TJ P.
Louisville, KY
12/4/2010

5 Stars

There’s something to be said for simplicity. Something also to be said about the flavors that bring “home” back to you. Barbecue happens to be among those foods that spark memories of family reunions and backyard ball games.
These guys have it right. Good food and a nice atmosphere. It’s a simple place, sitting by a gas station in Fairdale, across from a DQ, with a small patio and picnic tables out front. The indoors is set up like a little cabin, small 4 -person tables, enough to seat maybe 20 people total. Country music playing in the background (maybe a little loud but we were seated near the speaker).
They have a nice variety of items on the menu, enough that I want to go back and try a few more. We had a sampler platter: 1/4-rack of ribs, pulled pork and a beef brisket sandwich, and a smoked sausage. All were nicely smoked, with a choice of 4 different sauces on the table to add to the meat. All the sauces were fairly sweet, my personal favorites being the Tangy and the Sweet Sop. The smoked sausage was actually a personal favorite, smoky and peppery. Wild Willie’s Cole Slaw was a nice peppery slaw which could have been a little crunchier but still very good. My boys liked the apple sauce and the mac & cheese.
Going to have to come back for the smoked bologna sandwich, burgoo and baked beans!

Cinimod S.
Louisville, KY
8/10/2010

5 Stars

Great BBQ made by some wonderful people.

This rustic little spot in Fairdale, not far from Jefferson Memorial Forrest, is serving up the best Bar-B-Que in Louisville.

My parents turned me onto the place, by bringing feasts of pork, chicken and fish with enough sides to stock a fridge on numerous occasions. The food is just fantastic. I could not say enough good things about it. Its all smoked and cooked out back, hence the name.

They have a drive through. They have a patio. They are closed Mondays, but frequently invite local groups in for fundraisers. So, they care about their community too.

Todd M.
Sunnyvale, CA
7/26/2009

5 Stars

We were recently on a trip to Louisville to visit my mom- and she had read a raving review about “Shack in the Back” so we decided to try it. It isn’t too far from Louisville and the RIBS ARE TO DIE FOR!!! This place is a trip. It’s an old cabin (1800s I read somewhere) and they cook the ribs in a little room out back (the guys said for 1.5 days for a rack). There is a big patio with lots of tables (and a few tables inside) and on Friday and Sat nights they have live music. In the 2 weeks of our trip, we went 2X and the ribs, ambiance, and music were perfect! In addition to the ribs, we tried the pulled pork sandwich (YUM) and the brisket sandwich (not as good as the others). Great homemade sides including corn, green beans, beans, cole slaw, french frys, etc. Reasonably priced and just such a great and delicious place. We had to add it to Yelp. We took some pix so I will upload them! If you are anywhere near L’ville- you MUST try this place!

You’ll come back to shack in the back

Lisa Hornung

Metromix
April 6, 2009

At the suggestion of a childhood friend, I made the trip out to the wilds of Fairdale to check out this barbecue joint. To be honest, its name frightened me a bit. A shack? In the back? Would we make it out alive?

There were actually three of us — all friends from our days at St. Rita School in Okolona. We’ve recently reconnected and have been having regular lunches at various joints.

I paid for one friend’s meal in the Two for $30 tradition. We needn’t have worried about the Shack. It was a cute little building, made to look like a log cabin on the inside. There was an awning out front that provided cover for several picnic tables, which is where we dined on an unseasonably warm March day.

It was very casual, and you have to walk to the counter to order, then they bring it to the table with a friendly smile.

My friend had “The Shack Special” ($8), which included a pulled-pork sandwich with three sides; she chose potato salad, green beans and mac and cheese.

The sandwich was pretty hearty, and she liked the flavor. We were told the meat is slow-cooked on old fashioned pits for 14 to 18 hours. You get a choice of a couple of sauces, sweet and hot.

I had the quarter rack of baby-back ribs and two sides ($8.95), and I got the skillet-fried corn and mac-and-cheese.

My ribs were delicious. The meat was tender and flavorful, and it fell off the bone. They were made with a dry rub, but I smothered them in hot sauce.

The most surprising side dish was the skillet-fried corn. It was just the right amount of buttery and crispy — not totally crispy, but biting into it offered a lovely hint of crunch. I enjoyed the mac and cheese, though I wasn’t crazy about it. It was a wee bit bland for my taste. But my friend raved about the potato salad.

We had to taste the buttermilk pie ($1.75). I had never tried it before, and now I’m hooked. Similar to chess pie, buttermilk pie has a kind of vanilla custard filling, and this one had a delightfully flaky crust. I will be back for more.

Our drinks ($1) were served in a can with a cup of ice, so you had to buy more if you wanted refills.

With three drinks (I had to have a second one) our total came to $23.80, and I shoved a $5 into the tip jar.

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Barbecue shines at Shack

Slow-smoked meat and setting are fine

By Marty Rosen -Special to The Courier-Journal – July 4, 2009

When the wind is right, I’m pretty sure you can pick up the smell of Shack in the Back BBQ from anywhere in the vicinity of Fairdale. It’s a good smell – the smell of honest, hard-working hickory smoke. The smell of slow-cooked pork. The smell of beef brisket and baby back ribs. The smell of baked beans and chicken wings. The smell of smoked bologna and skillet-fried corn.

If you’re a Louisvillian accustomed to Germantown-style fried bologna sandwiches, the Shack’s smoked bologna sandwich might seem unnecessarily frou-frou, but the thick slab of dense, smoky bologna ? with a glossy glaze of brown sugar and honey ? looks mighty handsome sitting on a bun ($6.25, dinner; $3.50 sandwich).

Yep, if you want a whole hog, the Shack will roast it, decorate it with a straw hat and an apple in its mouth, bring it to your party, and supply you with buns and sauces (it’s a market price deal; right now, a catered pig roast will run about $4 per pound, or $320 for an 80-pound hog that will yield 80-120 sandwiches, plus the cost of side dishes).

But ribs are the heart of the matter, and the Shack’s ribs (quarter rack dinner, $8.95; half rack, $12.95; full rack, $17.95) are divine ? dry-rubbed, meaty, moist, tender enough to fall off the bone, and cooked boldly, till they’re wrapped in a charred, chewy coat of intense flavor.

Because of an utter lack of foresight, we devoured so much meat and so many sides that when we finally looked up, we found ourselves unprepared to tackle banana pudding, chocolate pie or buttermilk pie ($1.75), so I find myself unable at this time to offer personal testimony regarding their merits.

At this time …

E-mail freelance restaurant critic Marty Rosen at cjdining@gmail.com.