Gatrick's Bar-B-Que and Fine Dishes offers comfort and soul specialties

EVANSVILLE, Ind. — Like most people, Gary Boyd started barbequing in his driveway. But in 2016, when he was the vice president of the River Basin Blues Society, he set up on site and fed concertgoers at the Blues on the Rock and Burdette Blues Festivals.

A lot of folks tried his signature thick and tender grilled pork steak and tasty southern sides.

They liked it. A lot.

“Demand for it ramped up, and I needed to find a location,” he said.

To get rolling, he took over the deli at the Downtown Market on Lincoln Avenue, where he worked out of sight but not out of mind for a year while he bought and remodeled the old Flower Shoppe building on the corner of Kentucky and East Gum.

The restaurant, called Gatrick’s Bar-B-Que and Fine Dishes, recently opened to great fanfare, serving Boyd’s barbeque and grilled favorites, homestyle comfort food and soul food.

“These recipes were my parents’ and grandparents’,” said Boyd. “They were from Kentucky and Tennessee, so it’s a real southern style. I put them together and stirred it up and took what I liked and made it mine.”

The building has changed immensely since the Flower Shoppe days. The greenhouse that faced Kentucky is now a breezy patio. The garage became the kitchen and a banquet room. The storage refrigerators are the bathrooms.

“It’s come a long way,” said Boyd. “The only the thing left in here that was original is a little square of the floor.”

Gatrick’s menu is grounded in a solid selection of southern favorites, with changing daily specials thought up by Boyd and his chef Stanley Trice III, an Ivy Tech Culinary graduate

“Stanley is my featured chef,” said Boyd. “We both cook everything. We take old school and new school, work together and put it together.”

Boyd’s signature dish is the shrimp broil (yes broil.) Shrimp, rounds of corn on the cob, sausage, and chunks of golden-cooked potato are seasoned and cooked under the broiler, so no flavor is lost to a broth. It’s garnished with a sprinkling of parsley, fresh green onion and lemon slices for squeezing.

Boyd himself particularly loves his catfish recipe.

“The catfish is phenomenal, we go through maybe six cases a day,” he said. “The fish comes from Lake Barkley. It’s a Cajun recipe I got from my grandmother, it’s got buttermilk and a cornmeal breading with a Cajun spice blend. Everyone loves it.”

The big, thick pork steaks continue to steal the show as well. They are grilled slowly until tender and glazed with an aged Bourbon barbeque sauce that caramelizes around the edges and along the grill marks.

You may also enjoy pork chops fried or grilled, a ribeye steak, pulled pork, ribs, fried chicken and more.

Daily specials often include small portions of several different meats and sides, sampler-style.

Gatrick’s customers love the traditional side dishes. Collard greens are long-simmered with smoked turkey to provide a good smoky flavor appropriate for those who don’t eat pork or are trying to cut down on saturated fat.

The creamy macaroni and cheese is made with four cheeses: American, colby, cheddar and Swiss with just a touch of buttermilk.

Dark and sweet, the baked beans are flavored with honey and brown sugar, and the mashed potatoes are real potatoes with garlic butter and more buttermilk.

The crown of the week is Gatrick’s Soul Food Sunday, served from 11 a.m.-5 p.m.

“Every Sunday we do a soul food dinner,” explained Boyd. “Everybody can come after church, and it’s standing room only. They can get turkey and dressing, and they don’t have to wait for Thanksgiving. There’s smoked ham, and we give out all kinds of sides, it’s family style. The meal might be ham, neckbones, white beans, corn bread, cabbage, collards, mac and cheese.”

Boyd wanted to give the people of Evansville a place to gather as a family, a source of traditional southern comfort food, and a great meal at a great price.

“We try to keep it comfortable,” he said. “We do comfort food. You get well fed here.”

If you go

Gatrick’s Bar-B-Que and Fine Dishes is located at 750 S. Kentucky Ave.

Phone 812-550-1058

Hours:

Tuesday – Saturday 10:30 a.m.-9 p.m.

Friday 11 a.m.-6p.m.

Saturday 10:30 a.m.-6 p.m.

Sunday 11 a.m.-5 p.m.

Catering is also offered.