Flavor Town BBQ Pit
1801 S. Westnedge AvenueWe’ve all driven by the sign for quite a while now. Flavor Town BBQ Pit. It’s been there for what seems like a couple of years but there’s never been any indication as to when it was going to open.
I think we all assumed it was a project that was never going to get off the ground.
Guess what? We were all wrong.
I had some time a couple of weeks ago to grab lunch without my colleague. I was driving near that area anyway and I couldn’t wait to stop in and see what they had.
Flavor Town BBQ Pit is on the corner of South Westnedge and Howard Street in Kalamazoo’s Southside Neighborhood. This building, across from Midtown Fresh, has been mostly a chicken joint since we moved in here in 2009. It was The Chicken Coop at that point then became just The Coop for a while before closing down.
The building isn’t very big. Most of the space is taken up by the kitchen. There’s a small order area inside the door on the east side of the building. There’s no seating in there. Just about enough room for a couple of people to stand and wait after they’ve ordered.
There is a little bit of seating out on the deck attached to the building if you want to sit and eat but most of the orders that come out of Flavor Town, as with it’s predecessors, are carry-out.
The menu has a lot of the BBQ favorites. Brisket, pulled pork, chicken, ribs as well as turkey, which isn’t always found on BBQ menus, and polish sausages.
I wanted to try a couple of things so I went for the Two Meat Combo picking brisket and pork. That also gives me two sides and I chose the Mac & Cheese and Southern Corn. A dinner roll was also included on top off everything else.
I unwrapped the pork first. The meat is tender and smoky but it’s covered in a kind of generic thin, sweet BBQ sauce. It’s not a bad sauce, I just think the meat I got on it’s own didn’t need it. It is the kind of sauce J would like though so it’s more of a preference thing.
The Brisket comes shredded, not sliced, and covered in the same sauce. I feel like shredding brisket makes it a little tougher. It stretches it a little more in the sense of servings but sliced brisket is much better. This brisket still had a great smoky, peppery flavor underneath the sweet sauce. This is the kind of brisket that works better in a sandwich than just eating it with a fork.
For the sides, I started with the Mac & Cheese. This cheesy pasta was actually really, really good. It had a real thick, creamy sauce that clung to each of the noodles. Sides sometimes get lost in the mix when they’re cooked in large batches but this is a standout mac & cheese.
I’m just gonna be honest about the corn and say I don’t really love corn but it was the only other thing on the sides menu that sounded good to me. The Southern Corn comes with onions and peppers mixed in. It was fine but not my thing. I don’t like large chunks of onions so I kind of picked around them. I always kind of get hung up on that second side at BBQ places if there isn’t an option for fries and there isn’t an option for fries at Flavor Town.
The cost of my meal was around $18.
I’m happy to see Flavor Town BBQ Pit is finally opened. I drove by it for so long wondering what was going on. It’s a great quick option for food in this part of town. The Westnedge/Park corridor is an area so many people drive through on a daily basis without slowing down and looking around them.
Slow down and see Flavor Town.
SW Michigan Dining 