There are few things better than a good story. One of them is a good story about BBQ and tacos and how they’ve allowed a Georgia couple to blast on to the scene over the last couple of years.
Judd and Kate Foster are co-owners of South of Heaven BBQ. Currently, it only exists in food truck form, but a brick and mortar is soon to open down on St Simons Island.
That follows a 3 year run in Carrollton, Georgia where they developed a huge following. Coastal Georgia is in for a treat this month. They are hosting a few pop ups in the area. Here’s a portion of my chat with Judd. For the full conversation, click here for our podcast.
JB: In a nutshell, tell us about your BBQ. You were in Atlanta. You worked with Bryan Furman for a little bit. Then you opened your own spot and South of Heaven BBQ was a hit out of the gate, huh?
Judd Foster: Yeah. Running out’ the gate. We haven’t stopped since we opened our doors. It’s a good problem to have.
JB: How long ago was that?
Judd: Our brick and mortar was 3 years ago. We’ve been doing catering since 2014.
JB: You learned the ropes in Atlanta. You came down from New York state. You now have a huge following. What makes your product different?
Judd: One, because I’m self taught. I didn’t know what to do. I wish I had a mentor telling me what to do, but I didn’t have that. A lot of playing and a lot of failure as well. I’ve ruined a lot of briskets in my day. Being a New Yorker making Southern BBQ, I can pride myself on my product at this point.
JB: Pretty impressive. I’ve got to be honest, if I came down from New York and into the South and started making BBQ, I’d freak out and be intimidated. Were you at the beginning?
Judd: Oh absolutely. Especially with the folks I’ve worked with along the way. I mean they are all tremendous. You are talking folks like Bryan Furman the guys over at Southern Soul, Dave Carrier. All great guys.
I started off with Big Green Egg. They hired me as a private chef to do events at their facility in Atlanta.
JB: I know all of those guys. I know that if you are hanging around with them, they are eager to share their philosophies and their experiences with you, true?
Judd: Oh absolutely. The BBQ community in general is amazing. My smoker that I’m using, I purchased off of the Fox Brothers. They cut me a pretty good deal. Of course there’s always that fun banter and competition, but that’s the name of the game.
JB: What’s been your most popular item?
Judd: Brisket, by far. Our brisket sells out within 3 hours of us opening. Now that we are doing our tacos, our brisket birria tacos are outstanding.
JB: Perfect time to ask about your pop ups. You are coming to Savannah. But not BBQ, you will be doing what you call Emotional Support Tacos. What is that about?
Judd: 2020 was rough on all of us. Having an emotional support taco…. Tacos are my favorite food in the world and I think it blends really well with traditional Southern BBQ. If all of the components are there. You can go to your favorite taco joint and have amazing tacos. So we make this amazing Birria tacos.
It’s kinda frustrating it takes me 2 days to make this product that disappears in about 4 hours. It’s worth it.
JB: What else will you have?
Judd: We always offer some type of vegetarian taco. Our chorizo pit smoked beans are a fan favorite. I’m not a traditional baked beans sticky sweet kinda guy. I don’t like sauce on my BBQ usually. So we created a baked bean along a savory line.
Also, my wife, who is a partner and I couldn’t have done any of this without her, has been a vegetarian for 4 years. So we are constantly playing with ideas for her to be able to eat.
Everyone needs a taco hug sometimes. We look forward to seeing everyone.
South of Heaven BBQ -Emotional Support Taco pop up Friday, February 12 and Saturday, February 13th Southbound Brewing Company 107 East Lathrope Avenue Savannah, GA 31415 Saturday, February 20th (ONE DAY ONLY) Ghost Coast Distillery 641 Indian Street Savannah, GA 31401 Saturday, February 27th (ONE DAY ONLY) Hilton Head Distillery 14 Cardinal Road Hilton Head Island, SC 29926 # # #
