Smokey's Tavern creates its own niche in Vernon

VERNON — The word around town is that anyone who hasn't heard about Smokey's Brick Oven Tavern must be leading a very sheltered existence.

Located on Vernon Crossing Road in the Someplace Special Square, Smokey’s is making a name for itself with both local diners and our seasonal visitors who come for skiing and snowboarding.

Also offering delicatessen-type food during the day, the place especially jumps at night and on weekends when the tavern/fine dining restaurant offers some of the most talented musicians in the area. Popular area crowd pleasers such as E'lissa Jones, John Sheehan, The Kilby Taylor Band and Ray Longchamp have each helped to pack the place to near capacity.

The restaurant's diverse menu does it share of wooing the crowds as well. In addition to burgers, sandwiches and salads, there are two pizza menus as well as an entree listing that includes seafood, eggplant, chicken and steaks. All that aside, Smokey's own version of baby back ribs deserves special notice.

Ribs take center stage According to Smokey’s Chef Joe Koncevitz, part of their secret is “low and slow.” After being hand-rubbed the day before, each rack of ribs is cooked at a relatively low temperature for six hours. Koncevitz says that he cooks an average of about 35 racks, weighing between a pound and a pound and a half each, every day.

The restaurant also has two mixed-wood smokers, used to prepare a smoked version of the restaurant’s popular baby back ribs.

While the chef is friendly and outgoing, he is secretive about his sauce recipe. It's his own blend. He would only say that it includes spices and sugar — he keeps to himself the names of each of the 23 ingredients that comprise the sauce.

Between the secret sauce and six hours in the oven, the result is a crowd pleaser. Although the dinner is served with both a regular table knife and a serrated-blade steak knife, the latter is hardly needed since the abundant meat practically falls off the ribs.

This most popular entree also includes Smokey’s waffle fries, coleslaw and mixed vegetables. Don't forget to ask for a sample of their Dingo Sauce to use as a dip for the fries and just about anything else. The Dingo Sauce was named after a dog called Dingo (an Australian Cattle Dog) that belonged to the chef’s friend, local resident Gary Newman. Dingo may have passed on, but Koncevitz and Smokey’s manager Jay McVeigh hope to be bottling and selling the sauce named after him in the near future.

Brick oven pizza Smokey’s offers its own "Brick Oven Well Done Thin Crust Pizza” with a variety toppings. And, according to McVeigh, the restaurant plans to begin a delivery service in the future.

Check out their Web site, too, for updates: www.smokeystavern.com.

Reservations are not generally accepted and on some evenings and weekends diners should be prepared to wait a short while for a table. However, the restaurant has a long and well-stocked bar to help pass the time.

Smokey's is located at 2 Vernon Crossing Road at the intersection with County Route 517. The phone number is 973-764-2600.