Delaware Barbecue is Having a Moment
Move over crab cakes. Slide over scrapple. Delaware’s culinary trendsetters are embracing a new food: barbecued meats. Food trucks, restaurants and even a ghost kitchen are breathing new life into this time-honored cooking style.
What’s driving the finger-licking trend? Familiarity and a taste for craftsmanship.
“All the at-home barbecue cooks, the shows and the internet have helped spread information about the different styles,” says Dan Sheridan, owner of Locale BBQ Post restaurant. Founded in Wilmington’s Little Italy, the operation is moving to larger digs in nearby Trolley Square.
“It’s finally gotten to the point where any city or area can have barbecue — not just the South or Midwest,” he continues. “It’s everywhere now, so more places have been popping up in areas that usually aren’t known for barbecue, like the Northeast.”
Indeed, Uncle John’s BBQ, a food truck since 2012, is getting a bricks-and-mortar base. Uncle John’s BBQ Stand will open this month in Claymont, Delaware. “It’s just so damn good,” John Berl says of his star offering. “There are so many styles: Texas barbecue, Kansas City barbecue — there’s no right or wrong way.”
Unless, that is, you’re a purist like Albert Lambert, co-owner of Henlopen Smoke, a food truck that hit Sussex County, Delaware, roads in 2020. Lambert, who works full-time in the kitchen at Kings Creek Country Club, has studied Aaron Franklin, who teaches classes in Texas-style barbecue.
Lambert decided to go to Austin, Texas, to “hunt down the cause of all the hype.” At Franklin’s restaurant Loro, Lambert toured the kitchen.
The chef, who built his smokers, discovered the “missing pieces” of the barbecue operation and cut brisket that went into the smoker at 20 pounds and cooked for up to 20 hours. Every 15 to 20 minutes, someone fed the fire with precisely sized pieces of wood, he says with respect.
“I hung out and asked as many questions as I wanted,” he recalled. “We messed with smokers and grills, and they drew diagrams on napkins to help me adjust things on my smoker to make it flow better. I ate the food and was like: ‘Oh, my God, I’m so far behind.’” Fans of Henlopen Smoke’s barbecue, however, would disagree.
Lambert’s food truck is in good company. Sun of a Beach BBQ is in a converted chicken-delivery truck. The colorful vehicle is the brainchild of Lewes resident Eric Quigley, a barbecue champion who has been avid competitors with daughter Khrystyne and son Collin since Khrystyne was 8. More recently, friends began demanding access to their barbecue regularly, and the concept was born.
Khrystyne says food trucks are a great way to enter the business because you don’t need as many employees, you can set your hours and the meats are made in advance. A ghost kitchen— or kitchen-centric concept — offers the same advantages.
Chef Robbie Jester and partner Tim Bolt own Great Big Jerk, which delivers Jamaican-inspired wood- and charcoal-grilled chicken. Meals are also available for pickup, but tables are only outdoors.
Previously with High 5 Hospitality, Jester is no stranger to entrepreneurism. He and Bolt started Full Circle Food, a meal preparation business, in 2017. This year, Full Circle should bring in $1.5 million in sales.
Great Big Jerk sells barbecue wood-grilled chicken along with jerk birds. “We’re finding that people want more barbecue,” Jester says. As a result, pulled pork has joined barbecued ribs on the menu.
“It’s approachable,” Jester says of barbecue’s popularity. “People are familiar with it. There’s a lot of friendly jabbing. Is it East Caroline or West Carolina? Is it vinegar-based or not? Go out and explore, test it and compare it to your own barbecue.”
Compare the trend to craft beer, coffee, olive oils and wine. Foodies can taste the differences between styles and flavor combinations.
And like those products, “slow-and-low” barbecue is still on the culinary fast track.
WHEN YOU GO
Locale BBQ Post, 1715 Delaware Avenue, Wilmington, Facebook Instagram
Uncle John’s BBQ Stand, 2509 Philadelphia Pike, Claymont, DE, Facebook Instagram
Henlopen Smoke, food truck and virtual kitchen, Facebook Instagram
Sun of a Beach BBQ, food truck and virtual kitchen, Facebook
Great Big Jerk, 1215 New London Road, Landenberg, PA, Facebook Instagram
