DINING OUT
DR. BBQ
38 StPeteLifeMag.com January/February 2019
“Yeah. I’ve heard that name before.”
wind of a new restaurant coming to town via the Datz Restaurant
Group from Tampa. Admittedly, even though I hadn’t previously
watched any full shows with Ray Lampe aka Dr. BBQ, the name
recognition was there, plus it’s coming from Datz.
The Doc has traveled all over the country and won over 400
barbecue competitions, and the Datz Restaurant Group has
combination. So, there’s Dr. BBQ, the dude, and Dr. BBQ, the
restaurant. You can see the
baby kisser and palm presser
persona, but don’t let that fool
you.
Lampe can cook, and it goes
beyond barbecue. He has seven
cookbooks, plus a “road trip”
guidebook to barbecue places
around the country. He’s earned
the right to not have to sweat
it out with the smoker all day.
Roger and Suzanne Perry, the
husband-wife team behind Datz,
not only recruited Ray Lampe,
but also Texan Lee Jasper to be
the Pitmaster at Dr. BBQ. Lee has been smoking meats for 12 years
working at the famous Kreuz Market in Texas.
The space is pretty epic. It used to be a steel fabricating plant, so it
is pretty industrialist, but with a warm homey feel. There’s an inside
bar downstairs, and an outside bar and deck upstairs. This is an
excellent restaurant experience in a cool, large space where you can
get your foodie freak on.
Dr. BBQ doesn’t adhere to one strict style of barbecue. There are
Memphis, and Texas. There are also regional variations within
those. For some serious regional
barbecue connoisseurs, it goes
beyond the food, and traverses
into a subculture of sometimes
rigid, and competing regional
guidelines.
The St. Louis Ribs with Jack
Daniels Baked Beans is fantastic
beans are made with Northern,
pinto, and black beans with
pork, in Jack Daniel’s BBQ
Sausages, which I loved, come
from Southside Market in Elgin,
TX. The pastrami is house-cured
Tasty regional styles of ‘cue and a fun
atmosphere make Dr. BBQ a downtown hit
BY KEVIN GODBEE
Dr. BBQ The Restaurant
1101 1st Avenue S., St. Petersburg
Sun - Thu 11 am – 10 pm
Fri - Sat 11 am – 11 pm
/StPeteLifeMag.com