Fatty’s BBQ & Soul Food in Gulfport

21 August 2024 from Morgan Bannon

Barbecue is almost as much a part of Florida’s culinary diversity as seafood. If you drive down the south side of 49th Street, you’re basically in St. Pete’s barbecue corridor. Not only are there several barbecue joints along this strip, but on weekends you’ll also find plenty of smokers and tents set up by locals selling their homemade barbecue delicacies.

Good barbecue is all about the perfect alchemy of fat, meat and sauce. It’s a kind of holy trinity. And barbecue styles vary greatly across the US depending on the region. We recently tried barbecue from Fatty’s BBQ & Soul Food.

Not so tender

Barbecue is a popular method of cooking the whole meat from head to tail. However, not all barbecue is the same and can vary depending on the sauce, seasonings and cut of meat. But I’ve learned that for the best flavor and tenderness, you should cook slowly and at a low heat. Everyone knows that the best meat is slow-cooked at a low heat for hours, creating the silky tenderness we all remember when we smell the smoke.

Fatty’s BBQ is more of a Carolina BBQ joint. Our rib sandwich ($11.96) was served with a golden mustard sauce that is typical of Carolina BBQ. The sauce was definitely spicy and dominated by the mustard. The meat didn’t fall off the bone as easily as I had hoped. I wish it had more of that juicy, smoky flavor that you often find in tiny joints like this.

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Limited Soul Food

The menu at Fatty’s BBQ isn’t large. They had chicken, ribs, sausage, pulled pork and chicken wings. My pulled pork sandwich ($9.36) was more tender than the ribs. I wanted rich, velvety pulled pork and this sandwich needed more sauce to pull it together.

Fatty’s BBQ’s side dishes include collard greens, macaroni and cheese, potato salad, tuna pasta salad, green beans, and baked beans. I ordered small sides of macaroni and cheese and homemade potato salad (both $3.50). The macaroni wasn’t spicy enough for me and tasted a little watery. The potato salad, while definitely homemade, could have used more seasoning.

Fatty’s BBQ and Soul Food

For a place that smokes its meat on site and advertises soul food, it’s not the best I’ve ever eaten, but if you want to try Fatty’s BBQ & Soul for yourself, you’ll be the judge.

The weekly lunch special from Tuesday to Friday includes chopped beef or pork, two sides and lemonade for $11. You can order it from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Fatty’s BBQ and Soul Food, 846 49th St. S., Gulfport. Tues.-Thurs., 11 a.m.-7 p.m.; Fri.-Sat., 11 a.m.-9 p.m.; closed Sunday and Monday. 727-623-1125.

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