Smokin Barbeque…

Barbeque. All I have to do is imagine the taste or see a pic of all that lovely, glazed meat and I start to salivate. It is one of the most underrated cuisines and it’s always kind of bothered me it doesn’t get the respect it deserves. And don’t get me started on vegetarians and vegans when they go off on one of their sanctimonious rants about the horrors of eating meat. When they do, I say, if God didn’t want us to eat meat, he wouldn’t have made it taste so darn good. An old joke but a good one.

Imagine how pissed off people would be if you invited them to your barbeque and served nothing but grilled vegan and vegetarian dishes? Or how long would a vegan bbq restaurant last? Oh man, there’d be a lineup round the block! Not!!!

Not to say there isn’t bad barbeque. There is. But it’s rare. Usually, any respectable bbq joint offers very fine, tasty food at reasonable prices and bbq also makes for excellent road trip food as well. Last fall, when the web gal and I were headed from Sonoma to Las Vegas, we hit Healdsburg’s bbq joint KINSMOKE and loaded up on their C.A.B. Prime Brisket and their whole smoked chicken, along with the usual bbq sides. And that night when we checked into our hotel late at night, had a fine dinner by throwing our treasures in the micro. Then the next day had an equally fine picnic at a roadside rest stop along the highway.

Since we didn’t have time to sit and chew the fat (pardon the pun) we did order our brisket fatty over lean, thought it’d be cool to get KINSMOKE’s co-owner Brad Barmore to do the NSI quiz. Cheers and enjoy…

What was last night’s dinner? I made myself a smoke chicken burrito here.

What’s your favorite drink? Ice cold beer, usually a Hamm’s lager.

What’s your favorite music? As Bob Seger sang, I like that old time rock and roll.

What’s your favorite restaurant to go to in Sonoma? I really like Catelli’s Italian restaurant in Geyserville. Real authentic Italian food that’s been doing it there forever.

What’s your favorite thing about living and working in Sonoma? How we are literally an hour from anything you want, from a beach to a big city, to the vineyards. Plus, all the incredible produce that gets delivered to our door. I know when people think barbeque they think of the southern states, but we’ve got some of the best beef, pork and chicken producers in the country. Really an incredible place to live and work.

What makes great barbeque? Passion and attention to detail. It really is a labor of love. We slow cook all our meats, some for as long as 16 hours, but we want it to be authentic and filled with lots of flavor and taste.

Any brush with celebrity? Sammy Hagar, Pierce Brosnan, Tony Hawk, have all come in, very nice and down to earth and seemed to really enjoy their meal here.

Any wine, trip or restaurant on your bucket list? Ah, say the French Laundry. Haven’t had the pleasure of dining there yet. No change that, say Single Thread since that’s just down the street.

Final thoughts? Hey, the skies are clearing, come for a meal on our patio or order some take out and head for one of the lakes or even our town square which is just across the street. Just have some fun with our barbeque!