Bud C.
Yelp
If you believe that the best barbecue is usually found in the worse part of the city, in a place with bars on the windows and just enough grease to write your initials then this isn't it.
What this is, Socks Love Barbecue, a popular mini barbecue joint squeezed into a tiny space in a strip center just off the main drag in far north Cumming (where the water tower says "Cumming Home").
I say mini because the tables, a couple small ones and two longer ones can seat maybe 15 to 20 and most days (more about 'days' in a minute) the demand outstrips the capacity. You eat in the parking lot or back from wherever you came.
You know the drill: weave your way through the folks waiting for their food and/or a table, and order with the smiling guy who seems genuinely glad to see everyone and more than glad to share the sides as well as the special. And to process your credit card.
As someone who has spent a lifetime in pursuit of the perfect barbecue and written more than 125 barbecue reviews for Yelp, it seems only logical that if you claim to be a barbecue joint, you have the mainstay of all BBQ joints, ribs. But not at Socks Love (no one could tell us where they came up with that name). Socks fires up their smoker (more about that in a few lines) and put out what others say are some good pretty good ribs, but only on weekends. And weekends at Socks Love is Friday. Why? Because they are only open Tuesday through Friday, and only open those days from 11 to seven.
Weekend is one day. One of their staffers explained, "we're a lot like Chick-A-Filet" known to close their doors Sundays so staffers can spend the day with family.
About the meats: the brisket came in slices almost too thick, moist, with a not too subtle to be enjoyed hickory flavor. Good. The pulled pork was fair to middlin' nothing too much to complain or to boast about. Sauce you ask? One, good but not really unique.
Yes, Socks has fries, but like too many other places, they come to the store frozen and really are without any redeeming flavor. Their "fire roasted corn" is at the other end of the continuum. Good. Really good. Your food comes, as is the case with most BBQ joints these days, Texas style, plopped down on a metal tray - and with a dollop of pickles and onion.
Now about that smoker. It's inside the too small store, and you want to guess what happens when they have to open it? You get to take a memory of Socks hickory scented smoke home or back to work with you.
Prices? Reasonable. SL's plates are in the $10 to $13 range. If memory serves, the two meats (good portion) and two sides plate the Brown Shoe Gourmet ordered was $17.95
Most barbecue joints have clippings boasting the awards they've won along with the health department's stamp of approval. At Socks there's this on the wall: "Barbecue may not be the road to world peace, but it's a start," so said Anthony Bourdain.
Amen brother Bourdain. Socks could travel a little further down that road if they added ribs on a regular basis, didn't render all the fat out of their pulled pork (that's where the flavor is) and either added some character to their sole sauce or another option.
Three stars for the joint the folks in Cumming love having to arrive just after opening if they want a table.