Saw's Juke Joint
It seemed like Ore Drink & Dine vanished overnight.
One moment, customers were seated in a quiet, upscale atmosphere sipping cocktails, and in the next they were holding cans of Coors and scribbling on the walls. Just like that, the restaurant had a new name, too — an established name.
Saw’s Juke Joint, which opened in November 2012, is the third business venture by owner Mike Wilson. His others are Saw’s Soul Kitchen in Avondale and the original Saw’s BBQ in Edgewood.
In 2009, Wilson, a native of North Carolina, was working in the test kitchens for Cooking Light magazine and smoking pork butts as a hobby. He had amassed a demand for his meat, which was soaked in sauce, stored in plastic bags and sold to his coworkers. They encouraged him to open a place of his own, and he wasn’t opposed to the idea.
Wilson purchased Broadway BBQ in Edgewood and changed the name to Saw’s, an acronym for his college nickname, Sorry-A** Wilson. He made a menu of only a few items. It included the Stuffed Taters Broadway BBQ was known for, served steaming and spilling over the cantaloupe-size spud, as well as popular items like Saw’s Original Pulled Pork Sandwich and the Smoked Chicken with White BBQ Sauce.
Sure, the Juke Joint menu has these Saw’s staples, but it’s also slathered with towering burgers and soul food – something unfamiliar to the Homewood location but popular for customers of Saw’s in Avondale.
Saw’s sandwich selection includes fried toppings like shrimp, oysters, catfish and green tomatoes. It also serves both smoked and Boudin sausage. But the Southern concoction that has brought customers back through the door time and time again is the Pork N Greens.
For these, Saw’s starts with a bed of cheese grits, piles on fresh collard greens and pulled pork, and douses the plate in the restaurant’s tangy barbecue sauce. They top it all off with fried onion straws and bring it out on a paper plate that struggles under the weight.
A new item that’s found favor – and maybe a permanent spot on the menu – is the Juke Joint’s Sweet Tea Fried Chicken Sandwich. For this delicacy, Saw’s marinates chicken breasts in sweet tea and pickle brine for 24 hours before frying it up and putting it on a bun.
The restaurant also has daily specials made from fresh ingredients, like a Field Pea and Spring Onion Salad, a Cucumber Salad and White Chocolate Cranberry Bread Pudding. It also, unlike other Saw’s locations, offers craft beers on draft, a full bar and live music three nights a week. Shows run Thursdays from 7-10 p.m., Fridays from 9 p.m.-midnight and Saturdays from 5-8 p.m.
Wilson said the Juke Joint didn’t launch as a result of his looking to expand, but rather him finding the perfect business partners. American Idol winner Taylor Hicks and former Otey’s owner Doug Smith share ownership of the Juke Joint. Wilson said the chance to work with both was too good to pass up, but he added that he has no long-term plans for more growth.
“It may take me 10 years or I may never open another one,” he said. “It’s not about the money, it’s about somebody saying to me this sandwich is the best I’ve ever had.”