Put Some South in Yo’ Mouth

On Saturday I celebrated the end of my first semester as a doctoral student by dressing up like Santa and running around New York City spreading holiday cheer. It was amazing, and I hope it was the first of many times that I’ll participate in Santacon.

We started off the day by heading to Union Square to meet up with other Santas at Brother Jimmy’s. Brother Jimmy’s is a North Carolina BBQ joint with seven locations throughout the city. My friend Santa had lost her wallet on our way into the city, so she didn’t have an ID. Fortunately Brother Jimmy’s let her in but insisted that she sit at a table and couldn’t go up to the bar. So what else was there to do but eat? My other friend Santa told us to order anything we wanted, and we got some appetizers to snack on while downing our first drinks of the day.

We ordered hush puppies and nachos. I’d never had hush puppies before but I loved them. Essentially hush puppies are just cornbread batter fried up in little spheres. We split open the warm little fried cornbread balls and slathered them with creamy maple butter. Delicious.

The nachos consisted of a massive amount of chips covered in BBQ beans, chili, cheese, sour cream, salsa, and guacamole. They were the perfect appetizer to share, and we had enough to offer some to the other Santas that had congregated at Brother Jimmy’s.

I was tempted by the array of BBQ sauces on the table, so I decided to try each one. The sauces were labeled as Original, Carolina, Mustard, Chipotle, and Blazin’. My favorites were Original, which had a nice smoky and sweet flavor, and Blazin’, which was the hottest of all the sauces. I also tested out the Habanero Hot Sauce. Despite my elitist standards for what constitutes “hot,” I was pretty impressed. It had a nice heat that continued to build after the initial taste.

 

So the food was pretty good—nothing spectacular but still tasty and satisfying. I’d probably go back to try some of the other items on the menu, but the real star of the experience was the Battle of Antietam Bloody Mary. Having just finished a class on the Civil War, I thought this drink was appropriate (for all of you who don’t know, the Battle of Antietam was the first major battle of the Civil War to take place on Northern territory). It was described as “a classic spicy bloody with a festive array of garnishes and a taste of the ol’ bay.” It was flavorful, delicious, and loaded with vodka. The garnishes consisted of celery, green olives, green beans, lemon, and lime. I loved that they lined the mason jar it was served in with a combination of spices to give the drink a little extra kick.

Brother Jimmy’s was a great place to start our day of Santa debauchery. If you’re looking to “Put Some South in Yo’ Mouth,” you really can’t go wrong with their hush puppies and Civil-War themed bloody marys.