Alice Eats: Localfolk Smokehouse
Localfolk Smokehouse, 9 Route 17, Waitsfield, 496-5623
I will travel for ribs. A two hour jaunt for pit-smoked meat at Curtis' BBQ in Putney? No biggie. That's why it's a surprise — even to me — that it took me until this weekend to make it to Waitsfield's Localfolk Smokehouse.
The building is a wooden barn with a high ceiling. A moose head wearing an orange top hat hangs near the bar. Even the bathrooms have a unique ambiance, with swinging barn doors and walls painted to resemble a purple-tinged, full-moon-lightened night in Vermont.
The barbecue menu offers three meats — ribs, pulled pork and chicken — all available in small, medium or large sizes. I ordered a medium rib plate and a combo plate with the pulled pork and chicken. Each came with a choice of two sides. Perhaps I made poor choices. Or perhaps the cooks are too focused on flesh.
Some mouthfuls of mac 'n' cheese were sophisticatedly cheesy (I think I detected hints of Gruyère) others tasted bare. I was excited to see the giant wad of cornbread that came with my ribs. Unfortunately, it was almost inedibly dry. Coleslaw was bland. Luckily, the baked beans helped redeem the sides. Stewed in a beer-based sauce, they didn't have the excessive sweetness that often ruins the dish for me.
Most of the meat matched the beans in quality. The St. Louis-style ribs might not have passed Kansas City Barbecue Society muster, but they were close. The meat clung lightly to the bone, but fell apart in my mouth. The rich, tomato-based sauce had a mix of mild spices that combined wonderfully with the melting pork fat. The chunky pulled pork was terrifically moist, drenched in a vinegary sauce that varied greatly from the one on the ribs, and amplified the juicy meat's natural attributes. Though tasty, the slightly dry quarter chicken couldn't compare to the pork.
The dessert menu was limited, but freshly baked chocolate chip cookies served with vanilla ice cream paired nicely with the satellite radio Grateful Dead channel and a stomach full of hog flesh.
Alice.
I urge you to venture to Montreal and check out the Bar B Barn. The worlds best ribs, at least in my opinion.
Meaty succulent and tasty to the bone, add a salad and fries and the experience will be quite enjoyable.
P.S. Bring me back a takeout order of ribs, I prefer the whole hawg. Got to get the enhanced drivers license so I can venture north again. I would guess in my lifetime I have made over 100 trips to the place.
Happy eating.
Posted by: dale tillotson | June 09, 2010 at 04:33 PM
Thanks for stopping by the Smokehouse, Alice, and thanks for the great comments regarding my meats! As for the sides, I must apologize for the cornbread, which was the victim of an error when scaling down the recipe for mud season. I fixed it yesterday after reading your review. Peace, John
Posted by: John | June 11, 2010 at 06:48 AM