Pitmaster to offer up messy decadence on ‘Kelly & Ryan’
There is decadence and there is depravity, to paraphrase Hunter S. Thompson, and since this year’s Kentucky Derby is on corona-delay, I submit to you that its new intersection lies at Aloma Avenue and Hall Road in Winter Park.
It may look like a humbly aging Citgo station — and it is — but it’s also where pitmaster Chuck Cobb is slinging a dish that elsewhere might be banned outright for its sheer audacity. In America, however, we put it on “Live with Kelly & Ryan.”
Cobb, the proprietor of Git-N-Messy BBQ (one of my picks in this year’s Orlando Sentinel Foodie Awards), submitted his Southern poutine for consideration for the syndicated morning show’s GRILLIN’spiration Summer Cook-off segment not knowing what to expect.
The dish — a takeout box piled with beer-battered sidewinder fries smothered in cheese sauce, followed by the Canadian-traditional cheese curds, pulled pork, house-made sweet BBQ sauce and a mound of slaw — didn’t take long to get a call back.
“I’m definitely excited to be repping Orlando,” says Cobb, whose early-tosmoke hours don’t allow for much syndicated morning TV viewing. The longtime poutine fan had been toying with the idea of Q’ing up the famed Canadian dish for awhile.
“I played around, did some experimentation, and the Southern poutine was born,” he says.
It goes for about $12 (and feels like it weighs 12 pounds). Guests have the option of adding jalapenos or fried onions, but no, it doesn’t come with sides.
I can’t believe they ask. I can’t believe anyone can eat it alone in a sitting.
No, wait. I believe both those things. And also that a show that’s been speaking to the American people for decades would see it precisely for what it was: food-porn gold.
“It’s surreal,” said Cobb, who was working out the logistics for his video call as we spoke. “I’m still trying to process it!”
The dish, he says, is “a visual wow,” but also familiar. That’s where he believes its appeal lies.
“It’s crazy on face, but at its core it’s just meat, potatoes and cheese. And people love that.”
Indeed.
At press time, Cobb was slated to tape a video segment on Wednesday via Skype, with his dish to be featured on the show at 9 a.m. Friday, July 24 on WESH-Channel 2. Cobb’s regulars would be smart to hit him up early for lunch. Want to reach out? Find me on Twitter or Instagram @amydroo or on the OSFoodie Instagram account @orlando.foodie. Email: amthompson@orlandosentinel.com. Join the conversation at the Orlando Sentinel’s new Facebook Forum, Let’s Eat, Orlando.