Brickyard wins 3rd consecutive 'Best BBQ' title

Second Helping with Joshua Maloni

The Brickyard is still the best.

Though more and more people voted this year for more and more “Best BBQ” restaurants in Niagara Frontier Publications’ annual “Savory Summer” food contest, Lewiston residents would not let their champion be defeated. For the third year in a row, The Brickyard Pub & BBQ is top dog – or is it top hog?

Speaking of the win, Ken Bryan said, “We take a lot of pride in what we do. We've been doing it for 20 years, and we plan on staying around for a long time. Our pitmaster, Joe, he takes it very personal – he has a lot of pride in what he does. That goes a long way – and that goes to all our staff that are trying to do the best that they can, and provide the best service and product that we can. It's what we do.”

The Brickyard Pub & BBQ is owned by Bryan and Eric Matthews. Steve Matthews is the chief operations officer. For more than two decades, their Center Street restaurant has been a staple of the local food scene, only growing in popularity with the next-door addition of sister site the Brickyard Brewing Company in 2017.

Though The Brickyard is oftentimes Lewiston’s most populated dining destination, Bryan said the past four years have been “very challenging,” in terms of staffing and product availability.

“But we're extremely fortunate, again, with the staff we have. So, all the praise goes back to the staff.

“You know, a lot of our staff has been here for 10, 15 years. That's where we've been extremely fortunate in the consistency end of the game, and that's just huge for us. Like, it's probably on parallel to anybody in town. We can't thank our staff enough for being here, doing the job that they do, keeping the consistency.

“We try to stick with our values the whole time. We've never swayed off our product. When a product shoots through the roof, pricewise, we’ve always stayed with what we could get as the highest grades of meat that we can use. So, it's been a formula that's worked for us.”

Image courtesy of The Brickyard Pub & BBQ

Bryan said The Brickyard’s recipe for “Best BBQ” is “just the personal touch that we give in the building that makes it special; and the staff – I think it's a great environment; and Lewiston has a lot to do with that. It's just a unique, quaint, nice little town to come and visit. It's very relaxing and enjoyable from the beginning to end when you leave town.”

He added, “Our barbecue is great – come and try it!”

The Brickyard Pub & BBQ is located at 432 Center St., while the BBC is at 436 Center St. Find more information and a full menu online at https://www.brickyardpub.com/.