B.T.’s Smokehouse
This little roadside restaurant serves some of the absolute best ribs and brisket anywhere on the entire East Coast. We are at BT’s Smokehouse in Sturbridge, Massachusetts, and this is one of the busiest barbecue joints anywhere in New England. The B.T. in BT’s Smokehouse stands for Brian Treitman. He's the owner and the pit master and the man behind all of this incredible barbecue. Back in 2007, he started with one little trailer that he brought to the Brimfield Antique Show. It was a massive hit from day one. In 2010, he opened this restaurant, and he has been smoking hot ever since.
This is all highly seasoned, dry rubbed, slow, smoked, incredible barbecue. So here's how things work at BT’s Smokehouse. You walk up to the counter, you order, they take your name, and then they call out your name when it's ready. Another cool feature about this place is that it's BYOB. In fact, we're not very far from Treehouse Brewery. So a lot of people make a day of it. They go to Treehouse, they get their beers, they come here, they get your barbecue. Now that's my kind of day.
The ribs at BT’s Smokehouse are the real deal. This is much bigger than the rack of ribs you get at most barbecue joints. This is the full spare rib. So this is a pork rib. It is highly seasoned with that dry rub. They smoke every rack for up to six hours, so you have that beautiful smoke ring inside. That's how you know it's been properly smoked. Then all you gotta do is take a bite. That is a perfect bite of barbecue. This has a ton of flavor, little bit of sweetness, little bit of smokiness.
You know how down south, they say ‘Go big or go home’. We'll talk about going big. Check out this enormous beef rib. There are not a lot of restaurants in New England that even serve this, but BT’s Smokehouse has basically mastered it. This is an enormous bone in beef chuck rib. You can see that bone sticking straight through the outside has that beautiful, dark bark. I mean, this thing is fully seasoned, super juicy, really tender, and just waiting for me to dig right in, like I'm a caveman. Super savory. The meat just kind of melts in your mouth, all the fat and that meat has just kind of rendered down inside of it, so it's just boosting the flavor even more honestly, the ribs here don't even need any sauce. You can throw a little on if you want, but you can eat them basically straight out of the smoker, and they are outstanding.
I don't care what you order here, it's probably going to be one of the best renditions of that dish you've ever had. Let's just check out the onion rings. Look at these. They cut these onions by hand every day. They batter them fresh. They are fried to order. They use a beer batter to fry these onion rings, and not just any beer batter. They're using PBR so they come out super big, super puffy, very light, very crispy, sweet, flaky, delicious.
When I think about Southern food, I think about barbecue and fried chicken. The fried chicken here at BT’s is not just good, it is epic. Every piece of chicken is buttermilk brined so it adds some real flavor and a little bit of tang. Nice, dark, golden brown. The breading has flavor. The chicken has flavor. Fried Chicken is all about the contrast of the crispy exterior and the juicy inside, and they nailed it here.
This might be the most epic meal at BT’s Smokehouse: the Brisket Reuben. Believe it or not, this thing was voted one of the top 10 best barbecue sandwiches in the entire country, I have had brisket from Austin, Texas up through Maine and BT’s is right there at the very tip of the top. They take slice after slice after slice of this brisket, stack it up high. It goes on some delicious fluffy honey brown bread topped off with some coleslaw and melted Swiss cheese and a drizzle of pickle rye sauce, which is sort of like 1000 island dressing, except 1000 times better. It's big, it's messy, it's juicy, just absurdly, insanely delicious.
So if you're coming here with a big group of people, you want to try a little bit of everything. Get the Pig Trip Platter. This is just an enormous platter that features all of their greatest tips, a massive pile of their pulled pork, tons of slices of their signature beef brisket, plus a full half rack of ribs, and rounded out a big old pile of their pulled chicken as well. So this plate must weigh a good three or four pounds, and it's not even the entire dish. It also comes with a bunch of their homemade sides. We're talking gooey macaroni and cheese, a tangy carrot slaw, beautiful black eyed peas, and my personal favorite, the collard greens. So you've got tons of meat, all your favorite sides, and don't forget a couple pieces of cornbread, just to mop up any extra sauce you might have. So whether you like things sweet or smoky or salty, you can find it all here at BT’s. So there is absolutely no doubt, it is well worth the drive to Sturbridge, Massachusetts to experience real barbecue at BT’s Smokehouse.
