Border Brewery
Joe Ruotolo is a man of patience. Slowly smoking his barbecue for hours.
It's the only way when it comes to barbecue. And there's a lot of care and passion that goes into it, and it shows.”
Taking his time to be sure his pizza dough is just right.
“We make that dough, we ferment it for a couple days. And that gives us our signature fluffy crusts that everyone loves.”
And meticulously making sure his beer is brewed to perfection.
“We convert a grain from a starch to sugar, and then boil it with our hops we cool that back down at yeast. And two weeks later, we got beer. “
“You cannot rush barbecue, you cannot rush beer, you cannot rush dough. If you rush it, it won't work so it's best to take your time.”
And you’ll find that all good things come to those who wait at Border Brewery and BBQ.
Hidden in the back of this strip mall in Salem, New Hampshire, Border Brewery and BBQ is a come as you are kind of place where everything is made with the power of fire, from their wood fired pizza to their top notch barbecue.
“Everything's cooked on the fire. And that brings a little bit more of a passion to it you have to not only feed the fires, you have to watch the fires and know the temperature. So it's very much a feel type of cooking kind of like nana in the kitchen a little of this a little that. They just know how to do it.”
And much like nana’s house, it’s cozy and comfortable. There’s a wooden bar in the back, lots of seating- including these high tops made out of whiskey barrels, and all of those tempting aromas.
“The first thing they're going to say is even though we smelled it before we found it. Yeah, that smoke goes right down 28 And it's like the fly to the light.”
Since you can smell it from the streets, let’s start with some of Border’s good ol’ slow smoked barbecue. And according to Joe, the best way to get a little of everything is by ordering a BBQ Sampler for the table.
“It comes with a half a pound of brisket, half a bottle pork, half a rack of ribs and you can choose two sides and then you can also add the burnt ends to it and the burnt ends are highly desirable as the first thing to go. The burnt ends is the point part of the brisket. The point is the fattier part and more tender and they come out like these little chunky pieces of awesomeness. We make a St. Louis style rib. A rib is done just right should pull off the ball and not rip off the bone or fall off the bone. And I feel that we got that down to a science and we're doing it right.”
And while the meat’s a treat, there’s something to be said about the sides, like their version of Mexican Street corn or creamy, dreamy smoked Mac and cheese. This southern staple is so good, people often order it by the bowl topped with Joe’s perfectly executed brisket. And the smokiness of the cheese and the brisket make for one mouthwatering meal.
“It's gonna add more of a depth to it, it's going to have more of a flavor, it's going to have that smoky barbecue appeal to it.”
Other barbecue items include a tasty Frito pie, made with a combination of sweet and hot sausage, kidney beans and plenty of cheese. Or this unique take on a pulled pork sandwich served on a cornbread waffle.
“It's a square cornbread waffle. Everyone's like what is it? What is a cornbread waffle and like it's cornbread in the shape of a waffle. It's a soft bite you get the savory of the sauce. And then you get that cornbread texture. Everyone should try it. It's unique to us.”
On the pizza side, there are crispy pies made with a dough you won’t find anywhere else.
“So the dough is a proprietary blend ..We actually use our own yeast from the beer process. We have a woodfired pizza oven. We cook at about 800 degrees, which is very fast. And of course, we had to make our dough specific to the ovens.”
There’s no better way to enjoy a pizza at Border than one topped with brisket. This flavor bomb combines their succulent smoked brisket with housemade bbq sauce and lots of cheese. And for another protein Joe has a passion for- try this one topped with Jerk Chicken.
“We have a love for the islands. And jerk chicken is just another word for barbecue. So we incorporated jerk chicken. We do jerk chicken wings, very authentic, very similar to what you see on the streets of Jamaica. You get that jerk chicken zest, and you get that hit of spice and pepper. But it's not overwhelming. So because you have the dough to kind of balance it out.”
If you’re looking to cool your palate down after all of that peppery goodness, you could reach for some of their signature craft beer- or hit up their very unique take on an Espresso Martini- made with Parmesan cheese.
“So that's our spin on the Espresso martini. So what it does is it adds a creaminess to it and there's a little bit of a salt to it. You really won't taste the cheese per se. But it was going to give it a creaminess to it and it's BEEP up, but it works.”
And for Joe- good things do take time- but he wouldn’t have it any other way.
“We get here at 4:30 in the morning and whether it's snowing or raining or whether it's 100 degrees out humid we're doing it. And that’s what I do this for, it’s to put smiles on people's face through food and hard work and that's the best part of it all. That's what keeps us going.”
