Dining at Heirloom Market BBQ

We read about a barbecue restaurant on Akers Mill Road that enticed us. The name is Heirloom Market BBQ. The article said the restaurant was very small with only one long table and higher stools with a long bar – not a drinking type bar.

The reviewer said the place generally has a line going out the door. It only sits about a dozen people. Everybody claimed how delicious the food is – and it's worth the wait. The reviewer went one time as late at 2:30, and there was still a long line. We went at 3pm and walked right in. It is in a very small building shared by a little grocery store with a very small parking lot. I wonder where all those people parked? Two middle age women were leaving with take-out bags as we went in. We ask them what they recommended and one said, “Everything!"
Inside we found the long table we read about where a couple was eating. They were sharing a sampler platter that provided both with plenty to eat. There was one lady on a high stool eating at the bar facing the window. The outside and inside both are very unpretentious. It's kinda like the old Winston Cigarette commercial that says, “Do you want good grammar or good taste?” In this case, “Do you want fancy surrounding or good food?”

The restaurant is owned and operated by a couple. The lady is South Korean and serves as hostess/waitress. The chef, by his own description, is a hillbilly from eastern Tennessee. He and an assistant were cooking while the hostess was mothering over the diners, to make sure we were content. The three of them appeared to be the whole staff. According to the article, they met when they both worked for Repast Restaurant and are both seasoned culinary professionals.

Their spicy pork sandwich was a daily special, so I ordered that and a quarter rib rack. Anna ordered a pulled pork sandwich. They also have smoked turkey, smoke sausages, briskets, collard greens, a spicy coleslaw, Brunswick stew, bbq beans with chucks of pork and sausages, and probably much more.

The sample platter the other couple had cost about $23.00. The one I ordered was $13.50. When I asked the lady, Jiyeon, could I use their spicy bbq sandwich as a coice of one of the two meats, she went over to the counter that overlooked the kitchen and asked her husband, Cody. He thought for a brief minute and said OK. I thought that was interesting that she asked him to call the shot. And when she asked him, he stopped completely what he was doing to focus on her. He wanted to make sure he got it right.

I thought the spicy pork was delicious. She told me it is specially marinated with Korean hot sauce. As far as the barbecue culinary ranking of it all, I think they rank up there with David Poe’s and Sam Huff’s in Marietta. And that's not a bad place to be!

The location is hard to find as we drove by it once without seeing it. The address is 2243 Akers Mill Road. We started looking for it at the beginning of Akers Mills Road near Cumberland, and drove until Akers Mill turned into Powers Ferry at the River and under I-285. We turned around and saw it sitting back from the road.

We'll be back.

For their website telling about them and their menu:

click here