Visited June 4, 2014
BBQ or airport food? No brainer. Smoky Jon's is 2 miles and almost a direct shot to the Dane County Airport. I had time to kill and better to kill it outside the airport.
After reading the menu over many times with no help from the useless counter worker, I ordered the brisket sandwich. I've had BBQ brisket a number of times trying to figure out why it is such a popular cut. It has always been dry and bland but I figured I would give it a shot here.
Smoky Jon's has the best brisket I have had to date. It was sliced thinner than the usual BBQ brisket cut and provided a better mouth feel than the thick cut. The brisket was moist and the mild smoky flavor seeped into the deepest reaches. The BBQ sauce was sweet, salty, tangy, and peppery. It was tangy without being overly so, properly balanced which is tricky to achieve. The sauce was definitely one of the better BBQ sauces I've had. I can understand the draw of this potentially addictive sauce.
I could have done without the fries. The applesauce tasted like an insipid canned or jarred version. Blah.
Service was apathetic. If you see a customer enthused about your product, sell him on what's great and why. Instead, the cashier read the menu to me like at Best Buy where when you ask the sales rep the difference between two product, he reads the specs off the product shelf labels.
Probability of making an out of the way return: 0%
Probability of returning if in the area: 25%
2/18/17, 12:19 PM. Business finally brought me back in the area and this would be my third BBQ meal this week. Last night's BBQ was fantastic, one of the finest I've had in a long while. How would Smoky stack up in comparison?
Sliced Beef Brisket Sandwich is no longer available but now offered as Chopped. Slice brisket remains available in the more expensive platter version. I wouldn't call this chopped. It went through a Bass-O-Matic. I call it pulled, shredded, or leftover strands from slicing beef brisket. From a business standpoint, why would you chop brisket as it's extra labor? No, the strands are leftovers of whole brisket that failed the grade and a lot must have failed.
Considering the dearth of BBQ in Madison, this is acceptable. A hint of deep smoke, dry yet not stringy, easy to chew and breakdown. The seasoning was mild and needed the excellent peppery mildly sweet mildly tangy BBQ sauce to make it come alive. The BBQ world has grown and Smoky needs to grow with it. Brisket Rating: 7 out of 10.
The macaroni salad drowned in mayo and sat in the stomach for hours. The coleslaw was comparatively lighter but a vinegary version would have been better.
1/17/19 12:17 PM Round 3. Better brisket this time.
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