sandwich a great review in that he ate every morsel of it. I didn't even get a chance to taste of it. That boy can hold his own with the big barbecue dogs.
Eric's great barbecue adventure has been in progress since January 2002 when he bought The Hickory Pit. Since he purchased a going business, not much was changed menu wise, however, Eric added a couple of signature items that's not usually found in a barbecue joint. His Aztec Taco Stew and Killer Taco salad are among the best sellers and are garnering a following of their own. We plan to give them a try on our next visit. Eric hasn't always been in the barbecue business, while he did grow up in his Dad's place, he had been in the mattress business for 13 years before buying The Hickory Pit. However, prior to going into The Hickory Pit, he had continued to hone his pitmaster skills doing holiday cooking's and caterings for friends and relatives.
The Hickory Pit is located at 23419 AL Highway 24, Trinity, Ala 35673. There're open Monday through Saturday, 10:00 am till 8:00 pm, closed on Sunday. Inside seating is limited and most orders are for take out. The Hickory Pit offers a good variety of Pork, chicken, ribs, turkey, barbecue beans, pinto beans with homemade cornbread, Killer Taco Salad and Aztec Stew at unbelievable prices. Several variety family packs are also available in different price ranges. Give Eric a call the next time you want to feed a group and he'll work out a package just for you. The Hickory Pit's phone number is 256-351-9904. |
Located on a knoll on the north side of Alabama Highway 24 between Decatur and Moulton at Midway Community is a true mom and pop barbecue joint. This is the kind of barbecue joint folks will drive miles to find. Owned and operated by Eric Waid of the Mt. Hope community, The Hickory Pit will delight you. Upon pulling into a parking place and exiting your car, you'll be greeted with the sweet smell of hickory and pecan smoke wafting from a real barbecue pit. Not one of your store bought fancy stainless steel hickory southern “set it and forget it” units for Eric. He believes in doing things the way his father, Marvin Waid, did at his well-known barbecue stand down at Smith Lake near Double Springs, Ala. He arrives early each morning and stokes the pits up to operating temperature, preps the meat, and gets the daily load to cooking. Chicken and ribs are prepared fresh everyday, and pork butts are smoked every other day or as needed. The results of Eric's labor are something to write home to your mama about. This is true southern, handcrafted barbecue. 
The spare ribs were served dry with a couple of containers of the same red sauce that was on the table. They were very tender and juicy and the meat easily pulled from the bone. All three of us agreed they were above average ribs. All of the bones were pretty well cleaned, not leaving a whole lot for Jim's dog Bubba to work on. Good thing that dogs just like the bones. After we returned home, Jim said that Bubba “wuffed” down the rib bones in record time not even stopping for a sip of water. Guess that's the HDSA (Hound Dog Seal of Approval). 
While Eric handles the smoky side of things, his wife Jennifer and her Mother, Jenny Knighten build the orders and handle the side items to makes sure things flow from the kitchen correctly. They do let Eric help with taking orders at the drive thru window and pouring the Pepsi products.
