Todays bike/car/bbq run (Claremont, Amherst: home, prices, store)

[CrazyDave]

Well the sun came out today..for a while..kinda..maybe. yeah it was that kind of day.

This was shot this morning, while waiting for Linda to come home from work



See those puffy clouds? See that blue sky? We ain't seen anything like that in these parts in a many , many a moon.. it sure was purty..LETS RIDE!!

Linda scurried upstairs to feed the cat and grab a windbreaker and off we went! It felt gooooooood!!! It felt wonderful, orgasmic. I was on here once again! My black and chrome mistress, so recently polished so pretty..ahhh!

We hatched a quick plan to try a new rib joint in Hillsborough, NH

Beauford's Southern Barbeque - Home

I saw and felt the warning signs.. the increased breeze, the hint of moisture in the air..yep we were heading into rain..





Since we were only twenty or so miles away from home we decided to back track and see if we could beat the storm home, we did even with a little stop along the way at a local pond.

Once home , we jumped into the Accent ( which is fast becoming a contender for best little car I ever drove) we headed back to the shack to check out the meat.

They say that bad luck comes in threes, now I don't believe in luck, but I have had my third bad road trip meal in as many weeks and frankly I am getting tired of trying..for now anyway.



The name is for the family dog, the owners name is Tim..nice people, looks like a hard working man. Small talk included banter, wisecracking and warmth.

It smells good when you first arrive there, plenty of smoke promises, sweet, spicy meat, generously rubbed and smoked to perfection

Tim makes a good chilli, Tim makes a a good corn bread, he even makes decent beans.. but sadly he does not do bbq well, and folks it is all about the meat.

Tims chilli



I have no idea how something can smell so wonderful can taste so, well un-wonderful

We ordered a combo platter, which oddly came with only corn bread,the beans and chilli were extra. The prices were on the high average side, but the meat portions were good



One thing I need to learn is to obey my own rules, rule number one from now on, don't even bother with a bbq joint that does not use hickory exclusively. I can think of no other reason, no wait, I was going to say I can think of no other reason why bbq could be so bland, but hey lack of a good spicy rub would be another.

The pulled pork was gamey and looked more like clunked roasted pork, though you could tell it was smoked, the ribs were the best of the lot, but you can get store bought as good. The chicken, while moist also suffered from blandness.



Sauces were offered, if you go there, use them all, it will help, not much but some.



We rounded the trip off with a quick stop at our favorite pond and a few local covered bridges.. they say no rain tomorrow.. we shall see!

These two are from Lindas capable lense

[Ken E]

Thanks Dave. Another great review.

[buck naked]

love the tour as always Dave - TY for posting. The covered bridge shots are especially nice.

[rizzo0904]

Dave- great post. So where do you like to go for bbq around here? I've been searching and searching. The next two I'm going to try are Top of the Hill Grill Authentic Barbecue - Brattleboro, VT - Home and B.T.'s Smokehouse (http://btsmokehouse.com/wordpress/ - broken link) The first was recommend by a guy I work with who also loves his motorcycle rides. The 2nd, well, I've just heard good things.

[CrazyDave]

Originally Posted by rizzo0904

Dave- great post. So where do you like to go for bbq around here? I've been searching and searching. The next two I'm going to try are Top of the Hill Grill Authentic Barbecue - Brattleboro, VT - Home and B.T.'s Smokehouse (http://btsmokehouse.com/wordpress/ - broken link) The first was recommend by a guy I work with who also loves his motorcycle rides. The 2nd, well, I've just heard good things.

Unfortunately for ribs the only two halfway decent places are chains. Famous Daves and Smokey Bones. For pulled pork and chicken Goodie Coles in Brentwood fills the bill nicely.

There is a catering company based in Amherst called T Roys. I sampled their ribs at the Rib Fest, the best I have had in quite a while.

Remember these are only the opinions of an old toothless biker. Lot's of folks seem to like KC's, I have had too many bad hit of miss experiences there myself. Like most everything else in my life I like consistency in my food, or at least as much as humanly possible.

So a rib joints ribs should always taste as near the same as possible. I freely admit to not being that consistent when I was doing my own ribs at home, but then I was experimenting, not selling a product. And in case you are wondering I did hit gold once , smoking up the best ribs I have ever eaten anywhere..too bad I didn't take notes.

[FrugalYankee]

Nice pictures, glad you got to use the short break from the rain. Hubby went for a ride in VT yesterday and managed to avoid getting wet.

There is a BBQ place in Claremont called Sweet Fire. The guy has been slowly building up from a cart with a tent to where he now has a little shack where you can sit down. I'm not a fan of the stuff but IMO the meat he does is good, I don't care for the sauce. You might give it a try.

There is also a Big Fatty's in WRJ. I was there about five years ago and don't remember it.

But if you really want BBQ - I mean REALLY want BBQ, Harpoon Brewery in VT hosts a BBQ competition. I was actually a judge one time for it! (don't ask!). They are doing it in July so mark your calendar.
http://www.harpoonbrewery.com/index.cfm?pid=28568

[rizzo0904]

frugalyankee - wrj??? as for the competition...sounds great! maybe next year....i can't get a day off in july to save my soul.

dave - i'm not a kc's fan either.

[rizzo0904]

okay, just checked out sweet fire's menu...that is NOT what a bbq joint should look like. quesadillas??? subs??? i want to see meat, collards, brunswick stew (hard to find up here), beans, etc. no extra crap.

[FrugalYankee]

WRJ=White River Junction


And as for Sweet Fire's menu, remember he is in Claremont so no one is going to go out to eat or get takeout and and get collards or Brunswick stew. If it's hard to find it up here it's because no one wants to eat it. Plus he is competing with a lot of small eateries so offering something that an occasional tourist might ask for doesn't make economic sense. Then there are always people like me who really don't like bbq and when someone drags us there we look for anything on the menu that isn't bbq that we can eat. He used to do nothing but bbq (we have an old menu of his) but I think he had no choice but to expand. Like Dave said it's about the meat and IMO Sweet Fire does that part of it well.

If you want to go out of state you can try Blue Ribbon in West Newton MA. My dixie hubby gave it a thumbs up and that is saying a lot. (They have beans and greens but they aren't trying to offer Brunswick stew either

[Mac_Muz]

That day I went to White Horse Press for rain suits riding up there in rain with out them. Riding home with them on, still in the rain, but i was warmer and began to dry some. No blue sky here in so long I forget what it looks like.