Guest Blogger: Queens Daughter
When you think of BBQ, you don’t normally think of a foot long hot dog. But let’s say you did. Unless you were at The Smoke Joint in Livingston Manor after a nice, relaxing camping trip in Mangoup, you don’t remember this: one chicken. Two foot long hotdogs and one ten year old boy (Queens Son). The boy has finished one hotdog, and is moving on to his next. Now, he’s halfway done. But the chicken is just getting started, and with a cluck and a leap, he steals the boy’s hotdog. “Hey,” he cries out, “that’s my dog!”. He starts to fight the chicken for it, but it’s too late (and covered with dirt and chicken saliva).
The complaining begins, but is quickly stopped by a lady who works there, who says, “Did the chicken steal your hotdog?” And with the answer being yes, she continues, “Wow, they have never done that before! Here, I’ll give you a new one.”
The next time we came back, the chickens were all gone. Every last one of them had disappeared. But they still had chicken (and foot long hotdogs) on the menu…
And they also had small, medium and large barbecue sauces. They said one medium would last you about a month. That meant it would last us at least 3, if not 4, more Sundays. That was the first time that they were wrong. We went camping right after that, and put that BBQ sauce on everything- and you better believe me when I say everything! It went on our chicken, eggs, beef, corn, onions, broccoli- everything- and it was gone by Monday.
But here’s what you have been waiting for: not the stories about The Smoke Joint, but the food there. From brisket to chicken to hotdogs to pork (to a fire pit with wood, Adirondack chairs and picnic tables, cornhole and ), The Smoke Joint has it all.
The brisket comes with multiple sides, three bbq sauces (Hollapeno, Honey Mustard and Normal- my favorite). Their brisket is exactly how brisket should be- the meat is slightly moist (that’s good, otherwise it would be dry, and that is not good.) has a small piece of fat- lets say 4 parts beef to one part fat; approximately- and the fat is spongy and delicious and dissolves in your mouth, and most importantly, not at all chewy. Their cornbread is also quite good if you like cornbread. Our family enjoys the crust of the cornbread more than the bread, however, but we like all parts of it, overall. The coleslaw is my personal favorite, creamy and vinegar-y, not just one or the other.
