I’m writing this review several hours after I’ve visited Blue Truck Barbecue and I can still feel the smokiness in my mouth, it’s like someone put my tongue in a smoker, and it’s wonderful.
So, let’s go back to earlier in the day. When I first heard about this place, I was cynical. It’s related to the Princess Auto business next door, and has a connection to Trans Canada Brewing. So I thought, “Crazy idea to branch out of an auto shop, and, look out, here come the obligatory sauces made simply to put a beer brand on everything we do.”
Except, it was good. Like, really good. I ordered the sampler plate, and it came with brisket, spicy sausage (you can get mild, but who would do that?), pulled pork, smoked chicken and ribs. The sides of mashed potato and corn bread, well, you’re not here to read bout the sides, are you? Meat and sauce — that’s why you’ve got this far into the article. So, here we go,
The platter is served with three sauces: A “Bluebeary” that’s heavy on blueberries and Trans Canada beer; a “Lamp Lighter” sauce that’s tangy with a bit of spice, also made with beer; and a traditional Carolina vinegar sauce.
I used the Carolina vinegar on the pulled pork. Full stop. It’s moist and gives the illusion of melting in your mouth, because meat can’t actually melt in your mouth. Had Wilbur not made it out of the Charlotte’s Web story alive, he would have wanted to go out this way.
Of course I was going to get to the brisket. If I wrote about the brisket first, you might have stopped reading a lot earlier. And that’s not good for web stats like those time-on-site measurements. And here’s the verdict; the platter contained two generous slices, and they were soft enough to pull apart with a fork. The smoke absolutely filled my palate. It was like lifting the lid off the smoker and taking a deep breath. The blueberry-heavy sauce made for the best pairing, with that sweetness from the fruit really coming through really enhancing the wood-fired flavours of the meat.
The ribs were covered in a sweet sauce with a bit of spice, but by now the “small” platter (see photo) was getting to to be too much. So. Much. Meat. But I had to keep on going, to fight through the pain like a distance runner. Except this was endurance eating. The sausage was pleasantly spicy but not overpowering, leaving the chicken before the finish line. This was another winner with the Carolina vinegar, because I enjoyed those shots of lip-sucking sourness with each bite.
This was probably the most carnivorous afternoon I had spent in a long time. And afterwords, I felt like I needed a nap, like a lion in the Savanna. An out-of-shape lion. With a mangy mane.
