On Friday of last week the Washington Post included a story about a store/restaurant in Aldie, VA so I keyed the location into the car navigation system and set out for an adventure. The drive was unusual as the route taken included a long stretch on a single lane gravel road, but after a two hour trip Ethelda and I arrived in the quaint town of Aldie, VA. The restaurant was located in a country convenience store that sold cigarettes for $3.40 a pack. Because of the Post article, scores of people had the same idea that we had so the store was extremely crowded, and with only one sales person it was overwhelmed with customers. I was informed that my order of two slabs would not be completed for a period of two hours but having traveled 65 miles on secondary roads, I had no intention of returning to Maryland empty handed so we settled down in the car and I engaged in conversations with the locals.
After the prescribed two hour wait, the ribs were ready and we made the return trip to Southern Maryland. We served them for Saturday dinner and they were good but they faced the expectations built up over the 130 mile round trip and the two hour wait. While good, I would not recommend them for others if they are required to suffer the same experience. While waiting for the ribs to be prepared, I engaged in a conversation with another customer from Gaithersburg, MD who informed me that he made special barbeque for a handful of friends and if I cared to I could visit and purchase an order. We exchanged email addresses and now I look forward to sampling his specialty. At some future date, I expect to head out in the opposite direction from Aldie and sample the special barbeque prepared by my new friend. What trials and tribulations one will go through to taste good barbeque.
