Feature Friday: Velvet Smoke

When Hubs and I sold our last house we were going through a major life transition.  He was starting a new job with a mix of travel, time in the office and work from home.  His direct supervisor worked out of the Chicago office, so we thought Hubs would be spending a lot of time in that area.  We were weighing the pros and cons of being close to family versus close to work and trying to figure out just how much time Hubs would have to spend away from home.  Because of this and the fact that I can work from anywhere, we decided to go ahead and sell our home and live in our (very large and quite comfortable) camper while we figured out his next steps.  

We had planned to live in the camper for a few months while we figured out Hub's new work/travel situation, but couple the work transition with our VERY specific house wishlist and it took us nearly a year to get into our new home.  It was a fantastic experience and I'm so glad we did it, but let me tell you how cooking every meal in a camper for nearly a year gets really old.  Especially on a hot day where we were doing battle just to keep the inside relatively comfortable, the last thing I wanted to do was add heat by cooking.  I mean seriously, would you want to cook with this little counter space?

Thankfully, we were on family land just outside of Harrison, Ohio and had easy access to lots of yummy places to eat!  So at least once a week I took the evening off and we had carry out.  We now live about half an hour away from Harrison, but still frequent a few of our favorite carryout places.

Velvet Smoke BBQ was established in 2009 as a competitive cooking team, opened their first restaurant in Harrison and has grown to three locations.  VSQ is a 5-time Grand Chapion competitive cooking team and I can attest that the barbeque deserves the title!

I'm a fan of pulled pork, no two ways about it, but have you ever had pulled chicken that wasn't dry?  If you answered no to that, you've never had Velvet Smoke's pulled chicken!  It's delicious, and believe it or not, I actually like it better than the pulled pork!

But as good as both of those are, the jumbo smoked wings are (pardon me while I mop up my drool) to die for!  You can get them smothered in one of VSQ's signature BBQ sauces or sweet mustard, but Hubs and I prefer the dry rub.  It's sweet and spicey and just salty enough without overpowering the delicious, smokey chicken.  They come with ranch or blue cheese, but they're so perfectly balanced I wouldn't taint them with a dipping sauce.  Honestly, we have picked up an order as an afternoon snack when we're out and about, even if it's not meal time!  

Unfortunately with the pandemic only the White Oak location is open right now, but we look forward to Harrison and Crescent Springs locations reopening soon.  The White Oak's hours are Tuesday and Wednesday from 11:00am-7:00pm, Thursday through Saturday 11:00am-8:00pm and Sunday 11:00am-6:00pm.  They are closed Mondays.