Knucklehead BBQ — Restaurant in Mebane

First visit here today during the lunch rush. Their main seating area was fairly populated. I had a few folks that came in immediately behind me, so I kept my questions to the staff at a minimum. I'm noting that as there are aspects where I'll say 'I think', it's because I didn't want to trouble them with questions during rush.

One of the things I did ask about was their Knucklehead sandwich, which is their smoked beef, smoked pork, pickles, and pickled onion on a hoagie roll (I think the gentleman also said a slice of cheese, though I am absolutely not certain, and don't recall any cheese on the sandwich while eating it. It is also not the kind of sandwich that you can easily open up to check).

It sounded delicious, so I ordered it. And it is an excellent sandwich. It seems to use what I would call 'full cuts' of their meats, so there are some crispy bits, smokey bits, fatty bits... the whole gamut. The hoagie rolls they use are ideal for this - it holds up against the moisture of the meats and gives an excellent chew. If you have a texture issue with fatty bits (for example, if you can't enjoy the the fatty bites of a ribeye), you may want to avoid this sandwich. If you have no such texture issues, it is absolutely great.

They have a variety of BBQ sauces, a Carolina vinegar one, a more traditional Texas style BBQ, and their House sauce, which I liked the best. I would describe it as a Texas style base, with some tangy notes (not quite vinegar? Maybe more of a mustard tang?), smokey notes, and a mild sweet note - I couldn't place the sweetness (not sure if it is brown sugar, sugar, honey, a combo, etc). This sauce on the Knucklehead sandwich was a fantastic pairing. The flavors of the meat still held up against the sauce. Really nice balance there.

I also ordered the plate of burnt ends sausage. I didn't know what to expect here, I hadn't heard of that before. I've heard of burnt ends (aka 'meat candy') made from brisket, but not sausage. So I had to try it (I love trying new things).

It was a quarter pound of sausage, sliced in nice bite sized chunks when ordered. The texture was very consistent. They're using well trimmed cuts of pork to make it, none of the 'hard fat' or gristle bits you sometimes get even in mass-commercial sausage. It appeared to have bits of coarse ground black pepper in it, and if the color was any indication, it was well smoked. Interestingly, the flavor of them was incredibly mild. It was good, just not pronounced. The flavor did not stand up well against the BBQ sauces, it was much better to enjoy on it's own.

On to the sides! I had the baked beans and mac and cheese (and the corn bread muffins, which came with the meals).

The mac and cheese had that bread crumb topping on it, which adds some nice texture. If you are someone that likes really creamy/cheesey mac and cheese, this is not for you. It is moist, but you will not have any dripping cheese sauce here. The cheese flavor is there, though your mind may play a trick on you because you don't see the cheese. Take a bite with your eyes closed. Here again, the house special bbq sauce pairs very nicely.

The baked beans were very good. They had some its of meat in there (I do not know if it was pork or brisket), and some onion bits (I think). The beans themselves were creamy and had almost a mild "refried bean" flavor quality to them, likely from the long simmering to make them. They had a pleasant brown sugar flavor finish to them.

The corn muffins are a cute departure from the typical corn bread bricks that most BBQ places do. They were moist, with a little crispy edge on the 'muffin top', which was nice. I should have asked for some butter! Missed opportunity there.

In their drink cooler they had a variety of bottled sodas, I think at least one brand of bottled water, commercial mainstream beer, some micro brews, and bottles of wine. Overall a nice selection when you consider that this is an independent location with only about 15 tables. They also have fountain drinks.

I ran out of room to...

Good food, nice staff!

I applaude anyone bold enough to open a restaurant in the BBQ business, and I surely hope this one sticks around for the long haul and continues to develop its own flavor. It was good and I'll go back, just want to dive deep into my tray and experience.

I got the 2 meat platter with brisket and what is labeled as "burnt end sausage":

The brisket was one slice and about another 1/4. It was from the point side, with a little bit of flat. Really tender, it was smoked perfectly. Good bark, good seasoning. For a restaurant brisket, it was super savory and id surely rate it high by itself.

The sausage was good, lots of flavor and spice with a little kick. I'm a bit overtaken by the label of burnt ends, this dish has nothing to do with the term. That doesn't take away from how good the sausage was though, make no mistake! Just in my opinion that name was not what it was.

The cornbread was sweet and almost like a muffin, nice touch for any 'que tray. The BEPs were ok, lacking any bold spice or flavors. The smashed sweet potato was great, sweet and exactly what you'd expect. I wasn't fond of the pickled sides, personally I'd prefer sweet pickled to help cut the smoke. The pickles themselves were sour, and the pickled red onions seemed like they were made a few weeks prior.....lacking good color or any bite.

Prices were too far off, however I felt just a little underwhelmed at the portion of meat for the cost. It wasn't far off enough to raise any flags though, just a note!

Staff was incredibly nice! Place was clean, looked clean behind the counter as well. I will surely be back! I know this place is still relatively new, so I am certain they'll develop their own niche as they grow and hopefully...

We went for a second visit that was not nearly as successful as the first visit. Got the same meats both times - noticeable difference in tenderness with the brisket. No slaw offered (and honestly I forgot to order it on my sandwich), no pickles, no pickled onions. So our sandwiches were mediocre this time. Still the tater salad was as good as ever. Glad this wasn’t my first visit but we’ll give a third go sometime soon.

We visited for an early lunch. I have to say the restaurant part of the building is not noticeable. We kinda wandered around the building lobby until we spied it through an opening. A simple board on an easel would certainly help. We ordered at the front and our meals were brought to us. The restaurant was definitely smoky. I had the turkey sandwich and my husband had the brisket. There was ample food on the sandwich and the bun did not fall apart, even with slaw on my turkey. We know smoked meats and were impressed with our choices. I do think there was just a tad too much smoke on the turkey but both meats were tender and delicious. We tried all three sauce choices and wished there had been a hotter spicier one. The sauces underwowed us. But the sweet tea and potato salad were stars and rounded out our meal nicely. I liked the pickled onions and my husband liked the pickles. So go and enjoy some great barbecue in a very...