The Best BBQ Joint in Connecticut is Actually in Sturbridge, MA

What's your favorite BBQ restaurant in Connecticut? HooDoo Brown? Hindsight? Pig Rig? They're all great, but my favorite Connecticut BBQ joint is actually in Sturbridge, Massachusetts.

Have you ever been to Old Sturbridge Village in Sturbridge, Massachusetts? Or the antique shows that they put on in nearby Brimfield? If you stay on I-84 and keep going towards the Massachusetts Turnpike, you go through these towns right after you go past the CT/Mass border. Sturbridge is around a half an hour ride past the greater Hartford area and Manchester, not too far from Storrs. The best ribs and brisket that I can remember having recently is served every day at B.T.'s Smokehouse.

Don't get me wrong, the meats that come out of HooDoo Brown's smoker in Ridgefield are World-Class, I'm still in love with the burnt ends from Waterbury's Hindsight BBQ, and for every day old-school Uncle Willy's in Waterbury has kept me happy for decades. But, B.T.'s Smokehouse recently blew my tastebuds apart with their everyday brisket.

Nothing is cheap anymore, but the $34 I spent for a pound of brisket at B.T.'s was, dare I say it? Underpriced.

I'm a bare-meat BBQ fan, I don't like overly sauced, I like the smoke front and center, accentuated with a tangy North Carolina BBQ sauce on the side. B.T.'s does not over sauce, something that I've encountered many times at CT BBQ joints. One of the masters of sauce constraint around here is Zack & Lou's in Torrington, another great place. Sorry CT pit masters, my loyalty has shifted North for the time being.