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Friday, November 25, 2011

Pie Pieday: Peanut Butter at Three Sam's BBQ

Posted by Kat Robinson on Fri, Nov 25, 2011 at 8:07 AM

A POUND OF PIE: Even the crust of Three Sams peanut butter pie is full of peanut butter.

Kat Robinson
A POUND OF PIE: Even the crust of Three Sam's peanut butter pie is full of peanut butter.

Most people never get to the desserts at Three Sams Barbecue Joint … because the portions are large and tasty. But for those who have sampled them… well, you know what I am talking about.

The pie search took me to Mabelvale early one lunchtime — while I was en route to another engagement. I knew I wouldn’t have time to dine in, so I placed an order to go — one beef barbecue sandwich and one slice of the famed peanut butter pie.

Kat Robinson

Kat Robinson

Problem with this is that I had to wait… which, yes, I expected — but because I was waiting I had to stand next to the counter and its sweet corner. Everything under glass there looked too good to pass up — the luscious Italian Cream Cake, the decadent brownies. Especially the peanut butter cookies under their neat little dome. I could have eaten a dozen of them. Instead, I waited.

And when I received my repast in a bag to take with me, I took it out carefully and shot it in the parking lot, sitting in my vehicle and wishing I had time to eat it inside. See, Three Sams SMELLS fantastic. I coulda sat in there and enjoyed five senses worth of amazing. But I had to run.

Kat Robinson

I did snap photos of the food, of course. The beef sandwich ($4.75 or $5.75 for large, with chips) was all over the place, chopped smoky beef under a pile of creamy slaw on a seedless bun. It was served up with a pickle, a package of Lays and a container of the thinnish savory slightly tangy sauce the place is known for. It’s not a sweet sauce by any means, but it is smoky and soakable. And the meat… completely doesn’t need it. This is one case where the barbecue meat and the barbecue sauce are equally as good.

But I hadn’t come for the sandwich… that was a benefit. I came for the pie. And the little box that contained the pie felt like it weighed a pound. Inside was the most peanut-y of peanut butter pies I had ever encountered. It was nearly two inches thick, topped with peanuts and chunks of peanut butter cups. The mousse-style filling was dense and a little salty in addition to being sweet.

Kat Robinson

The winner for me, though, was the sweet peanut buttery bottom crust — a crust likely made from flour, butter, peanut butter and peanuts but which tasted of those peanut butter sandwich cookies the Girl Scouts sell each year. There was not a part of this pie that had not been graced with the magic of peanut butter.

That being said, as amazing as that was, next time I go I am having the Italian Cream Cake and some cookies and a cheeseburger and some onion rings — especially the latter, which people keep bragging to me on.

You’ll find Three Sams Barbecue Joint next to the railroad tracks in downtown Mabelvale. The proper address is 10508 Mann Road, if you’re entering it into your GPS. (501) 407-0305.

Tags: Three Sams, barbecue, BBQ, pie, peanut butter pie

        
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