 Reviews
We Have Had Many
Fine Reviews Over The Years. These are just a sample. We invite you to
come in and try our wonderful Southern Bar-B-Q.
Dining With Duffy
Daily Journal –
Johnson County, IN
Wednesday, February
12, 2003
Welcome to the world of southern barbecue
Ten years ago, G.
Travis South pursued a dream of opening a restaurant specializing in a
cuisine woefully lacking in central Indiana at the time: southern smoked
barbecue. So he opened a modest restaurant called G.T. South’s Rib House
in northeast Indianapolis.
By the time the 20th
century came to a close, he had expanded his barbecue eatery six times
over. And with the 21st century barely under way, he has added
a second rib house on the south side. The 180-seat G. T. South emporium
dominates Emerson Place Shoppes at South Emerson Avenue and Thompson Road.
At the south side
forum, two medium-sized dining rooms flank a large bar area. It offers a
comfortable setting with no frills décor, free of signage and artistic
renderings in the apparent belief that a person patronizing a barbecue
establishment is there to hunker down and eat free of distractions.
South’s employs a
steel pit smoker fueled by hickory wood. The smoker has its way for
several hours at low heat with babyback ribs, pork shoulder, beef brisket,
chicken and turkey breast. South’s stands by the commandment “Cook it low
and smoke it slow.” South’s reputation has been greatly enhanced by
pulled pork sandwiches. Strings of meat are pulled from the pork
shoulder, piled high on a bun and coated in a sweet, smoky house barbecue
sauce offered at different spice levels.
The sliced beef
brisket sandwich also earns extensive kudos for flavor and tenderness.
The baby back ribs are offered “wet” and liberally doused in sauce or
“dry” with the sauce on the side. I ordered a half-slab of ribs in
combination with the barbecued chicken, featuring meat from the thigh and
leg.
The baby backs were
exceptionally tender. The meat didn’t fall off the bone, making the ribs
gnaw-worthy to fully appreciate the smoked flavor. The hickory pit also
did justice to the chicken, rendered tender and moist. For the record,
smoked barbecue tends to give pork meat a pinkish hue when fully cooked.
The proprietors want to assure you it has not been cooked medium rare.
Also noteworthy is the
Brunswick stew ( $1.50 cup/$3.25 bowl) basically a sweet, spicy tomato
soup simmered with bits of pork, chicken, beef and corn. The smoked
flavor of the meats offers an impressive mix of flavors. Side dishes,
from which you can choose with an entrée, also are worthy, notably the
barbecued beans, cole slaw and turnip greens.
In introducing central
Indiana to the Southern charms of smoked barbecue, G. Travis South – a
novice to the restaurant business when he started in 1992 – has quietly
brought a barbecue renaissance. And that is a good thing.
G.T. South's Rib House by Susan Guyett
January 19, 2001
Indianapolis Star
Because you can't make
reservations at G.T. South's Rib House unless there are at least eight in
your party, you'll probably have time to take a look around the waiting
room before you get seated at this popular Northeast side spot. There's an
old photo on the wall of a young man proudly showing off a prize winning
pig at a fair. The young man is G.T. South, the time was the 1950s, and
the place was the livestock show at the Royston Lions Club.
South was a salesman for
more than 30 years before he ever got involved with pigs in a big way
again by opening a rib joint about eight years ago that bears his name. He
learned how to cook, Southern-style, back in his home state of Georgia.
G.T. South's ribs (and the
other meats offered on the menu) are a work of art. Dry-rubbed and cooked
on the premises for up to 12 hours over hickory wood, the resulting
barbecue is all that's needed to award South a Ph.D. in Southern cooking.
That school insists the best barbecue comes from "cooking low and smoking
slow."
Now, if you think all
barbecue is the same, it just may be you've never tried this particular
style of Southern cuisine. There is a distinct difference, and true
barbecue lovers have learned to appreciate the best aspects of all
barbecue prepared by masters.
At South's, there's no
basting with sauce during the cooking process. The meat, which has been
dry rubbed with the chef’s special combination of spices, is slowly
smoked. The process leads the meat to appear somewhat pink in color, even
though it's fully cooked. South's menu even alerts patrons to this
phenomenon.
The sauce comes next. You
can order the tomato-based sauce (that comes mild, hot or 911) slathered
on after cooking or served on the side.
You only have to see the
crowds lined up for dinner or for take-out to know this is a popular spot.
