The Sampler
Sugar Creek Barbeque Co.
With a name like Gnaw Bone, Indiana, you might expect to find a first-class barbecue joint. And you’ ll find it at Sugar Creek Barbeque Company located at 4359 State Road 46 East.
One thing is certain— they know their way around smoked meats. After three successful years as a competition BBQ team and a bit of a catering on the side, they’ ve expanded to a full-service, family-friendly place, serving up some of the best barbeque around.
You may already have smelled it if you chanced to pass through Gnaw Bone— the sweet scent of native hickory and cherry woods, slowly roasting our familiar farmyard friends.
Sugar Creek’ s barbeque is slowsmoked“ Hoosier-style,” for up to 14 hours every day. It is a time-consuming process that gives the meat a pink tinge called a“ smoke ring,” a prized attribute in barbeque meats.
The Sampler likes to start with appetizers before he embarks on a full-fledged swan dive into the dinner menu. Sugar Creek makes it interesting with such diverse opportunities as: BBQ nachos, mac and cheese bites, pepper poppers, fried biscuits, fried pickles, dirty fries, and jumbo smoked wings. My regular readers will not be surprised that I instantly attracted to the onion rings—” the REAL DEAL, thick cut and double dipped for BIG beer batter flavor, extra bite, and lots of crunch.”
Then I notice a“ side sampler plate”— select any three sides served with cornbread. If there’ s one thing the Sampler likes better than corn bread, it’ s a sampler! So, we added in cole
slaw, fries, and beans— making it a fullfledged raid on sides menu. All sides are not available every day, so check with your server.
There are sandwiches— a pulled pork sandwich, pulled chicken sandwich, smoked turkey sandwich, and a beef brisket sandwich that’ s“ Texas big! smoked, sliced and piled high on a toasted bun!”
There’ s a“ serious sausage sub”— pit smoked kielbasa with grilled onions and peppers covered with spicy mustard sauce; the Creek’ s brisket Philly— chopped and grilled brisket with onions and green peppers, covered with rich provolone cheese; and some hybrid monster called“ The 1932” which purports to be the pit master— 10 ounces of pork drizzled with sweet sauce, topped with their smokehouse mac and cheese on a brioche bun.
The“ Old Man” is their biggest sandwich— smoked kielbasa topped with pepper jack cheese then smothered with chopped brisket and pulled pork, drizzled with habanero red sauce, and served on a pretzel bun.
I went for the Bar B Q pork plate, one of several“ Smokin’ BBQ Plates,” including the smoked turkey breast
plate, beef brisket platter, rib platter, and the BarB Q feast— a half slab of ribs and your choice of two or more meats.
When it comes to ribs, Sugar Creek uses Memphis-style dry rub for a savory crust, smokes them over cherry and hickory, and finishes with the sweet sauce.
The Saint Louis style ribs are meatier and smokier than the baby back ribs, but the smaller slab baby backs are leaner, with a subtler flavor.
Be warned— ribs available only after 4 p. m. Thursday, Friday, and Saturday until they run out!
There are other dinners, including an open-faced turkey Manhattan, and chicken and waffles.
The onion rings were terrific and all the sides were very tasty.
The pulled pork was everything one could hope for, tender and perfectly smoked, and the sweet sauce proved to be excellent.
But let’ s get one thing straight. Is it barbecue? Bar B Cue? BBQ? Bar B Q? Sugar Creek’ s menu spells it in each of these different ways, but however you spell it, it’ s just plain good.
The desserts come from just down the road at the Gnaw Bone Country Store & Bakery, including sugar cream pie, peach cobbler, and cinnamon apple bread pudding with maple glaze. You can also get chocolate or vanilla soft serve ice cream.
Sugar Creek Barbeque Co. is open Wednesday and Thursday from 11a. m. to 8 p. m., Friday 11 a. m. to 9 p. m., Saturday 11 a. m. to 10 p. m. and Sunday from 10:30 a. m. to 7 p. m. Closed Monday and Tuesday. •
74 Our Brown County • Sept./ Oct. 2018