RETURN TO PREVIOUS PAGE Seek out the Smokehouse in Kingston by Bill Guilfoyle, The Record - July 11, 2003 Hickory Smokehouse 743 Route 28, Kingston (845) 338-2424 Entree price range: $12-$18 Kid-friendly: children's menu available Hours: 11:30 a.m. - 9 p.m. Monday, Wednesday and Thursday. 11:30 a.m. - 10 p.m. Friday. 12:00 noon - 10 p.m. Saturday. 12:00 noon - 9 p.m. Sunday. Parking: adequate Handicap Accessible: Yes Reservations: suggested on weekends Full bar: yes Low-fat/vegetarian menu: yes Amenities: takeout, catering, patio dining, private parties Signature dishes: St. Louis-Style Spare Ribs, Smoked Turkey Thighs, 48-Hour Free Range Chicken Credit cards: American Express, Discover, MasterCard, Visa Decor: Service: Food: Value: Overall: What the stars mean: Poor Fair Good Excellent Extraordinary The word barbecue is often misunderstood. Often mistaken for backyard grilling, real barbecue involves cooking food, usually beef or pork, slowly and carefully over a wood fire made with hard woods such as hickory, oak and apple. The meat is sometimes dry-rubbed with spices or basted with sauce and cooked for 12 hours or more. Various finishing sauces, often secret family recipes, are added toward the end of the cooking process, yielding moist and succulent meat infused with flavor. Barbecue sauces are numerous in the South, and each region has its favorite, including tomato-based, vinegar and pepper combinations and mustard-based sauces. In the South, barbecue is almost a religion, but we Yankees are increasingly embracing the cuisine with the same wholehearted zeal – which brings us to Hickory Barbecue Smokehouse on Route 28 in Kingston. Rather than a traditional barbecue "pit," Hickory Barbecue has a powerful smoker that basically achieves the same purpose. Owned by brothers Mark and Steve Slutzky, the place has been packing them in since it opened late last year. The restaurant is housed in a large building with a covered entranceway. Inside, it's divided into a bar with booths on one side and a large dining room on the other. We're seated at one of the comfy, dark booths, which are lit with a metal pail lampshade. Pale blond wood makes up the room, and paintings of countryside scenes decorate the walls. Tables are set with a whole array of sauces (more about that later), and forks and knives arrive wrapped in large, absorbent kitchen towels, a good solution to messy food. The room is pleasant, neat and practical. We order sodas and beer and check out the menu, which features everything from starters and salads to sandwiches, main courses and side dishes. We decide to share a Sampler of Wings, Rings and Puppies, ($10.50). The chicken wings are first smoked, and then a soy glaze is added that imparts a mild, salty undertone. They are good, but the onion rings are even better. Massive, beer-battered and crunchy, they disappear in no time. The final component, hush puppies, are crispy corn fritters accompanied by maple butter. They're good but a bit bland. I order a salad, risky business in a barbecue joint. Chopped Salad ($4.50) is a big bowlful of chopped romaine, tomato, cucumber and red onion, on which is sprinkled goat cheese. A good vinaigrette adds tanginess and, ideally, the portion is large enough for all of us to share. We decide to order two entrees for the three of us. Each entree comes with a choice of different side dishes. Chef Hickory's Legendary 48-hour Free Range Chicken ($13.50) arrives as half a bird, dark brown and glistening. The "48-hour" refers to a two-day marinade before the bird is hot-smoked. The flesh is pink inside from smoking, moist and tender with a nice smoky flavor. Alongside are excellent fresh french fries and decent baked beans. Gotta have ribs What is barbecue without ribs? We try a full rack of St. Louis-Style Spare Ribs With Doc Hickory's Famous Rub ($18). The ribs are first rubbed with a mixture of dry spices and then slowly smoked. The meat has a deep, rich flavor from the dry rub, and the light glaze of sauce allows all the pork flavor to shine through. I think it's ideal, but my friends take turns adding the different homemade sauces on the table. We try Sweet Barbecue, Jalapeno, Carolina Mustard Sauce and Spicy Barbecue, and they are all quite good. Other side dishes we sample are a somewhat dry Macaroni and Cheese and perfectly cooked Broccoli and Cauliflower. Dessert is a very good Strawberry Rhubarb Pie ($4.50). All the desserts are homemade, and this tastes as if Aunt Bee has been brought it in from Mayberry. The crust is light and flaky, the filling a balance between sweet strawberry and tart rhubarb. Thick whipped cream finishes it off. Service staff members are mainly young people who, while friendly, need a bit more training. We're amazed when our waiter recites a bunch of specials at the next table, since he forgot to mention anything to us. Dinner with two appetizers, two entrees, a dessert, sodas and beer comes to $59.25 before tax and tip. The place is filled with everyone from grandparents with grandkids to young couples and one group of adventurers with canoes on their car. This is a place that welcomes one and all. Hickory Barbecue Smokehouse is a nice change of pace, an affordable restaurant suitable for everyone. The food is straightforward and generous, the service friendly and the prices fair. Since it's kid-friendly it's perfect for families and enjoyable for anyone who is a fan of 'cue. Stop by and see for yourself: This is good, old-fashioned food and fun. Restaurant critic Bill Guilfoyle has more than 25 years of experience in the restaurant industry as a sommelier, manager, and chef/owner. He is an assistant professor at a local college. He welcomes readers' comments; e-mail him at poptopics@th-record.com.