My New Years Resolution is to travel more but due to budget constraints I won't be able to go country hopping. Instead, I'm planning several small trips to nearby provinces and states with one or two big trips in between. To help me save as much money as possible when travelling to the USA I drove to Syracuse, NY to open a chequing account at Chase. Using XE, a currency trading site, I'll transfer funds from my Canadian chequing account to my American chequing account and avoid nasty service fees when I do American transactions. In theory, anyway. After opening the chequing account and eating lots of free Hershey kisses at the bank, we drove to downtown Syracuse to the popular Dinosaur Bar-B-Que.
Part biker bar, part southern BBQ restaurant Dinosaur Bar-B-Que is a local Syracuse favourite that has both the locals and tourists lining up around the corner for a table. The boyfriend and I arrived shortly after the doors opened for lunch and we were seated without problem. As we ordered and ate we watched the restaurant fill up - first it was the waiting area, then the bar, then the area near the washrooms, then the line started forming outside the restaurant. As Dinosaur Bar-B-Que doesn't take reservations, you'll probably have to wait for a table - is it worth it?
YES. GET IN LINE NOW.
Since this was my first time at Dinosaur Bar-B-Que I shared the Swag Sampler appetizer plate and ordered the Tres Hombres as my main. I was told by the waitress that it was a good introduction to their BBQ. The appetizer sampler came with wings, fried green tomatoes, shrimp and devilled eggs. It was good, I particularly enjoyed the devilled eggs and wings smothered in their Sensuous Slathering sauce but it was only a warm up for the main course. The Tres Hombres, a beautiful trio of pulled pork, 1/4 rack of ribs, tender, tender beef brisket and two of their homemade sides (bar-b-que beans and mac 'n cheese for me) is what got me drooling. The brisket is tender, moist; the ribs fall apart in your mouth when you bite into them and you can taste a slight smoke flavour thanks to the wood fuelled BBQ pit. Even the sides, which sometimes aren't so good at BBQ restaurants, were delicious; the bar-b-que beans made with pulled pork and the mac 'n cheese moist and gooey with 5 different cheeses. My least favourite thing on the plate was, surprisingly, the pulled pork which seemed a little dry compared to the other meat on the plate.
Oh, and did I mention the beer selection? With great breweries like Southern Tier, Brooklyn Brewery and Sierra Nevada (to name of a few) part of a 22 draught and over 40 bottle list, it's a craft beer lovers dream! The best part is that you can take any of those beers home in a growler for the cost of a growler ($4.50) and pitcher (cost varies beer to beer).
I'm looking forward to my next visit and highly recommend that if you're close to Syracuse that you get in line for a pint and a rack of ribs.
