Thing: Plain white buns

Place: Barrel No. 51 BBQ truck

Located: In a parking lot

Corner of: South 23rd and South Cedar, Tacoma

Used to be: Tacoma Central Theater

Now: A church

Which: Makes me giggle

Because: Both movies and churches will empty your pocketbook

Speaking of money: Barrel No. 51 takes CASH ONLY

Go online and purchase: Any one of their homemade sauces and rubs

At: barrelno51.com

Co-owned by Tacoma natives Sara and Robb Hampton and Paul and Sara Gardner, the Barrel No. 51 BBQ truck doles out some of the best barbecue sandwiches I've ever sunk my teeth into. And lord knows I've sunk my teeth into quite a few ... uh ... sandwiches.

There's nothing fancy about the buns at Barrel No. 51, but that's exactly what I love about it. No ciabatta bread, stadium rolls or hoity-toity potato rolls handed out here. What's known as Mrs. Baird's bread down in the South is known as Franz up here. Simple, squishy, fresh white buns. No gimmicks, no fluff. Just pure white bread.

You know ... the kind of white bread that would stick to the roof of your mouth when your mom made you come in to eat before you could go back out and play with your friends during the summer. Le sigh. Those were the best of times. No deadlines. No little green cards from Pierce County carrying your home's "value change notice" coming in the mail ... just pure innocence and tomfoolery.

Now people are toasting paninis and adding f***ing flax seed to my bread.  This totally deflates the integrity of my simpleton PB&J and Hi-C brown-bag lunch memories. (Exceptions: The Stinker at STINK and Pacific Grill's grilled cheese.) And no, Subway, I don't want my Italian BMT toasted.

But I digress. Inside Barrel No. 51's soft and simple bun rests the most beautiful mound of shredded pork I've seen in quite some time. With a perfect meat-to-bun ratio, this sandwich is garnished with nothing other than Barrel No. 51's own homemade BBQ sauce, and every bite holds equal parts flavor. There's definitely no shortage of meat and flavor in those bad boys, I can attest to that.

Ah, bad boys. Yet another glorious memory from my youth, one which my mom still has no idea about. And she never will ... RIGHT?

[Barrel No. 51 BBQ and Catering, open Monday-Friday, 12 - 5 p.m., truck parked in the parking lot of Destiny City Church, 3102 S. 23rd St., Tacoma, barrelno51.com]