Iron and Oak Brisket Co — Restaurant in Woodfin

I feel bad giving this place their first review without 5 stars. It’ll be fair though. If I did decimal points I would give it 3.8. That’s good. I consider that worth traveling for. The couple running this place were awesome. Polite. Good energy. Nice spot that has all the ingredients for a great backroads bbq Mecca. To the Brisket: The smoke ring was nice, thick, and had a beautiful presentation. The bark was delicious and nicely seasoned with a good dry rub. The smoke ring gave the impression of a fairly long/low temp/thick smoke. That’s good. That gives me a great opinion of the pit master. The texture was almost perfect. It had a small amount of connective tissue that wasn’t completely broken down. It was VERY close to perfect, cook wise, but it wasn’t perfect. I have done brisket that was award winning from one butcher and garbage from another butcher. I suspect the slight amount of unbroken-down connective tissue had more to do with the source than the cooking technique. I also would’ve trimmed the fat cap slightly thinner. It was more chewy than I would like. When perfectly cooked brisket fat melts in your mouth it’s an awesome feeling. Maybe the slight connective tissue gave me that impression. Maybe the fat cap should be thinner. I think both could help. The lady at the counter told me her sauce was a peppery Texas style. The brisket gave me a Texas style flavor but the sauce was more of a St Louis/OKC flavor. A lot of sweetness that I didn’t really like. I would suggest pouring au jui on the meat and serving the sauce on the side. That always prevents confusion about sauces and gives people options. Great brisket has TONS of extra juice. Great brisket should not come with sauce already applied. The juiciness and flavor should stand alone. All the great restaurants do it that way. The mashed potatoes and gravy were the best I’ve ever had. I would prefer cornbread over white bread. White bread gives that Alabama bbq vibe. The sweetness of cornbread is a great complement to an umami Texas brisket flavor. Mac and cheese and Bacon Beans would be nice additions too. Maybe collards. All of those can be fixed ahead for cheap and just reheated all day. The prices were great for the present time. Lots of upside. I want to see this place become legendary. I’m really...

We ordered both the brisket plate and a half rack of ribs and split them. I’m not much of a brisket guy but both were delicious. The ribs were excellent! The four side were also good and generous portions. I look forward to coming back and having their pork bbq! I hear good things. The atmosphere is relaxed with music playing and also live bands and outdoor picnic table seating. Theres also a bar but I didn’t use or see it. The staff was also friendly.

The one issue I had is two women, clearly N.E. tourist, thought that they could hold two tables for their group of 9 even though there were about 25 people in front of them and we had already ordered and were waiting on our food. They were two smug, gross and entitled people who wouldn’t budge even though it was peak lunch rush and one table would hold their whole group. My group of four ended up sharing a table with a family of five, which was fine. We even finished our food before they got theirs. I hope there will be a sign next time I go asking people to not hold tables if they haven’t ordered

All that said, excellent BBQ, you...

A new favorite for BBQ in Asheville. We took a group on a brewery crawl which included Riverside Rhapsody Beer Co. and were delighted to discover Iron and Oak. In all we had 25+ sample Iron and Oak's 'cue and they were all delighted. Personally, I had the brisket, pulled pork and sausage. The sausage apparently comes directly from Austin and is some of the best I've ever had. The brisket and pulled pork are both first class. I found both to be cooked perfectly with regards to tenderness and smoke. For my sides, I went all potato and enjoyed both the mashed potatoes with gravy and the potato salad.

We had such a great experience that we detoured a 2nd brewery crawl the following weekend to include Iron and Oak. Same story but this round, I added the chili to my order, macaroni slaw and cole slaw. The chili was exceptional, especially on a cold January day and both slaws were tasty.

We...