This will be the last food review of 2009, and we are going out smokin'.

We traveled downtown to get a taste of the 2008 award winning "Best of Dayton BBQ." Smokin Bar-B-Que is located right outside the Oregon District across the street from The Neon. The building seats roughly 15 people and offers a drive-through window for those times when you need ribs for the road.

It is an authentic Texas barbeque diner, offering smoked cuts of beef, pork, turkey, chicken and even bologna. The owner lived in Texas for years and brought Texas style barbequing to the Gem City. The pork butts and beef brisket are smoked for 14 hours, the ribs for seven hours and ham and turkey for four to five hours. They are even smoking the burgers. All meats are unbelievably tender and served without sauce. They do offer two homemade sauces (a sweet sauce and a spicy sauce) but you will have to sauce the meat to your liking.

The service is different than most sit-down dining experiences that we have encountered. There are no tables in the restaurant, only bar stool seating. The menu features mostly smoked meats, soups from scratch and homemade side dishes. Since the meats are smoked for such a lengthy period of time, they are ready to eat upon arrival. After placing our order, our food was out within five minutes. This apparently was longer than usual because our server apologized for the long wait.

Finally, if you decide to spend a weekend night away from UD's campus in the oregon district, Smokin Bar-B-Que is open until 4 a.m. to serve as a great late-night snack.



Nathaniel: I played it safe and went with the smoked brisket meal. This included a generous portion of smoked brisket and two sides of my choice. The macaroni and cheese was a given, but I went out on a limb and chose the Southern style greens as my second side. The macaroni was on point, and the greens were nice but a touch salty for my liking. I shot the waitress a wink, and she even threw in a sandwich bun so that I could make a sandwich with my smoked brisket. I sampled both barbecue sauces, and while both were good, I showed slight favoritism to the spicy sauce. This down home meal made me feel like I was back on the prairie, and for that reason, I give it a 5 out of 5. For those of you keeping track at home, this is the first perfect score.



Brian: I was tempted to try some of the pork products, but I heard from others that the burger was something I could not pass up. I decided to go with the smoked half pound burger. For an extra $2.75, you can add a second patty, but the half pounder is more than enough for thin Brian. With the burger being smoked for such a long period of time, it comes out cooked perfectly with the inside pink, just how I like it. I also decided to go with the sides of macaroni and cheese and coleslaw. They were both delicious, but when I do go back, I will try some of the homemade chips. I am going to give Smokin Bar-B-Que a 5 out of 5. This is quite a feat as very rarely will I give a perfect score to anything.



Smokin Bar-B-Que is a unique dining experience and is a place where you can get a filling meal for under $10. It is a less than five minute drive from UD and a great alternative from the typical sub shops on Brown Street. As always, we rate our places on a GO or NO-GO, and Smokin Bar-B-Que is a GO. Definitely check this place out.