Driving around Kingsport, Johnson City or Bristol TN looking for the best bbq you can find? Phil’s Dream Pit should be where you end up. Equal distance from the three cities, Johnson City, Bristol and Kingsport TN, Phil’s Dream Pit offers great bbq, awesome side dishes and sweet Southern hospitality, all with easy access to I-26 and I-81.
Phil’s Dream Pit prepares their bbq fresh every day with a consistency that is hard to beat in the bbq world. The pulled pork is smoky, tender and juicy. Sliced beef brisket has a nice smoke ring, is also juicy and tender without being chewy or tough. The baby back bbq ribs are extra meaty, not fatty, with a nice smoke flavor, The smoke, seasoning and sauce on the sweet ribs come together for a symphony on the taste buds. The dry rub ribs are a classic Memphis style, with just enough kick. Phil also offers either half a chicken on the bone or a boneless skinless breast that he smokes with his dry rub on it. Both tender, juicy and smoky flavored. Smoked turkey breast is also on the menu, as are all beef hot dogs, smoked sausage and a jalapeno cheddar sausage. A special meat that Phil offers is called a pork wing. Cut off below the shank end of the ham, this meat is exceptionally tender and soaks up the hickory smoke well.
While the meat is the most important factor in a bbq restaurant decision, you still need good sides. Phil’s Dream Pit baked beans could be a meal in themselves. Generous amounts of Phil’s pulled pork coupled with the sweetness of the beans, make them amazing. Fresh creamy cole slaw, potato and macaroni salad like mom used to make, and hashbrown casserole round out the side options.
So your meal has arrived at your table,now the question: to sauce or not to sauce? Phil believes his meats are tasty enough on their own, but sauces are nice too.
IF you need to sauce. . .
Sweet fire sauce – adds taste and heat from habanero pepper, spicy but not too strong
Smoking hot sauce – sweet and hot enough to satisfy those who say “You can’t get it too hot for me!”
Blackberry Fire sauce – sweet blackberry flavor with a hint of heat
Vinegar sauce – classic N. Carolina
Mustard – classic S. Carolina
Have room for dessert?
Blueberry Dream – blueberry cobbler with pineapple and pecans, heated with ice cream
Brownie Dream – double layer brownie with symphony candy bar in middle, heated with ice cream and chocolate syrup
Have kids? Phil wants to make sure that families with kids can afford to eat out now and then. Our kids meal are inexpensive and come with chips and a drink.
Gluten Free? All meats are gluten free. It would be easier to list what ISN’T: hashbrown casserole, macaroni salad, desserts, bread, mustard sauce and blackberry sauce. EVERYTHING else is gluten Free.
Phil’s Dream Pit started as a dream. Always wanting to cook barbeque for others, Phil bought a smoker in 2007. While keeping his full time job he smoked meats for friends and neighbors, and catered a few events. Everyone raved about his food, encouraging him to open a restaurant. Circumstances: having his local job move out of state; an empty restaurant a few miles from his home and the desire to retire where he grew up in Jonesborough TN, all created a moment of opportunity. His decision to cash out his 401K and live the dream of opening a bbq restaurant was a leap of faith, years in the making.
In 2008 the doors opened to Phil’s Dream Pit. So the Quest for the Perfect BBQ began. Critics felt the location was too far away from everything, but in reality the bbq restaurant is only 10 miles away from Kingsport and Johnson City,TN. People came, people returned, people told other people, and the business grew.
Phil of course, cared about his customers dining experience and ensuring that the food that is served is always consistent and always great, but Phil also sees the business as a way to reach out to the community. Phil sees the restaurant as his ministry. You just never know if that next person through the door is in need of a shoulder, a prayer or just a good meal.
