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Never Quit Smoking Continued

We tried a chain restaurant that was new to us last weekend. It's called Smokey Bones, and is located on Route 30 in York, Pennsylvania. They have about 50 other locations so far, all but a handful east of the Mississippi. The decor is decidedly Western, however; along the back wall is a large faux picture window displaying a Rocky Mountain panorama. Yeah, York looks just like that.

You could tell they've definitely done this before; even though the restaurant opened only a few weeks ago, everything ran like clockwork. With that many stores, it's no surprise. I think they were expecting to do a lot of business right away, too. Not only is the place large, but they were ready with those vibrating pagers all the popular places have adopted. They needed them, too. We had to wait 30 minutes for a table on a Saturday afternoon. The wait was just as long when we left.

I can see why the place caught on so quick. There's something for everyone on the menu (unless you're a vegetarian), although barbecue is the spécialité de la maison. Since barbecue is one of my minor obsessions, I wanted to try as much of it as I could, so I ordered a combination platter of pulled pork, smoked beef brisket, and grilled smoked sausage. All of it was excellent, especially the brisket. I washed it down with draft Newcastle brown ale, one of the smoothest and tastiest dark beers I've ever had. Anne had fried catfish, which was also excellent. Our waiter was pushing the "Old-Fashioned Skillet Cornbread" so we ordered a skillet-full for the table. It was sweet and delicious and comes topped with crushed pecan butter, which I thought was gilding the lily; it was delicious plain.

Portions were more than ample (our leftovers easily made a second meal), and prices were reasonable. I would definitely come here again. The only problem is, I think everyone else felt the same way, so long waits are likely to be the norm.