Boozy BBQ

I love that our beautiful valley has its own bar. I’ve only been to it twice before, but I always keep it in the back of my mind, for those moody nights when I just want to sit in a small, dark room and watch local folks stop in to grab a six pack on the way home from work. My wife and I had a small group of friends coming up for the weekend to stay in our guest airstream and we thought, let’s grab some food from Fire N’ Ice, a newish BBQ food stand in the parking lot of Bode’s, and pack it into the Los Caminos Bar, have a couple of drinks, maybe play a few rounds of pool and chow down on some good BBQ.

With this plan in mind, earlier that day, we drove the easy mile to Fire N’ Ice, because they haven’t yet turned on their phone line (why not I wonder?) Thankfully they were open, as Google promised them to be, so we pre-ordered almost one each of every item. They were patient with us as we contemplated what our friends might like best and patient again when we had to drive back after remembering that two of the three guests were vegetarian and we had inadvertently ordered a meat factory. We switched out two of the BBQ meat sandwiches for a mushroom burger and a mushroom taco. Sadly,  those were the only two choices for our animal advocates. We had already ordered one of each of the sides, which were all meatless, so we figured that was the best we could do. We paid the bill, scheduled for a 5:45pm pickup, then drove over to Los Caminos bar as they too, do not have a listed phone number, to make sure that we were allowed to bring food in from the outside. We were cheerfully told, “Yes, of course, as long as you are going to buy drinks!” To which, I responded, “Yes, we absolutely plan on buying drinks! See you at 6!”

We met up with our friends at our house and piled into our van, picked up the food that was being bagged exactly on time, and headed out on the short drive to the bar.  Walking in, we passed the package liquor counter then the pool table and chose one of the two tables in the small room. They are well sat on, small booths intended for 4 max, but we crammed our five butts in and began the “Great Unwrapping.” Out came sandwiches stuffed with freshly fired brisket with chopped white onions on burger buns, pulled pork with melty cheese and bacon, tacos filled with similarly smoked and grilled meats and, of course, the mushroom burger and taco. The three sides were a large container of potato salad, coleslaw and Mac and Cheese. Our friend David took on the job of getting drinks and brought them to the crowded table. The drinks were hefty and well made. I usually stick to wine with a meal, but that felt unwise, as this bar is the real deal that goes straight for the bourbon vibe and any opened wine has likely turned into a nice salad dressing by now. 

It was a tasty and messy ten minutes of sharing the feast in front of us. We were all satisfied and overly full with plenty to spare. The best sandwich was the Brisket, with bacon and cheese layered in with the smoky shredded meat. Alas, group consensus on the veg fares was so-so and besides one being on a burger bun and the other in a small corn tortilla, they were too similar to each other to distinguish between the two. They were both composed of simple, small, uneventful mushrooms overly slathered with smoke flavor and too sweet BBQ sauce. We were thankful for the fresh, tangy potato salad in a yummy garlicky mayo base.  And the decadent Mac and Cheese did not disappoint; the cheddar and gruyere cheese mixture was wonderfully sharp and creamy. The slaw could have used some doctoring to meet our snobbish taste, but went well with the strong flavors of all the zesty rest. A side of pickles next time would further round out the meal.

The drinks at Los Caminos were strong yet affordable, the service was personable and friendly, and the booze and BBQ combo put us all in the mood for…a very early evening! We had planned for a cozy campfire, maybe a little guitar and wine, but not one of us had the gumption for any of that so we made a bee line for our prospective beds. My wife and I cuddled up with the latest episode of Ted Lasso and drifted off to a heavy deep slumber.

With a little tweaking to the quality of the food (and listing a phone number for pick up orders), I’d recommend Fire N’ Ice and am looking forward to trying the small grouping of hotdogs on their menu. Maybe a picnic with a good bottle of wine?  For 5 people, and a little extra to take home, the bill came to about $75.
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As for Los Caminos, that’s a definite YES for another night, maybe this time we’ll save a little energy for that game of pool.