.jpg)
.jpg)
Smoked: Downhome Cookin’ with an Uptown Twist
Posted by: Marilyn Bethany
Posted on: Tuesday, July 26, 2011
Comments
The food is good. The service is moderate, but friendly. The atmosphere is as a BBQ place should be, but the food does not befit the name “Smoked.” It may be that the intention is not to be a traditional BBQ joint and that is fine, but the name suggests that smoked foods are the feature and they are not. There is very little to do with smoked foods on this menu. Otherwise, as I stated the food is well prepared and presented.
Bold, italics, strong, emphasis, and block quote tags are allowed in comments.
Notify me of follow-up comments?
Comment Guidelines
As we believe it promotes responsibility, civility and neighborliness, we encourage Commenters to use their real names unless there is compelling reason not to. In any case, profanity, personal attacks and unsubstantiated or excessive criticism of people or places will not be tolerated and will be deleted. By completing this form you are agreeing to abide by these rules and all terms laid out in the Rural Intelligence User Agreement.
For questions concerning the use of personally identifiable information, please refer to our Privacy Policy.
IMPORTANT: You must be a member of Rural Intelligence and logged into the site to post comments. Already a member? Click here to login. Want to become a member? Click here to register.
Please enter the word you see in the image below:
Full Article
by Jacque Lynn Schiller
Food labeled “southern comfort” often leaves the diner seeking consolation in the medicine cabinet—deep-fried and swimming-in-sauce does a number, even if it is finger lickin’ good. So when the brightly painted but unfussy hideaway just off Kent’s green arrived on the scene, we were both curious and a bit skeptical. With the promise of American regional fare and the scent of its namesake in the air, we expected, well, the expected.
We were pleasantly surprised to find a touch of the urbane on our plates of homegrown fare at Andrew Hayes and Elizabeth Owen’s hotspot, Smoked.
.jpg)
The couple, who, we later learned, met in the kitchen at Danny Meyer’s Gramercy Tavern in New York, both grew up working on their grandparents’ farms—Andrew growing blueberries outside Jackson, TN and Beth in Sherman and Pawling, where she cultivated the garden and “put by” pickles and jams. When they got in a family way, they decided to take the rural route and open a place of their own in a pastoral area brimful with aggie bounty.
“We are not a traditional roadside BBQ joint,” says Andrew. “We both come from a fine-dining background, but have always had a love for BBQ and Southern food. The concept at Smoked is to serve delicious food (as local as possible) in a refined but casual environment.”
And they’ve pulled it off. The BBQ process at Smoked starts with whole pigs, courtesy of Mike Meiller in Pine Plains, butchered in-house—handy, since every piece of that animal ends up somewhere on the menu. “We use the shoulders for our pulled pork sandwich, which is seasoned with our dry rub and slow smoked for 12-14 hours until it’s falling apart,” Andrew says. “Then we finish it with a Carolina sauce that contains cider vinegar, mustard, and brown sugar.”
.jpg)
There’s also belly of the oinker, left, glazed in a sweet mustard sauce and served with local vegetables from Marble Valley Farm. Deviled eggs? Check. But the bacon crumbles have been replaced by a crispy sliver of guanciale (cured pork jowl, bottom picture). Small twists such as this abound on the brief but enticing menu. Fried green tomatoes show up on both a trout BLT (above) and Beth’s burger, which is also topped with homemade pimento cheese. There is rub on the ribs—and on the fries, which are served with green goddess dip rather than the red stuff. Andrew puts his own (apparently, very popular) spin on classic shrimp and grits, adding sea urchin, lobster and basil.
“We love seasonal food. We live for tomatoes and corn in the summer; pumpkins, apples, and pears in the fall,” he says.
That’s even evident in Beth’s pastry creations. We appreciated the savory rosemary hit in her olive oil cake; likewise, the fruit at their peak in a simple but sumptuous shortcake.
When asked what he’d like diners to take away from their experience at Smoked, Andrew said with a laugh, “Hopefully, they leave happy and full.”
.jpg)
Done and done.
Smoked
1 Landmark Lane
Kent
860.927.7141
Wednesday, 5 - 9 p.m.
Thursday, noon - 3 p.m. & 5 - 9 p.m.
Friday, noon - 3 p.m. & 5 - 10 p.m.
Saturday: 9 a.m. - 3 p.m. & 5 - 10 p.m.
Sunday brunch: 9 a.m. - 3 p.m.; lunch & dinner, noon - 9 p.m.
