Mary Lou's BBQ
On our way back from Illinois, we needed to stop somewhere for lunch. Driving with the family always includes good places to eat, especially when Dan is with us. I told him we wanted to stop to eat in Charleston, West Virginia so he had a place to look. He came up with a few options, all of them BBQ. The first one we stopped at was closed so we moved onto the next. Mary Lou's BBQ is located in West Charleston but they were in the process of moving closer to the capital.
Mary Lou's was opened by Billy Dyess Sr and his son. It is named after his mom and Billy uses some of her recipes but most of them are his own. .Billy was the kitchen the entire time we were there and spent some time to come out and get to know us. He was fun to talk to and kept telling us that they were moving locations and we had to come back after they moved.
The food was AMAZING! You can find some pretty good BBQ in the West Virginia but this was so good! Everything was made fresh, and I could have eaten it for days. We started off with a plate of BBQ chicken wings that Billy brought out for us. Sadly they were breaded so I couldn't have any but I heard they were to die for. For the main course, everyone chose something different. I have to say, I was the most proud of my 7 year old cousin. She ordered the chicken tenders. They came out breaded and smothered in BBQ sauce, which is not what she was expecting. She kept longingly looking at her older sister's lunch, which was fried chicken. That looked more like what she thought she had ordered. After some encouragement, she did try her chicken and ended up eating all of it!
Paris and I shared the pulled pork dinner platter (which had a bun that we just removed) with green beans and fries as the sides. The green beans were some of the best I have had in a long time. The pulled pork was really good too. All in all, everyone walked away happy and full, which is always the goal!
I have put the menu below with the instructions on how to find the new location written on there by Billy himself. If you are in Charleston, Mary Lou's is a must to stop and eat!
