Holy Smoke BBQ

In addition to being delicious, barbecued food means a lot of familiar things for many people—back yards, the rich smell of mesquite fire, red-checked tablecloths and warmer days. Luckily, Columbus has its own recipe for summer all year-round: Holy Smoke BBQ, a place where the fire pit is ablaze with traditional-style barbecue every month of the year.

Food: At the North Market location, the Holy Smoke BBQ menu is a consistent listing of barbequed and smoked items served either as sandwiches or as a slab of ribs with a side. All of the meats are smoked in-house at the Yoho BBQ catering headquarters on Westerville Road, and the meats even come from local producers. The reason for this is that Holy Smoke needs cuts of meat that are less lean at better prices than what an out-of-area producer might have. The general idea is "the more fat, the more flavor."

With this in mind, menu items like beef brisket ($5.99), which has been smoked and mixed with sauce, has a certain appeal to it, knowing that the cooks at Holy Smoke really put some thought and time into the barbecue staple. The pulled pork sandwich ($5.99) is great, served on a hoagie bun with a deliciously smoky flavor. The pork can be chewy but not dry, and there is a perfect proportion of pork to sauce to bun, keeping things from being too messy or too small for a decent appetite.

For the very hungry, an order of "cave ribs" is a good idea. Try a half slab for $8.99 or a whole slab for $15.99. Add on individual sides of Yoho's famous recipe cole slaw ($2.99), Charleston cornbread ($1.50), "cave beans with brisket" ($2.99), or make the meal a combo (sandwich and two sides: $9.99). The cave beans, a.k.a. baked beans, are an OK side, but they leave a little to be desired. There is an odd balance of sweet to savory, and it could be a better side if the beans were more on the hot or cold side rather than lukewarm. For a great match to the sauce on any of the main dishes, try the sweet cornbread for a better harmony of flavors.

Libations:  Holy Smoke keeps it simple with canned soft drink offerings of regular or diet Coke, sometimes bottled water. This sticks with backyard barbecue tradition, but have no worries if a different drink sounds more appealing. The stand is located in North Market, after all.

Décor: The Holy Smoke BBQ stand is likely to be unnoticeable at first, as the smokers share a market space with CaJohn's Flavor and Fire, also found in a separate salsa stand across the aisle. Holy Smoke is near the main parking lot entrance, across from Bluescreek Farmers. The stand is basic, looking like a true street vendor with metal counters but with much more heavy machinery and cookery going on. If one still has a hard time spotting the stand, keep an eye out for the Nathan's Hot Dogs green and orange umbrellas that are littered in between joint signs for CaJohn's and Holy Smoke.

Service: The staff at Holy Smoke is friendly, knowledgeable and speedy. They are wiling to answer any questions about how the meats are prepared, to offer suggestions and to encourage people to check out the home company, Yoho's catering. All around, they do a good job while not seeming too in-your-face.

Crowd: The crowd at Holy Smoke is defined by the day of the week, time of day, and generally by whom else shows up at North Market. All sorts of people come to North Market from all parts of the city and state, but during weekdays at lunch time the market is likely to be strewn with Short North and downtown business people looking for a unique lunch, especially one with a group where one person can get something from one stand and another person can get one from any other stand of their choosing.

On the weekends there is a mix of regulars who market every week, and generally a lot more people. There might not be too many people in suits who stop by the Holy Smoke stand for some backyard-style barbecue while on a business meal, but there are always those few who surprisingly do stop, rolling up their cufflinks en route.

Bottom line: No matter what time of year it is, Holy Smoke BBQ is likely to put a spring in Columbus's step with smells and tastes that can transport anyone to a picnic bench in a sunny, green yard with thoughts of family and friends.

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