Fiery Ron’s Home Team BBQ

Address: 1205 Ashley River Rd, Charleston, SC 29407
Address: 2209 Middle Street, Sullivan’s Island, SC 29482
Phone: West Ashley, 843-225-7422
Sullivan’s Island, 843-883-3131
Web site: wwwhometeambbq.com
Cards: yes
Hours of operation: Mon-Sat, 11am -2:00am; Sun 11:30am-2:00am

100 Mile Barbeque and 100 mile everything else

What do you get when you take 100 mile barbeque, ribs, and chicken wings then add gourmet mac and cheese, collards, Brunswick stew, slaw and fun? You get Home Team BBQ, that’s what you get.

Most really good barbeque in the state is served in traditional restaurants or even what we in South Carolina would call a “joint.” It is rare to find 100 mile barbeque in a bar or tavern style setting. But that is what you get at Home Team BBQ in Charleston. But it’s better than that, it’s really more like a neighborhood tavern where you go to have a good time, relax and see friends. It’s just at Home Team BBQ you also get 100 Mile Barbeque to add to that mix. There are two Home Team BBQ places, one in the West Ashley area of Charleston and one on Sullivan’s Island. I haven’t tried Sullivan’s Island yet but given the experience at West Ashley I’m looking forward to it.

First of all, the barbeque at Home Team is at the top of anybody’s good eating list and that goes for the barbequed chicken wings as well as the ribs. Unexpectedly, he has real barbequed beef brisket that is as good as you are ever going to get in South Carolina. It is truly gourmet beef brisket.

And speaking of gourmet, you can get as a side, some of the best Brunswick stew in the state, maybe the best. Since Aaron Siegel came to barbeque from his background of high-end cooking his chef’s talents show in his sides too and not just the Brunswick stew, but also in the gourmet mac and cheese (made with Gouda, mozzarella and jack cheeses), the fresh, crunchy slaw that he doesn’t mess up with sugar, his collards that taste better than what your mother probably used to make and everything else he serves. Even his hash over rice is a shot at a gourmet effort rather than the more traditional taste one finds in the state. He has some spices in his hash that will leave you wondering just what it is. What it is, is slightly different and if you like it his way, then it’s better.

He also has six (yes six) different barbeque sauces. He takes South Carolina’s traditional four sauces and adds two more including a white sauce that is designed for dipping your barbequed chicken wings in just as you would a Buffalo wing expect his wings are so good you shouldn’t add the white sauce except to try that as a novelty. All of his sauces seem to go with the barbeque rather than detract from it but you should forgo the sauces and eat his barbeque just as it comes from the pit. I should mention, however, that his hot sauce is really hot, in fact it is the hottest I have ever tried. I like a hot sauce to be hot but this one caused even me to catch my breath. There has to be Habanero in that sauce, not just cayenne! I recommend you try it but be sparing with it.

You are going to like everything you order at Home Team BBQ and they really do have a remarkable tavern-style menu. They have Sliders, BBQ tortilla chips, pork rinds that you can order with pimento cheese, chili and a rack of ribs that is served with a pitcher of beer for only $19! They even have wraps including a smoked turkey, barbeque, Mexican or even a Caesar wrap which is a Caesar salad type wrap with smoked chicken.

Then there is the bar. There are so few bars in the state that have real barbeque that one wonders why some canny owners haven’t brought us more. Home Team, however, does it right. They have over 40 different kinds of liquor including the high-end names that you can order. They have the usual draft beers plus craft beers that are made locally and which you cannot get anywhere else. Then to all of this they add seating out front and out back at open-air tables, and other tables and booths that are in sections that are away from the bar. In the room away from the bar you will find families with their kids and even folks in wheelchairs as it is handicapped accessible. Everyone I saw there was having a relaxed, friendly, good time.

Then there is all the live music Home Teams Brings to the party during the week. Plus the catering that they do lots of tells you that the locals like it. Add in a friendly and helpful staff and, all in all, this is a remarkable effort at doing barbeque differently from everyone else.

Home Team BBQ looks small from the road but it has parking around back as well as in front and it much larger than it, at first, looks.

There may be more traditional barbeque houses, and there are larger barbeque houses, but I’m not sue there are any better places to eat barbeque and have a good time than Fiery Ron’s Home Team BBQ.