Big D’s
637 Hwy 17 North, Palatka, FL
Palatka, FL 32177
386-328-6881
Big D's Smokehouse
There is a restaurant that I have seen in my travels of US 17 in North Florida for a few years now. This place is quite noticeable as you are traveling between Green Cove Springs and Palatka Florida. If these cities are absolutely foreign to you I will let you know where we are talking about. For those of you who are not from the south the directions would go as follows. Drive South from Jacksonville on US 17 about 40 minutes toward Palatka. Big D’s is on the right. Now, for those of you from the south the directions are like this. Just when you go South of Bostwick, Florida on 17 and you can see the power plant stacks on the left but before you get to the Rice Creek Bridge you will see Big D’s Smokehouse on the right. Now before anyone gets upset with my description of the directions. I am from the South and give you these directions because I know they are true.
When I go into Big D’s I see that the restaurant is not quite as large as I thought. It is a seat yourself place with a partial view to the kitchen from most tables. The walls are decorated with photos from the family memories of the owners of Big D’s. My first stop before grabbing my table was the restroom. This was just a large room with a commode. It really could have used a cleaning, trash was on the floor and there was a little bit of an odor. It was during lunch so I gave them a pass on that. I then grabbed a table near the front door and sitting there, my waitress (Terri) got my order of a Diet Coke and water. Terri hands me a menu and goes off to get my drinks. Before I look at the menu I can see the specials on the board. I then asked my server if I could try the soup of the day. The soup was a mixture that the guys in the back had come up with. It was a cream of chicken with rice and wild mushroom. Now I was really interested in a beef brisket. But the shot of soup that she brought me was so good, I caved in, I ordered the soup with a side of mac n cheese. The mac n cheese was by Terri’s recommendation. It was a close race between that and the baked beans but ultimately I went with Terri’s choice. When I got my food just a couple of minutes after I ordered it, I heard some guys talking. They were telling the owner of Big D’s how they have been wanting the beef brisket for days. So now I am thinking to myself that I may have made a mistake. But once I start to eat this meal I know that I have made the right decision. This was a perfect meal for what I needing. The soup really was fantastic. Now the macaroni and cheese was good, but it wasn’t my mama’s. It was very buttery to the point of really noticing it. The butter gave it such a distinct rich flavor that I decided to save for a kind of dessert.
Soup
Terri did a very good job of keeping my drinks filled and seemed to enjoy what she does. She soon brought me my bill and for a good size bowl of soup, side of mac n cheese and a Diet Coke it was $7.25. Looking at the menu I have to say that the prices are a little bit high for a standard BBQ place. They offer a hot dog, bun and baked beans for $5.99 with most of the ’sammiches’ (as the menu says) over $7.75 and even a couple of them close to $8.50. All of the ’sammiches’ are served with French fries. If you are interested in a different side such as beans, slaw, or jambalaya you are going to spend almost 3 bucks. They do offer a kids menu of burgers, dogs, and even shrimp. The kids menu seems to be a much better bargain than the adults menu. The ’suppa’s’ (as the menu says) has most of the items priced over 12 bucks. They do offer the cajun catfish, jambalaya, and the chicken strip dinner for just under 10 dollars. All of the ’suppa’s’ offer a choice of 2 vegetables. The vegetables available are beans, ‘tater’ salad, mac salad, and slaw. When I go to most BBQ places there seems to be more cost effective items or meals available. This is a very good meal but a family or a couple on a date can expect to be shelling out $25 to 35 dollars without ordering dessert or even beer and wine.
Even with the drawbacks of the menu cost I do believe that this would be a good place to order a featured special. At the time of my visit they did have a chicken wing special available that would not break you. The bowl of soup is priced at $2.99. So just be aware that this place is good but can be costly. Terri did not offer me a dessert and that is okay because I was stuffed. But looking at the dry erase board they did have a home made sweet that sounded wonderful. Apparently all of the desserts are homemade even the apple, chocolate chip bread pudding with vanilla drizzle that I was interested in. I decided not to ask for a sample of the bread pudding because I knew that might be pushing my luck. So the next time I am in Palatka I will stop by Big D’s. But I will make sure I have an extra few dollars in my pocket.
Smokehouse Sign
When you stop by Big D’s you should be able to find at least one of the owners there at all times. They are a very sweet couple from Maine. His name is Wayne and hers is Betty. So I asked Wayne if he was also known as Big D. He told me yes, he stated that he has been called big dummy (while he chuckled). When you visit Big D’s Smokehouse you should know the hours are Mon – Thur 10:30 am until 8:00 pm, Fri and Sat 10:30 am until 9:00 pm and the Sunday hours of 11:00 am until 6:00 pm. They do offer eat in or take out. If you wish to call them the number is (386) 328-6881. You can also find them on the World Wide Web at www.bigdssmokehouse.com
Review by Pie, email: pie@piesplate.com
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