Eat First

Eat First visits The Bucket BBQ, Auburn

Editor's note: For profiles of  a couple other CNY barbecue pit-stops, see my cover story in the May 22 edition of The Syracuse New Times. Click here. 

If you’re in Skaneateles or Auburn and have a hankering for barbecue, get yourself to The Bucket.

The Southern-flavored restaurant opened in February on Route 20, near Auburn, at the onetime home of The Pioneer Restaurant. It’s owned by partners Michael Henty, Gary Robinson, Tim Gillooly and Marc Albino.

Albino, a native of Auburn who is also executive chef at Rosalie’s Cucina, spent several at restaurants in the South after graduating from culinary school. He says he had a lot of fun developing The Bucket’s down-home menu – a big switch from the Northern Italian/gourmet Italian fare he’s known for at Rosalie’s -- and testing it out on his family, friends and partners.

Almost everything on The Bucket’s menu is smoked in a smoker in The Bucket’s kitchen, rather than a big contraption outdoors. The aroma of slow-cooked meat smacks you in the nose when you walk in the door.

The Bucket is a nice alternative to other fast-casual restaurants in the area, like perennial favorites Doug’s Fish Fry and Johnny Angels Heavenly Burgers. Bring the family and queue up for some ‘cue.

THE VIBE: The Bucket is casual with a capital “C” --  warm, wood-paneled and slightly rustic, with custom-made wooden tables downstairs and upstairs in the loft and picnic tables outside. It’s a plastic tray, paper plates and wait-on-yourself kind of place. Choose your meat at the counter, proceed down the line and choose your side dishes.

THE MENU: Meat, meat and more meat. You’ll find the usual suspects, like ribs, brisket and pulled pork, plus poultry (pulled chicken, smoked turkey), along with about a dozen side dishes (a k a fixins’). Some of the sides are traditional (macaroni and cheese, corn bread, salt potatoes) and some are more uncommon in these parts, like fried pickles and fried okra.

LIQUID ASSETS: There’s a soda fountain with soft drinks and a short list of domestic and import beers and wines. Utica’s Saranac is represented, and we started with two bottles of lager.

THE FOOD: The lemon pepper smoked turkey ($10.50 with two sides) was excellent – moist and fork-tender, slightly salty, with a hint of the seasoning shining through.

A half-rack of Kansas City ribs ($16.25) had a nice char and was fall-off-the-bone tender, but could have used more seasoning, we thought. The collards were cooked to perfection but lukewarm. As for sweet potato fries and onion rings: What’s not to like about deep-fried vegetables every now and then?

We really liked The Bucket’s trio of sauces in squirt bottles at each table. One is slightly sweet, one hints of mustard and vinegar and one packs a little heat. All worked well with the ribs.

WHAT’S A VEGETARIAN GOING TO FIND: Not much, to be honest. You could ask for The Bucket’s Caesar salad minus the bacon (bacon? in a Caesar?). Or feast on the side fixins’, like a smashed sweet potato, fried pickles and okra, cream corn and coleslaw. Collards are prepared Southern-style, with meat.

THE DAMAGES: $38, give or take, including two bottle beers and a tip at the counter.

THE NEXT TIME: We’ll go back for the pulled chicken, smoked wings, smoked and deep-fried turkey leg and/or smoked kielbasa. Of the desserts, which we didn’t have room for, the bourbon blackberry peach cobbler sounds delicious and could be really good when local peaches and berries are in season.

THE DETAILS: The Bucket is at 3193 E. Genesee St. Road (Route 20), Auburn. Phone: 315-255-1227.  In spring and summer, the restaurant is open Monday-Saturday for lunch, dinner and takeout. Note: Large orders for 20 or more people require 24 hours notice.

RELATED: Get grilling at home with rubs and sauces with Central New York flavor.

Get grilling, Central New York! BBQ rubs and sauces with local flavor

Note from Margaret: My sidebar on Central New York barbecue products, intended to run with the May 22 cover story on lesser-known local barbecue joints for the Syracuse New Times, got left on the cutting room floor. That’s where a blog comes in handy!

Memorial Day is the traditional start of summer -- and the outdoor cooking season.

If you enjoy the thrill of the grill and food from the fire, why not enhance the experience -- and the flavor -- with a local rub, brine or sauce?

Here are some options: 

Tom's Bootleg BBQ Sauce: Tom Armstrong is a chef who has worked at restaurants like Rosalie's Cucina in Skaneateles. He started making barbecue sauce and selling it in wine bottles, out of the trunk of his car, hence its name -- Bootleg.

The sauce is now made at Nelson Farms, near Morrisville, and sold in condiment bottles. It's thin in consistency but full-flavored, savory rather than sweet, with a slight kick. Try it with pulled pork and pulled chicken, or brush it on a tortilla and make a Southwestern-style pizza.

