Madison's Smoked BBQ - Newark, DE

Madison's Smoked BBQ
4154 Ogletown Stanton Rd
Newark, DE 19713

Madison's Smoked BBQ has been around since the summer of 2016.  It's a clean restaurant settled into a strip mall in Newark, Delaware.  Basically everything you don't want a barbecue place to be. I'm always dreaming of that little run down shack that has been peddling barbecue for decades making it the way their daddy taught them how to.  This is not that place.

Now I don't mean to start off on a bad note as the restaurant is pleasant, clean the staff is very nice and helpful.  Kind of like a bike shop employee is helpful when you need to learn how to change a tire after your first flat.  So if this is your first barbecue experience, I'm sure you'll enjoy your meal.  However, I'm always searching for that elusive rare gem hiding in the woodwork of some small town.  For that, I will continue to search but that doesn't mean that I can't enjoy every bit of the journey.

I went there with friends and we each ordered a 2 item plate of Sliced Brisket and Pulled Pork each with 2 sides.  I got the house special greens and baked beans while others had Cole Slaw, French Fries, and Sweet Potatoes. In addition we added St Louis Ribs to get a good sampling.

As you can see, the meat came presauced.  While I usually want my first experience with a restaurant to be how "they" serve it, I may change that as presauced meat is not appropriate. Especially when it is not cooked with sauce. Sauce should be on the table and applied as the user sees fit, not the server.

The meat (brisket, pulled pork and spare ribs) were all pleasantly cooked but there was no real barbecue flavor in the meat.  It was just cooked. I now have a better idea why the sauce is applied by them.  

The greens were...fine.  The beans were actually a little better than fine.  The consistency was thick and felt like they were twice baked which always adds a bit more to the beans.

Barbecue is not just about cooked/smoked meat, it's about the flavor of the culture and this, unfortunately, didn't have much culture to it.