Tag: Justin van der Linde

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Smoked Kitchen & Tap wins raves from barbecue judges

Both judges agreed that Smoked Kitchen & Tap’s low and slow approach to smoking meat—with owner Justin van der Linde arriving to work at 2 or 3 every morning—yields some of the tastiest barbecue in our area. Photo by Rammelkamp Foto

Food judging is a puzzle. Into the round hole of subjectivity, it tries to place the square peg of objectivity. After all, isn’t taste a matter of, well, taste?

Take barbecue, a food especially prone to the whims of personal preference. Sure, there is science and skill to it. Application of specific methods, under specific conditions, yields specific results. But that just begs the question of what results you like. A pronounced smoke flavor? Or, delicate smoke so you can taste more of the meat? Shredded? Or pulled? Whatever style you prefer, if your tastes happen to differ from mine, I would never call yours “wrong.” And yet, barbecue may be the subject of more competitions than any other food. What gives?

To help, I called on two master certified barbecue judges: Dr. David Heilbronner, a retired orthopedic surgeon who co-founded the award-winning Bone Doctor barbecue sauces; and John Maloy, another lifelong enthusiast. Combined they have judged more than 60 competitions for the Kansas City Barbeque Society, the world’s largest barbecue organization.

Our venue was Smoked Kitchen & Tap, a beautiful new Crozet restaurant Kelley Tripp and Justin van der Linde opened in December, giving a brick-and-mortar home to van der Linde’s beloved food truck, Smoked BBQ Co. As a big fan of van der Linde’s barbecue, I was curious to see how it holds up to official scrutiny.

The judges were skeptical. Restaurant conditions, they say, can make it difficult to match the quality of competition or backyard barbecue, which are free of the challenges of smoking mass quantities or keeping cooked meat warm. Despite those challenges, I asked the judges not to hold back, but render their opinions just as they would in competition.

Judges rate barbecue on appearance, tenderness and taste, with the heaviest weight on taste. For appearance and tenderness, KCBS guidelines do offer a few objective criteria. Meat should be “moist and yet not mushy,” for example, and pork ribs should not fall off the entire bone with one bite. Taste, though, the guidelines acknowledge, is “very subjective and therefore very hard to teach.” Judges are told to assess if there is “balance of flavors by incorporating the five tastes—sweet, sour, salty, bitter and umami.” Maloy and Heilbronner admit it can be hard to set aside personal preferences, but “a good judge will be able to do that,” says Heilbronner.

Maloy’s test is simply whether an entry “lights up my taste buds.”

First to face the judges was pulled pork shoulder. Appearance? “Phenomenal,” said Maloy. “If I look at it and want to stick my face in it, that’s a great sign.” Heilbronner agreed: “Excellent appearance and layer of bark.” Taste and tenderness also won huge raves. “Spot-on texture,” said Maloy.

The brisket he liked even better. “Perfect amount of rub and smoke,” Maloy said. “This is excellent,” Heilbronner echoed. “And, I love the burnt ends,” referring to the pitmaster delicacy made from charred pieces of the fattier pectoral cut.

Next came Heilbronner’s top choice: pork ribs. “Ribs are usually my favorite and these were excellent,” Heilbronner said, citing the “good glaze” and how the meaty texture avoided the mushiness of badly overcooked ribs. “The flavor is outstanding,” he said. Maloy went a step further: “The ribs are unbelievable.”

Finally, there was smoked turkey, van der Linde’s own current favorite barbecue item, which smokes for four to six hours after a 48-hour brine. Once again, the judges raved. “Really good flavor,” said Maloy. “I love it.”

The key to great barbecue, the judges said, is “low and slow”—smoke meat at a low temperature, very slowly, sometimes for more than 12 hours at a time. This is what creates the challenge for restaurants, and van der Linde meets it by arriving at 2 or 3 every morning. “It’s hard to keep up and keep it right,” he says, “and we spend about 20 hours a day trying to accomplish this goal.”

That care goes into everything on the menu, reflecting the well-trained kitchen. Van der Linde is a Johnson & Wales graduate who was a sous chef at Boar’s Head Inn, while Tripp cooked at Clifton Inn and Petit Pois. All six sides were “delicious,” the judges said, their favorite being creamed corn. “A fascinating blend of flavors,” said Heilbronner, “with the smoked jalapenos and a bit of Parmesan, which created a great taste and interesting mouth feel.” My favorite is dirty rice, with house bacon, sausage, peppers, onions, garlic and a house spice blend. Also great are non-barbecue items such as the stellar fried chicken and a burger that is an instant contender for best in the area.

After our meal, the master judges declared it the best restaurant barbecue they’ve had in the area, and even better than many competition entries they’ve tried. This pleased me. Sure, I already knew how much I enjoyed the food at Smoked, and would have continued to go to whether the judges liked it or not, but I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t glad that they did too.

Simon Davidson also writes the restaurant blog, charlottesville29.com.