Find Tom's Bootleg BBQ Sauce at Green Hills Farms, the Blue Tusk in Armory Square, the Nelson Farms store and other locations. Click here for more information. 

Dinosaur Bar-B-Que Sauces: There's a Dinosaur sauce to suit all your BBQ tastes and needs – who among us doesn’t have a jar of the original, Sensuous Slathering Sauce, in the fridge?

Dinosaur’s Roasted Garlic Honey Bar-B-Que Sauce took first place in the mild category of the 2012 The Hot Pepper Awards. Like more heat? Try the Wango Tango Habanero BBQ sauce and the Garlic Chipotle hot sauce.

Find Dinosaur sauces at Wegmans, Tops, Price Chopper - just about everywhere, including Amazon.com and online at the Dinosaur Store. Click here for more information.

Buck's Seasoning: Buck's Homemade All-Purpose and Bar-B-Que Seasonings, made with salt, pepper, garlic and spices, have been a staple for more than 50 years.

Buck's is made in Mallory, Oswego County. A newer addition to the Buck's line is Buck's Zestier: salt, pepper, garlic and spices with a bit more zip than the original. Try it on wings, potatoes, ribs, eggs, burgers, popcorn -- you name it.

Look for Buck's in grocery and specialty stores and online. Click here for more information.  

Sammy and Annie's Sauces and Seasonings: Christopher Giruzzi, of Barneveld, has turned his cooking hobby into a small business, Sammy and Annie Foods.

The company is named for his maternal grandparents, and Giruzzi uses some of their recipes. Look for Sammy and Annie Spicy Sweet Barbecue Seasoning, Spicy Sweet Barbecue Sauce Fennel Citrus Barbecue Sauce and others at the Westmoreland Summer Farmers Market, Oneida County Public Market in Utica and online. Click here for more information. 

Java Gourmet: "Perk up" your steak, pork, chicken, seafood, wild game and veggies with Java Gourmet rubs, marinades and "mops,'' all made with coffee from Keuka Lake Coffee Roasters.

You know coffee tastes good in your morning cup. It also enhances the flavor of meats and imparts nutty flavor and notes of smoke.

Java Gourmet comes in a variety of blends and international accents, like Sicilian Citrus, Tuscan Seaside and Shanghai Six Spice Rub. The rubs are sold throughout the Finger Lakes, at the company store in Penn Yan and online. Click here for more information. 

Miller's Dry Brine: Miller's Dry Brine is handmade at Miller's Meat Market, near Lowville, by owners, Danny and Charlene Miller. Among the most popular items at the market are the jerked meats in the meat case and the brine, a jerk rub for pork, beef and venison -- a friend also uses it on chicken.

"It's best if you rub it on at least the night before or even a full 24 hours,'' says my friend and former colleague Gina Chen, who has it shipped to her new home in Mississippi. "It makes the meat taste delicious and tender. ... It's the best rub we've ever found.''

Miller's Dry Brine comes in a variety of sizes, including a one-gallon container, and can be shipped. For more information, call 315-376-6253 or email [email protected].  

A Syracuse garden takes shape – in a box

There are advantages to a small house. There are fewer rooms to clean, for one thing, and less grass to mow.

But less space outdoors equals less space to garden. And less space to garden equals little to no opportunity to grow food, with the exception of basil and other essential herbs.

Until now! 

I happened on this garden box on legs (above) while browsing the Williams-Sonoma website. My first thought was: How cool is this?! What a great option for space-challenged people like us, who have no back forty -- just a hill and trees and gravel drive. My second thought was: Oh, $300 – soil and plants not included. 

Fortunately, I live with a very handy man, who makes art and builds things. I asked him if he could design and build something like the Williams-Sonoma garden box – compact and on legs -- for us. As you can see, he rose to the challenge. 

The result is an elevated, 30-inch-by-54- inch garden box on a steel frame – quite a bit bigger than the retail model that inspired it (24 by 36 inches) -- and far less expensive. 

The box is made of larch, a locally grown hardwood noted for it strength, durability and ability to resist water. The lumber cost $40. The frame was custom-made and welded by Robert's cousin, Ben Poormon, of Steelfab in Weedsport. It cost $100. 

At the base of the box are a couple grids of concrete reinforcing mesh. On top of that went hay and the soil. 

All we need now is plants, sun and rain. Robert picked up three pepper plants at the Central New York Regional Market last weekend. We're thinking tomatoes, some lettuces, herbs and – well, we're not sure what else, exactly. 

We'll let you know what we decide to plant -- and how our little vegetable garden-in-a-box grows this summer.