I’ve mentioned it before, but it bears repeating – one of the great things about being The Meatist is the continuous (well, almost continuous) stream of meat pics and meat topics that people text and email me.

For example, today I got some meat porn (the good kind of porn, the kind with burgers) from Swanky’s barbecue, whom I’ve been meaning to write about for a while now. Swanky’s Barbecue, for those of you who don’t get out enough, is providing a huge public service in South Florida by showing up at various music venues and offering delicious and reasonably priced protein options for those in need after they’ve poured too many PBR tall boys down their hipster throats.

I originally found these guys outside of Propaganda in Lake Worth, right after they sold the last pulled pork sandwich to Justin, the sound man at Prop. Yes, I was bummed; I think they offered me some sort of non-meat alternative which was completely out of the question, and I was forced to head to Havana on Dixie for a Media Noche.  It was many weeks before I was finally in the same place at the same time as the Swanky boys, but it finally happened at a Lavola show at Respectable Street Cafe in West Palm Beach.

I found them in the back garden, sitting behind a picnic table like a couple of Mafia dons granting favors (“Don Corleone, I’m sorry to bother you on the day of your daughter’s wedding”), but instead of walking away with a no-show job at the new hotel construction site in exchange for a favor to be named in the future (but which may well involve the word “whack”), you end up with a fistful of smoked meat on a bun in exchange for six bucks.

I was particularly protein-needy on the night I finally found them and I started out with a standard pulled pork sandwich. The pork was really tasty, moist with plenty of smokey goodness, and the sandwich was delicious even topped with the red slaw that I’d generally avoid (you know, because I’m The Meatist). For a sauce, I went with what a Carolina-style (they have a choice of four), which was mustard-based. Overall it was a fine, fine munch and one I’d recommend wholeheartedly if it weren’t for the second dose of smoked meat I had: a smoked burger.

I’ll admit to having a major weakness for burgers, but this particular burger made me even happier than usual (I’m 87.3% confident it wasn’t the gin talking). According to Swanky Steve (as opposed to Swanky Armand), each patty gets a dry rub (see meat porn photo, above) before being smoked for about 90 minutes. Then they’re brought from Swanky’s secret lair to wherever they’ll be selling them before being finished to order on what looks like a cut-rate George Foreman Grill.

But whatever the hell they finish them is on irrelevant; they’re delicious and well worth the five minute wait (the pulled pork is always available for those who need immediate gratification). Packed with smokey goodness, these are not for the faint of heart, but for those of us that actually like our smoked meats to taste smoked, they’re really tough to beat.

I had mine topped with the red slaw again (I know – what was I thinking? But it totally worked), and sauced with the mustard based BBQ sauce (also again). I’m fairly sure that I didn’t tell everyone in the place  that it was delicious, but I definitely told pretty much everyone I knew.

I can’t think of a better way to feed a late night, post alcohol protein jones than a fistful of Swanky’s. Plus, by grabbing your meats at Swanky’s, you don’t need to risk injury by cooking something for yourself once you get home.

Swanky Steve and Swanky Armand show up at Propaganda and Respectable Street from time to time, though I don’t know which place which time. They also take their fancy-pants cart to outdoor events. Find out how to hunt the bastards down by checking out the Swanky’s BBQ Facebook page. It’s worth it, trust me.