I have a long commute each day for work. A couple days a week I find myself in Stockton, California and have been seeking a good BBQ establishment to have lunch in with little luck. Real BBQ has a distinctive aroma that I’m always hoping to catch a whiff of. On Friday I was driving down the street on my way to get something to eat when I smelled BBQ. What I saw caught me by surprise. A roadside BBQ vendor! Hooray…
They had a nice set-up with a real live stick burner smoker.
But I didn’t notice one of the biggest turn-offs to a true BBQ snob. Can you see it in this picture?
LIGHTER FLUID! Can you believe they light their pit with LIGHTER FLUID?
I pulled in, saw this and pulled right out. Just what were they thinking?
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Appalling. Actually, I think some folks are so used to that stuff, they don’t taste it. It reinforces my belief that good BBQ is hard to find out here. You should set them straight, I would not eat there.
…and what the heck was the Kingsford for? I’m not seeing any wood either!
Kingsford and lighterfluid… sigh
I agree with Chris… Wood is the first thing I look for and often the last thing I find…
I’ve come to believe that America has forgotten what REAL BBQ tastes like… Now the only flavor comes from ‘Petro-Smoke’ or if you’re real lucky, Liquid-Smoke. It starts out boiled, ends up baked and finally drowned in sticky sauce… We are loosing one of our national treasures… What a shame….
NOT what i would call real BBQ.
Somewhat embarassing to us that try to put out a nice product.
I know of a roadside stand in Mich. that would never do that!
Let’s see
Nice stick burner – Check
Nice firebox for wood – Check
Good roadside location – Check
Charcoal – Check
Lighter Fluid – WTH???
You don’t need to be a BBQ snob to be turned off by lighter fluid. Not sure why the Kingsford is there either; unless I miss my guess that pit is a stick burner.
Hopefully you educated him on the way out as to why you were leaving right away. OTOH, probably wouldn’t have done any good anyway; some people don’t take well to criticism, constructive or otherwise…
Blasphemy!
As a resident of North Carolina, that is despicable. Just plain despicable. You did the right thing.
The local grocery store uses one of those big open grills where you can mechanically raise the grate they are about 3′ x 4′. They use lump charcoal and grill ribs, tri-tip and some chicken. I happened to see the guy getting ready to light her up one afternoon and there he was spraying most of a can of lighter fluid on the lump. I asked why he used the lighter fluid and he said he had to get the fire going quickly and could not wait to get all that charcoal burning. I had never tried their food and now won’t for sure.
Amazing – What a let down…
I pledge to the BBQ Grail, that we never have or ever will, employ the use of any artificial means (ie Lighter Fluid) to produce our BBQ.
Hey I live in the area and I do street vending! I would like to know where exactly did you see this guy…?
He is doing what I plan to do in the future only WITHOUT THE LIGHTER FLUID!