The Waterfront Tavern Damn Yankees Bbq

I really wanted to love this place. I really, really did. The people are wonderful, super friendly service. The portions are great. The quality of the meat is terrific. Both the pork and the brisket I ordered were well above average, the latter had a nice rub too. The sides are tasty, especially the mac and cheese. They also have these little french fries that are a crispy, rub-seasoned take on pommes frites. Just great. The problem is that it wasn 't true barbecue, and I am not being picky. There are several warning signs that a place may not be a real barbecue joint. But let 's address just two of these. First, a real bbq place does not put smoked seasonings into their sauces. They don 't have to. The smoke flavor should and does come from (You guessed it. smoking the meat. Why spend 8 to 12 hours cooking something over wood smoke only to douse it in Kraft liquid hickory smoke sauce.?!! You don 't. In fact, good cue doesn 't need any sauce. The second warning sign is actually what you should notice first of all. The place should smell like smoke. Damned Yankee doesn 't. Which is strange. You can see the smoker on the side of the building. (Looks like a nice one. You can even see hard wood logs. (Looked to me like hickory. But there is no odor of smoke. The meats are obviously slow cooked. The brisket fell apart, and the pulled pork was perfectly tender. The problem again was they weren 't smoked as they should have been. There was no smoke ring. No aroma what so ever of smoke. I even double checked the next day with my leftovers. (Did I mention the portions are good? Nothing. Sometimes because of the outside smoke, you don 't taste all of the smoke in the meat. This happens to me when I make my own barbecue, which I do. Now, if you told me Chef forgot to open the flue so the smoke actually got to touch the meat, I 'd say Ah-HAH! Because that 's what it tasted like--slow roasted but not smoked, and not true barbecue. Unfortunately, it 's something you find in New England all the time. It 's like some of us are fumiphobic. (Yes, it 's a word. Look it up. The meat is slow baked, then drowned in liquid smoke added sauces. While this maybe somewhat tasty, it 's not barbecue. On the other had, you can find real barbecue in Massachusetts. There is of course Red Bones in Somerville, and Sarcastic Swine in Abington. The later is to die for. (You should go. Again, nice place, good food, and great people, just not real barbecue.

Brisket to die for!! The coleslaw was delicious, with Granny Smith apples and crasins it was nice and tangy sweet.

I'd recommend getting up here, theyre doing BBQ a lot of justice in the northeast. Brisket is top drawer. Collards are smoking'. Cool people doing superb cue, about to make South Deerfield a destination. Better than BTs brisket, but don't tell anybody I said that ;

Great meat. Picked this at random as we drove through and we were not disappointed. All the meat was dry rubbed and extremely tender. Four different sauces for you to put on, we liked the fact that the option was ours. Good fries (spiced) and we tried the collard greens which were good too. Military friendly too, great place. And easy on/off the highway.

Delicious! Fries are perfectly seasoned. Our party of six kept stealing from other plates when no one was looking. Pulled pork sandwiches on toasted rolls and your choice of sauces. The pulled pork lean and tender. Wish I lived closer, I would be a regular visitor.