Ambiance is not a top priority. The no-frills dining room could double as
a VFW hall with its simple decor and no-nonsense furniture. There are a
few pictures on the wall, but if you are looking for art, you'll have to
take a gander at the 75 or so pigs in various shapes and sizes that South
has received as gifts from friends and customers.
The no-nonsense approach
extends beyond the decor to the clientele. Customers at the now defunct
Montgomery Inn used to get a bib with their rib dinner. I'd bet no one at
G.T. South's would be caught dead in a bib unless they were in a
highchair. Adults may go home with a spot of sauce on their clothes, but
they won't lose their shirt paying the bill. A full slab of ribs served
with homemade cornbread and two sides is $16 95. Half slabs are $9.95, and
kids 12 and younger can get four ribs and the sides for $4.95. The side
orders include barbecued beans, Cole slaw, potato salad, macaroni and
cheese, green beans, turnip greens, corn, applesauce or red potatoes.
The restaurant prepares
and serves about 4,000 pounds of pork weekly. The most popular dish is the
pulled pork ($6.75 for the platter, the jumbo sandwich at $4.50), which is
the No. 1 seller at lunch. Other items on the menu include barbecued beef
brisket ($7.75) pulled or quarter chicken platters or combo plates that go
as high as $11.95 a dish.
If you are looking for a
quiet, intimate dinner, skip G.T. South's. Families like the place, and
the night we visited, the nonsmoking dining room was packed with children
exhibiting varying degrees of restaurant poise.
G.T. South's offers the
unique service of smoking your meats for you. Bring in a turkey
(completely thawed), pay $1 a pound, and the restaurant will do to that
bird what it does with the meats on the menu. You can make arrangements to
pick it up the next day.
Steve Mannheimer Restaurant Review
Indianapolis Star
Newspaper
August, 1998
Several weeks back,
readers were asked to recommend the city’s best barbecue eateries. The
response was not overwhelming, but the clear favorite among those who did
respond was G. T. South’s Rib House. Just west of Ind. 37 on the south
side of 71st Street, G. T. South’s has been slow-smoking and
slowly growing for seven years, expanding from a modest storefront
operation seating 28 to a less modest storefront operation capable of
seating nearly 200 in a handful of rooms.
Gerald Travis South
still presides over his restaurant, and after watching him attend to his
Saturday night customers, it’s easy to see why his business has grown.
The man is a nonstop restaurateur: showing folks to their tables, helping
to clean up when needed, making sure the waitresses heard that late
afterthought to an order, stopping to receive compliments from three young
children and then bringing them free cookies.
But the main reason
his restaurant has thrived is, of course, the barbecue. It’s terrific.
In my experience, G. T. South’s is the best sit down-order-from-a-menu rib
place in the city. The ribs have that deep-down flavor that comes only
with hours, not 30 or 45 minutes, of hickory smoking. Even after that,
the meat is still moist and still clings to the bone with just enough
tenacity to let you know that it hasn’t been overcooked into mush.
The “mild” sauce is a
delightful complement with a moderately spicy flavor most diners will
like. The “hot” is just what it says, but not so hot that it drowns out
all other flavors with its assault on your palate. My wife reluctantly
ordered the full slab –then eagerly devoured it.
Even my three young
children, for whom barbecue is not yet a fixed star in their culinary
cosmography – in other words, they really don’t like it much – displayed
proto-adult gusto in cleaning their plates….My family of five spent $70
for too much food at G. T. South’s. We’ll be back, I am quite sure.
Good Eats To Go - Mary
Francis
Indianapolis Monthly
February, 2002
(2)|game
night
The Pacers are taking on
the Knicks. But you've got a tougher challenge: feeding the crowd that
will form in front of your television in the next half-hour. Travis South
and the staff at G.T. South's Rib House can provide
you with Southern Bar-B-Q that will satisfy your
guests—even if their team's performance can't.
Slab of baby back ribs
Bar-B-Q Beans
Macaroni and cheese
Cornbread loaf
Whole peach cobbler
Three slabs of ribs and
the fixin's: $77.60
With a centerpiece of
South's ribs—smoked for hours in the restaurant's hickory pits — we have a
slam-dunk-worthy buffet. If ribs are a little too messy, try the pulled
pork or chicken — shredded meat that makes great sandwiches. You usually
don't have to call too far in advance to place orders. The exception is
Saturday, says South, because many customers come in to buy for Sunday
events (the restaurant is closed Sundays). |