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Myron Mixon's Pitmaster Barbecue (Formerly Overwood), Potentially Absentee Pit Master's Wood-Fired Kitchen on N. Lee Street in The Former Ecco Cafe Space - Old Town Alexandria


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Finally checked out Myron's last night and enjoyed it. I started with the Dry Wings (They also have "Hog Wings" which are wet), which the server recommended because you could then apply any of the sauces. It comes with a cup of Alabama white sauce on the side, and she brought some of their 'brisket sauce'. On the table we had a mustard sauce, a vinegar sauce, and "Hog Sauce" which is sweet with a little note of spice. The server said Myron is still playing around with a spicy sauce to add as well. The wings were fried and very crispy. I tried all the sauces with them and enjoyed both the white sauce, which was a little tangy - and the Hog Sauce.

For an entrée I got the three meat platter with pulled pork, ribs and brisket. The pulled pork won me over on first sight, as it was large chucks of pork shoulder. I get so annoyed with the number of barbecue restaurants that pull and chop their pork shoulder to death, turning it cold and giving it the texture of a cotton ball. Myron's was warm, juicy and tasted good even without the sauce -- though a little vinegar sauce complimented it nicely.

The ribs were sweet, like candy bar sweet. The restaurant's motto is "Taste what the BBQ judges taste" and I think that's true with the ribs. In a competition, judges take one bite so you have to overpower them. In the case of a restaurant, it should probably be toned down. In spite of that, I liked them. Or more accurately, I liked two of them. After two ribs, I had enough. They're worth trying, but it would be a challenge to eat a half-rack.

The brisket was okay. It was four slices of the lean (or flat). It had good flavor, but was a little dense. I think it might have been slightly undercooked as the slices were fairly thin. It also might matter that we ate at 5:30pm, and by 7:30pm the brisket might have more time to rest and become more tender. In hindsight, I should have asked if I could order from the fatty side. They did have Burnt Ends on the specials menu.

The loaded baked potato salad had the texture of chunky mashed potatoes, but with flavors of cheese, sour cream and bacon. It's hard to go wrong with that combo. It was great. We finished with an order of banana pudding. I liked that they incorporated small chucks of Nilla wafers throughout the pudding so you got some on every bite. They top with a HUGE scoop of whipped cream which could stand to be a little smaller so you can get to the pudding more easily.

On the competition circuit, Myron is known for whole hog so it's no surprise that pulled pork is the strength here. And frankly, if a barbecue restaurant can excel at one meat, I'm a happy camper. I think the ribs and brisket are better at Texas Pete's, but I'll happy return here and focus on the pork.

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I've eaten here four times now, which is not an intentional act but when friends say, "Lets grab some barbecue," I say "great" and now... here we are. A few thoughts upon multiple visits...

Get the dry wings. They fry them perfectly and they allow you to try all the different sauces.  I love the sweet "Hog" sauce on the wings and the vinegar sauce on the pork. I don't care for their mustard sauce, but two companions have told me it's their favorite so I guess that's a sign I need better companions.  ?

The pulled pork remains the best thing going and that has been confirmed by multiple dinner partners. They pull it to just the right texture and manage to impart enough smoke without masking the pork flavors.

The ribs keep changing. My first visit, they were cut individually and super sweet. My next visit they were uncut (mini-rack of 4) with very little sauce and had great texture (clean bite but not fall-off-the-bone). And my third visit they were an uncut rack of 4 ribs that were over-sauced and over-cooked. The meat all fell off the bones when I tried to cut them apart. 

Similarly, the brisket has been hit or miss -- thin and dry my first visit, then moist and delicious my second visit. Then 'good but not great' on my third try -- the flavor was smoky and beefy but they trimmed the fat off and that left it a little dry. 

Twice, they've had burnt ends as a special  They were good but... they weren't burnt ends. They were cubed pieces of the point end of a brisket and very juicy, but they hadn't been applied with more rub and smoked again.

Tonight I tried the pork belly for the first time. Long strips of fatty (obviously), juicy pork. It was good, but I'll stick with the pulled pork in the future, which is the same flavors but less fatty. 

The sides and desserts are more consistent and very good. The potato salad is the best, and I like the baked beans. The beans are sweet and have chunks of peaches in them so the may not be for everyone. 

I think it takes some time for a BBQ restaurant (and any restaurant really...) to develop consistency. I hope Myron's does, because we need it. Especially with the recent news about Texas Jack's ?.

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In case I missed coverage of it in the thread, Mixon's is now open for lunch.  A coworker went there today, got a pulled pork sandwich, cole slaw and Brunswick stew for $10.  Said it was a lot of food for the price, the Brunswick stew was very different from anything he's had before but still tasty.  he thought the pulled pork was good, the cole slaw was fine but not special.  And said there weren't many women in the place at lunchtime.

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Just want to add that Billy, possibly the most beloved server/bartender from Clarendon is working there now.  Billy has been often cited as being one of the great food and beverage/ customer service people in the area

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Been here twice for lunch. Have tried the pulled pork plate and pulled chicken plate.  Both are nice sized servings and come with 3 different sauces on the table.  The also come with 2 sides - have tried the cole slaw, mac and cheese and potato salad.  The sides in my opinion are nothing special but the meats are pretty solid.

Both times have not been very busy at lunch compared to the Overwood days - hope they make it.

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I think because they said they were going to open in September, and then didn't, and then their website is a bit hard to find, and lunch being added hasn't been publicized much that I have seen, people probably don't know it's there.  And since it isn't on the beaten path, I think they likely need to a do a little more publicity than if they were on King St.  I haven't been yet, but I just realized with the post here that they had opened for lunch. 

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Went for lunch today and had the pulled pork plate.   The menu lists it as coming from Berkshire hogs.  The meat was tasty and truly pulled, but a little dry.  I tried it with the hog sauce and the vinegar sauce.  The hog sauce is a slightly sweeter, more tomato-y take on the vinegar sauce, which was still a bit sweeter and not as hot as what I think of as eastern NC BBQ vinegar sauce.  But Mixon is not from eastern NC.  I had it with the collards and the fries.  Good tasting collards , but they needed a little more chopping, as they were a bit unwieldy half-leaves.  Fries were decent.  There are also some sweet-and-sour pickle slices on the plate that were tasty.

And word was that Mixon himself is in the kitchen today and there was a whiteboard special of whole hog dinner tonight.

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My mom told me she and my aunt's family went last week and got the family dinner. My aunt has been a few times and is a fan of the brisket, but apparently what they served that day was old and dried out. She brought this up to the waiter and apparently Mixon himself brought out a massive plate of fresh brisket for them. 

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Walking toward Myron’s this afternoon I detected the sweet scent of hickory smoke. I’m not sure what was on the smoker today, but it certainly wasn’t my brisket or ribs which had no smoke flavor whatsoever. 

The brisket looked nice but was terribly bland. The baby back ribs were barely warm, and clearly had been sitting around a while. The rub on them was decent but the bark was soft. 

I ordered the chicken egg rolls as an appetizer. Why? I don’t know. They were awful. Mushy on the inside and the wrapper was already soggy when it got to the table. I also got a big piece of gristle in one of my few bites of it.

I don’t remember the last time I left so much food sitting on a platter. No “to go” box. This food was past its prime long before it got to the table. Unfortunately, I think the same is true of Myron’s. Back to Hill Country for me.

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