CityView Magazine

in the interest of journalistic research, I ordered a beef brisket sandwich and squirted on some honey spice sauce. The meat was melt-in-your mouth tender with a smoky finish. I am and forever will be a pork devotee, but that beef brisket had me in the mood to slip on a Stetson, turn on George Strait and make it to Amarillo by morning. As for the pulled pork, it does a Carolina boy like me proud. I used to have to drive an hour to find a good, wood-smoked heap of barbecue. No more. Holy Smoke is a godsend. Cooking Connection Baked Beans 1 large can plain baked beans Add: 1/2 cup brown sugar 1/4 cup ketchup 1 tablespoon yellow mustard 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce 1 tablespoon minced onion Mix all ingredients and place in a casserole dish. Add strips of bacon on top, if desired. Bake at 350 degrees for about 40 minutes, or until bubbling and the bacon is cooked on top. —Jan Britt, The Cooking Connection FoodsFoods&& R E S T A U R A N T & C L A S S I C C A T E R I N G R E S T A U R A N T & C L A S S I C C A T E R I N G The Bistro ~ Lunch Tues-Sat 11-3 Catering & Fondue Dining by reservation 910.480.4800 www.fabulousfondue4u.com 5520 Murchison Road, Suite A 28 | May/June • 2012 Many establishments have aban- doned the old style of barbecue craſts- manship in exchange for the easier, cleaner form that involves cooking with gas or electricity. Using smoke is hot and hard, but it's a true labor of love. "It's not like cooking in an oven when you set the temperature at 300 degrees and it stays there," Bob told me. "I'm constantly running in and out. And if the wind changes direction, then the fire is gonna flare up and get real hot. So just keeping the fire at a steady temperature, I mean that's the hardest part." But when someone gushes about his grub, that makes the sweat and the smoke-smelly clothes worth every stoke of the fire. "You can taste it down the street," Denise Reed told me with a hearty laugh as she finished off her sandwich. "And they do it right here." So you have to wonder: Will they ever trade the wheels for a foundation and open a full-blown restaurant? "That's on our wish list," Bob said. "We would really like to have a place where customers can come and sit down and not eat in their car or on their way back to work," Rebecca added. Someday. Like their cooking, they're taking it slow. Standing there chatting with this new generation of 'cue con- noisseurs, I downed two sandwiches – all in the name of research. I had to taste the texture of this story, get to the meat of it, sink my teeth into every juicy detail and add a spicy kick to it. Sometimes knowledge is bliss. And sometimes you just have to follow your nose to encounter something as divine as Holy Smoke. CV Photography by Anna Lester

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