Rodman's Bar-B-Que

Good BBQ, good macaroni. Stopped by because of a traffic detour a few minutes before closing.

I love Rodman's! The hot peanuts and bbq sandwiches are awesome! I live in Maryland but when I visit my family in Chesapeake I have to go to Rodmans. My sister actually mails peanuts to me in Maryland.

Good food , nice people , great prices

Now, I could be a bit biased but Rodman's defines good barbecue. My family has deep roots in the Tidewater area but I grew up in Michigan, visiting my grandparents in the summer. One of the highlights was always Rodman's. Growing up in Michigan there was nothing like it anywhere else. I still remember the first time I had it and how unlike the red, sauce slathered mess I had experienced up north it was. I am ashamed to say that at 5 years old I put ketchup on my sandwich to make it more familiar. Now, at over 40, I know better. Their sweet cider vinegar sauce is perfection itself.

Rodman's roasts whole hogs in semi open pits. They have dozens of them in their facility. My grandfather took me there one magical afternoon. I was very young but I remember the brick pits and watching the kitchen staff chop and mix bbq by hand on a massive steel table. I have no idea if they still do it that way but it tastes the same.

Rodman's has perfected the art of what is known as the Eastern North Carolina style. For the uninitiated, this style is radically different than the more widely known Kansas City, Memphis, or Texas styles. If you walk in expecting the heavily smoked and sauced meats that come from those regions you will like my five year old self, be baffled by the subtle mysteries of Tidewater Barbecue. For starters this style of cooking is old. The meat is roasted on an open pit. This means the smokey flavor is more subtle because the smoke is not confined to a smoke chamber as in other styles. The sauce is vinegar with sugar and salt. This is literally applied with a mop to keep the meat cool while roasting. Red and black pepper were added to the style later.

I love Rodman's for everything it is not. It is not a mainstream over-smoked, over-spiced, over sauced mockery of this ancient culinary technique. It is beautifully subtle, and honors both traditions and the hogs themselves. Their barbecue tastes like pork. I wouldn't have it any other way.

From the outside it doesn't look like much, ... was it an old farm animal house? BUT don't let that stop you! If you're looking for good comfort food, they've got it. I like they're fried chicken, but be warned, they make it to-order and would be about a 20 min wait. But if you know that's what you want you can always call ahead too.

My daughter got the brisket sandwich and was very happy with it. There aren't too many healthy options, as a lot of the menu is fried or BBQ. But I also went there knowing I would be getting the fried chicken, which is a very good!