Brother Jimmy’s BBQ: Friends, Fun, and College Football

Posted on June 8, 2011October 16, 2011 by Benji Ho

Brother Jimmy's has a fun environment, especially when it's crowded at night.

Ever since they opened, Brother Jimmy’s in Maho has been a hit among AUC students. It’s not only a fun place to eat, but also a fun place to hang out on Friday or Saturday nights.

With their motto “put some south in yo’ mouth,” Brother Jimmy’s serves Southern food. But as a Southerner myself, I hafta say, it didn’t quite taste all that south in my mouth. So it wasn’t too surprising to me to hear that this chain came here from New York.

While some of their BBQ sauces are pretty good, their BBQ ribs and pulled pork are OK. Their “Northern ribs” are decent, with a nice smoke flavor and sweet BBQ sauce, but their “Southern ribs” are way too dry, even for dry-rub. Their pulled pork is a little too dry for my tastes as well. Some of their sides are a little more southern, like collard greens, although it’s not cooked the way most people would cook it in my Southern hometown of Macon, Georgia. Their black-eyed peas are really good, probably my favorite of their side dishes, which they cook with smoked ham hocks. Their corn bread and mashed potatoes are also good, and you can tell they mashed it themselves (vs. from the box like you see in many restaurants). Of the appetizers, their fried pickles are pretty good. Their menu also has Brunswick stew, which is a tomato-based stew very typical to Georgia.

Some other items on the menu I find amusing, like one of their “Southern specialties,” the Outer Banks Burrito, which isn’t something you’ll really find in the Outer Banks, if you’ve ever been there (it’s in North Carolina). If anything, I’d think a Southern specialty would be like country-fried steak, chicken-n-dumplings, or shrimp-and-grits or something, none of which I saw on the menu.

Nevertheless, Brother Jimmy’s BBQ isn’t really about food. It’s about your friends, fun, and college football… and it’s a little bit of the US in St. Maarten, and not far from AUC too. And if you want food, they have that too, and they bring it out fast, being an island of “American Time” within a sea of “Island Time.”

They have all-you-can-eat/drink wings and draft on Saturdays and all-you-can-eat/drink ribs on Sundays. For drinks, their Swamp Water’s a fun one to get and share with friends, complete with a plastic alligator with spewing grenadine from it’s mouth into the drink. I love Brother Jimmy’s and despite it not being “authentically” Southern, it’s no doubt still a fun place to go with your friends.