Bring a little Pride and Joy to the Grove

There's all this talk of our waterfront and some people want it all to be turned into a big lawn, others want it to be a chrome and glass mall. Me, I feel that the change is going to happen, so why not do it right, stick to the original plan of 6500 square feet or so, and I think I found the perfect place to take the space of Scotty's Landing. It's called Pride and Joy, it's a BBQ place in Wynwood.

What's special about Pride and Joy is that it's less than a year old, it will be one in November, but it has the look and feel of being around for 100 years or so. Everything in the restaurant has such fine detail to quality, making it so rustic and perfect for our waterfront. Again, before I am called a traitor, in a perfect world, the 7 acres at the Scotty's, marina and Chart House location would be perfect as a park, but it is going to be developed, so why not do it right?

Now who is to say this has to go on the waterfront, it would be perfect for the Center Grove, too. We don't have a BBQ place in Center Grove. Yes, that is an old 1940s truck as part of the bar. It's the whole thing, the whole truck goes back behind the bar. And the lights are made of old bottles and above the booths the lights are made of beer cans, attached to gears.

The wood looks old, the furniture looks old, even the sign outside is made to look old with some sort of old metal then shot with actual gunshot, which a lot of the restaurants in the area, including George's are doing to conform with each other on North Miami Avenue. Pride and Joy is located at 2800 North Miami Avenue.

Ribs, brisket, burgers, they have it all. The sides are the best part, we tried Mama's Cole Slaw, Corned Bread, Collard Greens and Baked Beans, Jalapeno Hush Puppies and there are so many more options, $3.95 ea. for one service, $6.95 ea for large, which you can share.

The ribs are $12.95 for a half rack and $24.95 for a full rack and you can split the full rack and try different types like Baby Back and St. Louis BBQ.

There is a back patio which is quite large and this would be the part that would face the water. There's a live band at night and just the feel of the place is old, funky, yet edgy and new and very Key West-y, which I think makes me think it is made for the waterfront.