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Living

Food cart owner to open restaurants in Crozet

Justin van der Linde (right), owner of Smoked BBQ Co. food cart and Smoked Kitchen and Tap in Crozet, says requests from customers to bring his barbecue back to the Downtown Mall solidified his decision to return. Photo by Rammelkamp Foto

On Thursday, August 25, Smoked BBQ Co. served its last bite of barbecue to a long queue of hungry lunch-goers.

At least for the time being.

Smoked fans can pencil in late October for when they’ll be able to dig in to a plate of barbecue and other Southern comfort food made by Smoked owner Justin van der Linde and his sous chef, Kent Morris.

They’ll have to head to Crozet to get their fix, but the drive is as long as the wait in line to get lunch from the food cart used to be—about 20 minutes.

Smoked Kitchen and Tap will open on the ground floor of the Piedmont Place building in downtown Crozet and will offer Smoked BBQ’s signature dishes—brisket, ribs, pulled pork (dry-rubbed and sauced) and some new items, such as fried chicken, burgers, sandwiches and salads. They’ll also serve hush puppies and fries, and will have 10 local beers in rotation on tap, all highlighting the 151 trail, van der Linde says.

“It’s a massive scale-up…and I hope it’s big enough,” he says, his blue eyes wide beneath the brim of his hat. “The crowd made it happen,” he says, noting that with lines 30 to 50 people deep, the Smoked cart ran out of food almost every day by 1pm; it was a late day when they were still serving at 1:15.

The Smoked duo will also have a space on the fourth floor of the building, to be called The Rooftop, which will open a few weeks after the ground-floor restaurant and offer items like wood-fired pizzas topped with house-cured meats, plus local beers and craft cocktails well-suited to Southern food. No word yet on who will be behind the bar.

Van der Linde says they’ll get a little more experimental with The Rooftop (which has spectacular views of the mountains) but you won’t see any avocado foam here. “I like simple food,” he says. He believes there’s a movement toward simple food on the horizon, and he’s excited about it. Van der Linde plans on continuing Smoked BBQ Co. as a catering arm of the new restaurant. It’ll be a lot to manage, he says, but he’ll still wake up in the wee hours of the morning to light the coals and cook with the same motivation he’s always had—that everybody deserves good food.

Fellini’s reopens

After just more than a year away, Jacie Dunkle is back at the helm of Fellini’s #9.

Fellini’s was closed for about 10 days at the end of August while Dunkle and her husband, Gary, scrubbed tables, rehung the mirrors and pendant lamps they took down not long ago and applied for ABC and business licenses, which cannot be transferred between owners.

“I’m excited to give it back to the community the way we all remember it,” Dunkle says of the restaurant she ran for more than 10 years and sold to another family in June 2015. Former co-owner Melissa Ragland says the hand-off back to Dunkle was due to her wanting to spend more time with her family.

Fellini’s re-opened on Wednesday, August 31, but there’s still work to be done to return that former Fellini’s flair, Dunkle says. She plans on painting the walls a darker color to reintroduce a soft-lit, romantic atmosphere to the restaurant. She’s also looking for a new executive chef to add fresh, seasonal dishes to the menu. Right now is the perfect time to have a caprese salad with fresh heirloom tomatoes, and a pasta-free lasagna, where grilled squash and zucchini take the place of the wide, flat lasagna noodles, Dunkle says.

Fellini’s will continue to have its signature piano music, plus live music late on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays. Dunkle also plans to host First Fridays art openings, likely starting in October.

Dunkle, who also owns Tin Whistle Irish Pub, has plans to open her third restaurant on Market Street—The Salad Maker—this fall. It’ll be a grab-n-go place with a few tables, open six days a week for lunch and early dinner, so stay tuned for more on that.

But, for now, Dunkle promises that even though she’ll be zipping up and down Market Street, running Fellini’s and Tin Whistle while opening The Salad Maker, Fellini’s is “in good hands. It’ll be fine.”

Tasty Tidbits

Goes together like beer and cookies…Taste for yourself at Jack Brown’s Beer & Burger Joint on Thursday, September 8. After 6pm, buy a flight of Allagash brews and get four small bite-sized cookies to pair with each beer. Revamped happy hour…Red Pump Kitchen is changing up its happy hour specials at the bar and alfresco café from 5-7pm Wednesday through Sunday. Look for beer, select wine and cocktail specials ($4-8) and small plates such as blistered shishito peppers with spicy aioli, antipasto and flatbread, for $7 or less. Trading places…Chef John Shanesy, most recently of Parallel 38, has taken over the kitchen at Petit Pois. Extra shot… This fall, Grit Café will open a fourth location at The Shops at Stonefield, in the former Press Coffee space. Mucho Mexican…Like free guac? You’re in luck. Last week, Qdoba Mexican Eats, which serves free guacamole with its entrées, opened on Lenox Avenue, near Costco and behind The Shops at Stonefield. The fast-casual chain also features loaded tortilla soup, queso nachos, burritos, burrito bowls and more.