The Thanksgiving Turkey Sandwich Goes BBQ: Ellie Lou’s Brews & BBQ

It’s November, and we’re in the warm, stuffing-y center of the Thanksgiving Sandwich season. We’ve got another review to get to.

This time, I thought we’d look at a local joint doing something interesting with the Thanksgiving sandwich formula: Winter Garden, Florida’s Ellie Lou’s Brews & BBQ.

This past weekend I was in Pennsylvania visiting family — by which I mean I went to see Iron Maiden in Philly and then catch a minor league hockey game — when I got a text from my girlfriend. Thankfully, it had nothing to do with me not closing the freezer drawer completely) hey, sometimes the towel on the door handle gets in the way) but instead had everything to do with Thanksgiving sandwiches.

She sent me an Instagram post from Ellie Lou’s, a pretty solid barbecue joint within a quick drive of where we live. They were offering a Thanksgiving sandwich of their own.

Smoked Turkey?

Cornbread stuffing?

Cranberry-orange relish?

Count. Me. In.

So, not long after I got home, I called up Ellie Lou’s and ordered me a sammich.

Here’s what we found…

The Thanksgiving turkey sandwich gets the BBQ treatment. Is it the cross-over event of the Thanksgiving sandwich season? (Credit: Matt Reigle)

The Only Thing More American Than A Thanksgiving Sandwich Is A BBQ-Ized Thanksgiving Sandwich

Now, the key features of this sandwich for me were the cornbread stuffing and the smoked turkey. 

My family doesn’t do cornbread stuffing, but any time I have it I kind of wonder why we don’t.

As for smoked turkey? Well, turkey can be tough to tame like a wild Bronco or Darlington Raceway, but if smoked just right, I think I’d put it among the best smoked meats. Maybe top 3, definitely top 5.

But it’s a delicate process like making a souffle or successfully completing a lap around Darlington Raceway.

But, with those two ingredients working in tandem, I had some high hopes for this one:

This sandwich was a little on the bready side, which when you consider that one of the main ingredients of a Thanksgiving turkey sandwich is basically just bread, is not ideal. Nonetheless, it was a good hoagie roll, but maybe just a touch too soft for my liking, although that may be on me because I got it to go and I think it steamed itself in its foam clam-shell container.

The standout on this sandwich was by far the smoked turkey. It wasn’t the most moist smoked turkey I’ve ever had, but it had some great flavor. I would eat that on its own without a second thought, and I wish there was more of it.

The cornbread stuffing was a little weaker on the taste front than I had expected. Not bad, just not as much of that cornbread flavor I was expecting. Meanwhile, the cranberry-orange relish was good but could have been used a bit more, but all in all, this was a very good sandwich that I would get again.

The smoked turkey carried this sandwich, and I’m going to give it 3.9 bald eagles out of 5, considering a BBQ-styled Thanksgiving sandwich is as American as you can get short of having Uncle Ted Nugent play the “Star-Spangled Banner” before a Fourth of July apple pie-eating contest.

That means it falls right below the Publix Deli Holiday Turkey Cranberry Sub and just ever so slightly above the Firehouse Subs Thanksgiving Turkey Sub (although, I think Ellie Lou’s and Firehouse could trade places based on the day; they’re that close).