Smoked and Sauced offers perfect tailgate food

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This article was published 06/08/2021 (1766 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

This week, as part of The Brandon Sun’s food truck grub review, we visited Smoked and Sauced at 1451 Richmond Ave. East.

No one bought the food for us. There were no freebies and we are not professional food testers. The only prerequisite was we must like to eat tasty food.

It was Wednesday over the lunch hour when I agreed to meet a couple of friends at the Smoked and Sauced food truck.

Located in the industrial park, the area doesn’t have the pretty trappings of a groomed parking lot. But there was parking, which was all that mattered, I was soon to discover.

The location is perfect for the clientele. We were lucky to get our orders in early as 20 minutes later, a stream of hungry patrons made their way over to the black and orange food truck.

My opening line just rolled off my tongue.

“What’s the special?” I hollered through my mask.

A friendly, bearded, heavy-set guy poked his head sorta-kinda out the window.

“Pac Mac, Cajun fries and a drink for $17,” he replied.

“OK. I’ll take one.”

Friend One and Two placed their orders. She asked for the beef brisket sandwich with slaw on a bun. He ordered the pulled pork poutine and beef brisket with slaw on a bun, too.

The area where we were served was clean. A huge bottle of hand sanitizer sat to one side on the counter. A garbage can sat around the corner of the truck.

Maybe 10 minutes passed when we were served our food all at once, which I thought was great for our tailgate picnic.

Holy cedar smoke, did we get a lot of food. I balked when I saw my order.

“I am never gonna get through all this,” I said out loud to no one in particular, although Friend One and Two’s eyes got kinda big when they realized how much they got for their money.

The fries and poutine were served in lined cardboard boxes, specific to takeout. I liked how there were no annoying drips coming out of the bottoms.

The Pac Mac smoked and barbecued pulled pork on a bed of mac and cheese on a fresh, toasted bun, sat deliciously in the bottom of one of the cardboard boxes for obvious reasons. A fork sat speared in the centre. This is gonna get messy, I thought.

My friends’ sandwiches were wrapped in tin foil.

My cajun fries filled the large cardboard container. Both containers were perfectly suited for the food being served. Heat retention was spot on. The sandwiches wrapped in tin foil weren’t squished.

There was no dainty way to eat the Pac Mac Sandwich. Slightly bent at the waist, leaning away from my shirt, I employed what Friend One and Two described as the “Triple D Hunch,” a phrase which originated from chef Guy Fieri, known as the Plantium Prince, where one raises their elbows above the hands to avoid any drippings running down your sleeve or blobbing on one’s bowling shirt.

Barbecue and cheesy cheese ran through my fingers to my wrist. I was in heaven.

“Oh my gawd, this is good,” I said out loud between mouthfuls.

Similar experiences by my friends as we chowed down on our sandwiches, bent at the waist, elbows out.

The cajun fries were hot and crispy. Real potatoes were used as I enjoyed crunching down. I would have liked some dipping sauce, maybe mayo, but meh, what odds? And the pulled pork poutine had real cheese curds. I think I’d like the cheese in the mac n’ cheese to be a bit sharper, but really, I’m not complaining.

The smoked pork in my sandwich perfectly complemented the homemade barbecue sauce. The brisket sandwiches weren’t greasy and the buns were filled with nicely seasoned, smoked, barbecued meats. There was a nice balance in the meat of smoke and sauce. No overpowering vinegar taste you sometimes get in barbecue sauce.

Friend One’s sandwich was adequately sauced, as it should be, she said.

The meat wasn’t chewy or stringy. It was properly cooked and melt-in-your-mouth tender.

Once we finished scarfing down our lofty meal, I headed over to the garbage can. Too bad there’s no recycling — but in fairness, most of the Smoked and Sauced clientele pick up their food and leave immediately.

The parking lot is gravel, but there’s lots of parking. There’s a Facebook group and Instagram presence.

This is perfect tailgate party food. Or lunchtime when you’re extra hungry.

I would recommend this spot to anyone with an appetite and a hankering for good, barbecued grub. I’m giving Smoked and Sauced 5/5.

» kkielley@brandonsun.com