Road trip! Try these BBQ eateries while leaf peeping in New Hampshire, Maine, Vermont
Bumper stickers I’ve stuck on my cars over the years: “I brake for yard sales,” “I make frequent stops for food trucks,” and “Road tripping for Barbecue.” Yes, I have been known to go on a barbecue pilgrimage wherever I happen to be living at the time and with prime leaf peeping season coming up in New England soon, planning out your own barbecue road trip is a fun, tasty and lovely way to spend a weekend.
If you’re looking for peak foliage dates, Yankee Magazine always has a great guide with their New England Fall Foliage Forecast, but, in general, most of Northern New England (Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine) will be at peak at the end of September, early October.
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I have a few ideas for barbecue joints in those states and more, some close to home, some just a few hours away from the Seacoast.
Vermont
Bluebird Barbecue
317 Riverside Ave., Burlington, Vermont, bluebirdbbq.com
Sue Bette’s Bluebird Tavern was nominated for a James Beard Foundation Best New Restaurant award in 2010 and while that restaurant closed back in 2015, her Bluebird Barbecue spot remains. Bette, now in the role of 'head coach' for Bluebird Tavern where the kitchen is helmed by chef Dan Miele, recently opened The Front Yard at Bluebird Barbecue, a new outdoor seating area with a built-out biergarten space and counter service where they serve barbecue sandwiches, snacks and sharable dishes. Their big smokehouse trays and barbecue for two is for to-go only.
Dishes include Nitty Gritty Cornbread Muffins with whipped maple butter, Chopped Brisket with pickled jalapeno and crispy onions on a Klinger's golden bun and "BLT" Salad with chicory lettuces, Bluebird bacon, smoked cherry tomatoes, grilled hen 'fat tire' toast, radish and black garlic ranch. Vegetarian options include a charred broccoli Caesar, smoked tomato and miso mushroom or miso mushroom farro bowl with kale, radish, shaved fennel FUNJ shrooms, roasted carrot and caramelized honey vin. Snacks include fried mac + cheese with charred broccoli and mountain maple sauce. Find wings, crispy Brussels sprouts and poutine with chopped brisket, too. Their Fifteen Hour Brisket uses certified angus beef which is hand-trimmed and rubbed with their "s+p rub," then slow-smoked for 15 hours and if you’re going for the Family Reunion, it’s all of their smoked meats with sides and sauces.
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To “go with” are cocktails like a Smokehouse Old Fashioned made with bacon washed bourbon and Runamok smoked maple, The Flats Margarita, and a Painkiller. For beer, local craft selections come from VT favorites like Zero Gravity, Fiddlehead, Lawson's and more.
Chef Bette is very involved with the community and is a core member of the Independent Restaurant Coalition as well as a co-founder of Vermont Independent Restaurants, a coalition formed to preserve and advance the VT restaurant industry faced with challenges from this past year, and now on the road to recovery. She also recently transitioned their gratuity model to “One Team” tip and service in order to offer more equitable wages to both front and back of the house staff. A 10% service charge is added to the check and the funds are pooled. But of course, you’re going to add more, right?
Prohibition Pig, aka Pro Pig
23 South Main St. with the brewery around the corner at 2 Elm St/, Waterbury, Vermont, prohibitionpig.com
From the team at Hen of the Woods comes this BBQ spot with smoked meats, snacks and incredibly delicious mac and cheese with add-ins like chopped brisket, pickled jalapenos and spicy Italian sausage. Be sure to get cornbread with maple butter and a pound of their salted, smoked chopped whole hog or a rack of ribs. The pastrami sandwich is good, too, as is. The Vegetable Hunter is roasted eggplant and mozzarella with tomato jam on a hoagie bun.
Maine
Ore Nell’s
2 Badger’s Island, Kittery, Maine, orenellsbbq.com
This one is close to the Seacoast so not much of a road trip, but you’ll be sitting outside by the water and can feel like you’re far, far away enjoying Wil Myska’s Central Texas-style ‘que. The Frito pie with ground brisket and pinto beans is a great way to start, but do get brisket and a Texas hot link made with sausage from Kittery’s Maine MEat. Vegetarians will like the Maine BBQ tofu and definitely get the banana pudding, which I dream about from time to time.
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Smokey Bs Gin Mill
422 Main St, Ogunquit, Maine, smokeybsginmill.com
Low and slow-cooked BBQ including brisket burnt ends, pulled pork and ribs. Try the pulled pork eggrolls and pair them with a gin + juice. The BBQ Beach Bucket is perfect for two and just $48.
Beale Street Barbeque
215 Water St., Bath, Maine, bathbbq.wordpress.com
In Portland, do try Salvage BBQ and Terlingua, but for now, I’m skipping the city and driving a bit further north to Beale Street Barbecue in Bath. This popular spot runs out of their Tennessee-style ‘que as the evening progresses so be sure not to miss out on crispy fried ribs with Nashville hot sauce or Bourbon mustard and poutine with pulled pork. The wood-roasted half-chicken with grilled jalapeno cornbread is a great choice as is pulled pork, which you can have on poutine.
New Hampshire
Close to the Seacoast are many BBQ spots I’ve covered quite a bit over the years, including Goody Cole’s Smokehouse in Brentwood, Shane’s Texas Pit in Hampton and Huntspoint BBQ & Meatery in Epping.
Now, we go further north to Rochester, N.H.
Mitchell Hill BBQ
50 North Main St., Rochester, N.H., mitchellhillbbq.com
They have a sandwich called the Mitchell Hill Avalanche with brisket, pulled pork, chicken salad, BBQ beans, coleslaw and crumbled bacon. Also try the smoked turkey and vegetarians will like the Mitchell Hill BBQ jackfruit sandwich. They also have platters like ribs and brisket, but also a rib eye.
Mr. Sippy BBQ
184 South Maine St., Rochester, N.H., mrsippybbq.com
Save room for the smoked peach cobbler, but start with brisket and a choice of sauces like Carolina mop sauce or their own BBQ sauce. They also do the BBQ tofu for vegetarians. From a father and son team who source their hardwoods from a family farm in Strafford.
The Dish
Join me on Tuesday, Sept. 14 from 7 to 8:30 p.m. for an online discussion about
"Culinary Legacies: How Portsmouth’s Iconic Restaurants and Historic Foodways Created Today’s Vibrant Culinary Scene."
We love to talk about “the old days” in Portsmouth and for many, those conversations turn to the city’s iconic restaurants. We fondly recall the heyday of The Rosa, tales of Jarvis’ Tea Room or that dinner at the Blue Strawbery, and while many of the community’s beloved restaurants are gone, they live on in the hands of today’s talented chefs and restaurateurs.
“Culinary Legacies” takes us back to those iconic restaurants, but also to the New England and Seacoast food traditions that created Portsmouth’s restaurant scene. We’ll look at how the past has influenced today’s chefs and how they honor and preserve the region’s culinary and hospitality traditions in a decidedly modern way.
This talk is sponsored by the Portsmouth Public Library. Registration is required. This event is free and open to all. To register, visit portsmouthpl.librarycalendar.com/events/culinary.
Rachel Forrest is a former restaurant owner, reviewer and Seacoast resident, who now lives in Austin, Texas and Belize. She can be reached at rforrest@gannett.com.