This year while in Sandestin, Florida, we decided to cruise down 30A to Seaside and try out some restaurants there. I had heard that there were food trucks there, and a friend of mine raved about the BBQ from one of them, so my interest was piqued.
You’ll find Barefoot BBQ right at the center of Seaside. There is a nice boardwalk there along the road, and many other shops there at town center. Barefoot BBQ is one of a few “food trucks” there by the sidewalk. I put food truck in quotes there because, while the vendors are inside campers, they haven’t moved in ages. It still has the fun appeal of a mobile food truck though.
To be such a small establishment, the menu is quite robust. Let me also go ahead and say that the food was stellar. I had the pork sandwich, which was delicious, with baked beans and chips as sides. The sandwich really was amazing. If you know me, you know I’m a bit of a BBQ snob. The pork was perfectly cooked and had a really good smokey flavor to it. The baked beans were good, but a little hot for my taste. I’m not kidding… they’re HOT. Barefoot has 4 different sauces to choose from; a traditional sauce, called Hang Ten, a vinegar based sauce called Wipeout, a mustard based sauce called Pipeline, and finally a spicy sauced called Hot Lava. I skipped the Pipeline sauce, as I’m rarely a fan of mustard based sauces, but I did sample the others. The Hang Ten sauce was quite good, but my personal favorite was the Hot Lava sauce. Despite it’s name, it wasn’t terribly hot (I actually thought the vinegar sauce was hotter), but it had a great flavor to it!
Now, here’s the downside to Barefoot… it’s expensive. My sandwich was $10, and frankly I was still hungry when I was done eating. The meat is piled on bread that is the size of a typical loaf you’d buy from a store, and while I don’t doubt their 1/3 of a pound claim, it just wasn’t enough for the money. All told, my bill was close to $20 after a drink and a small tip… that’s a lot for the amount of food I ended up with. That said though, EVERYTHING in Seaside is expensive. Frankly they charge that much because they can charge that much. Would I eat there again? Probably not. Would I recommend you eat there if you’re just dying to eat something in Seaside? Absolutely!
–Dan Thompson