by Sameerah Brown

Happy New Year, fellow foodies! I hope you all are as excited as I am for 2016 and all the food places it will take us. I would like to thank those readers for all the wonderful recommendations; I can’t wait to try all those new restaurants.

This time I am taking you all to a place a little closer to home: Jeb’s Meat Market & Diner in Carrolton.

Jeb’s Meat Market has been open now for 14 years, but after the economy started declining, Jeb and Shay Bonnet needed to find a way to create extra income, so they opened the doors to Jeb’s Diner seven years ago. The home of the butcher, the baker and the Korean food maker.

Before making the decision to give Jeb’s Meat Market & Diner a visit, I did a little research online to see what their menu offered. My first impression was that they have a very diverse menu, which included BBQ specialties, American classics, Southwestern dishes and Korean favorites.

Jeb’s Diner is very spacious and I was pleased that they didn’t overwhelm the space with tables. All the tables were placed well apart where if you moved your chair you wouldn’t be bumping the table behind you. You know what I mean, lol! All the dishes are reasonably priced and includes your drink.

So I know what you really want to know is what did I eat? Barbecue, of course!

Double Delight Dinner: chopped brisket, bone-in chicken, fried corn and sweet potato casserole. Since I believe in being 100 percent open and honest with my fellow foodies, I have to admit I really struggled with this review. Why? After I tasted Jeb’s chopped beef brisket, nothing else mattered because I fell deeply in love like I was on cloud nine. This dish was absolutely wonderful with the brisket being the star of the plate. I have tried several briskets at several different BBQ places, and I have to say this was the best brisket I ever had. The brisket was beyond tender with a perfect fat-to-meat ratio that melted in your mouth like butter. It was very flavorful with a nice subtle smokiness, it was absolutely outstanding.

The dish also came with a smoked barbecue chicken breast and wing. The chicken was nice and juicy while the skin was nice and crispy where you just wanted to peel it off and eat that by itself. I’ve never had BBQ chicken with the skin this superb until I ate here. The sweet potato casserole was the second star of the plate; it was nothing that I was used to, but now everything that I look for in a sweet potato casserole. It was topped with some form of oat topping that you find on an apple crisp; it was exceptional. It left me wanting to ask for the recipe, and of course I tried, but their daughter Lisa Gauldin told me nope. She said it is a secret family recipe and wouldn’t share any details, so you definitely need to go out there to taste it yourself.

Fried corn was new to me, but definitely yummy! I was expecting something that was deep fried or something of that nature, but this was more of a sauté similar to fried cabbage. It had a slightly thin creamy consistency, nowhere near creamed corn, but with a subtle sweetness. It was the perfect companion for my lunch.

I finished my meal with a little sweet treat. Italian Cream Cake is a coconut-pecan cake with cream cheese frosting. It was absolutely delish and very rich. The best way for me to describe this dessert for those that have never tried it: it’s like a carrot cake without carrots.

I absolutely enjoyed my lunch at Jeb’s Meat Market & Diner and I truly cannot wait to go back. On a scale of 1-5 with 5 being the best I have to give Jeb’s an 8 because they honestly served the best brisket and sweet potato casserole I ever had.

Next time you are in the area or close to Carrollton, make sure you stop in at Jeb’s Meat Market & Diner, located at 15668 Carrollton Blvd. Opened Monday-Thursday from 11 a.m.-7:30 p.m.; Friday-Saturday from 11 a.m.-8 p.m.; and closed on Sundays. They can be reached at 757-238-2099, or visit them online at jebsbbq.com.

If you know of a restaurant that you would like me to visit outside of Franklin, email your suggestions to thetravelingfoodie@tidewaternews.com. Let’s see where next month’s adventure takes us!