Back Behind Restaurant & BBQ- Killington VT

When researching barbecue restaurants to visit, I found a quite a few in Vermont. Lucky for me, my sister Julie and her husband Ben live there! My trip to see them last weekend involved supper out at the Back Behind Restaurant. If you've ever skied Killington, you might be familiar with this interesting place. It's about 5 minutes from the entrance to the mountain. The experience as a whole can only be described as weird. We arrived there for an early dinner, maybe 4ish, and the restaurant was littered with only a few other patrons. We wanted to eat outside on the patio, and were allowed, but after hesitation from the staff(we later had to move inside because of rain). When ordering drinks it almost felt like we were being interrogated by the server, who asked us each how old we were, and stated that we 'all looked so young'. It was an odd exchange. The wait between ordering drinks and then ordering meals was quite lengthy, perhaps 20 minutes. It never got crazy crowded, but had a decent dinner rush that the servers didn't seem prepared for. We witnessed a lot of running back and forth by the staff, almost as if they had never been open before and didn't know what they were doing.



THE FOOD: Something to be aware of about Julie, Ben and myself, is that we love food! Anytime we're together there's either a delicious meal being prepared/eaten, or we're talking about delicious food to be prepared/eaten. That being said, we knew how to order so we would each get to sample a little of everything. We ordered two apps, the jalapeno poppers and the hickory smoked salmon. We also ordered the back behind sampler which included baby back and St. Louis ribs, brisket, chicken thigh, and pulled pork. It also came with french fries and mixed vegetables, cole slaw, and bread with honey butter. We had everything come out together, all at once.


The Poppers- WOAH! These were incredible! Not at all what you'd expect from a jalapeno popper. Each jalapeno was stuffed with their homemade pulled pork and a cream cheese mixture. The jalapeno was then wrapped in bacon(you read that right...BACON) and then the whole thing was smoked! Julie and Ben thought they were too spicy, which I disagreed with, because they were perfect. It was one of those foods that makes you angry as you eat it. It's just so good that you hate yourself for having never had them before. These are a must have, if you ever visit the Back Behind.




The Hickory Smoked Salmon- ALSO WOAH! Let me break it down for you...You start with smoked salmon, layer it with an herbed cream cheese, mesclun greens, capers, red onion, tomato, now place that all on a homemade crostini. It was perfectly delicious. Similar to lox except smoked salmon instead of salt cured. Side note to self: Make lox at home.








Bread and Cole Slaw- So the bread and slaw came as a first course before anything else. The bread was sliced french bread, served with a honey butter. In my opinion the bread was simply a vessel to transport as much of that butter as possible into my mouth. Compound butters are so simple and easy to make, yet they class up the whole meal 100%. I love them. The cole slaw was very traditional, and reminded me of Mojo's slaw, including the overpowering celery flavor present. What it lacked in flavor, it made up in the way it was presented. It came served in a tiny crock with a small pair of tongs. Very dainty and cute!






Back Behind Sampler- The main event! I definitely appreciate how most bbq places offer combination, or sample plates, so you can try a little of everything. It makes it very blogger friendly. I'll start from the bottom and work my way to the best parts.

Chicken Thigh- I didn't know it was possible to over cook a chicken thigh. If any readers feel the same, you should visit the Back Behind to be proven wrong. Too harsh? Maybe, but seriously, it's easy to cook chicken thighs. No one enjoys a hard brick with bbq sauce on it.

Brisket- Unfortunately, this fell short for me. It was a bit tough, and didn't have much flavor, except for the sauce.

(From the left, pork, St. Louis, baby back, chicken thigh, brisket)

The Ribs- We all agreed, were amazing. So tender and juicy. Fell right off the bone. The sauce was also delicious. Tomato based with a honey sweetness to it. The baby back outshined the St. Louis by just a smidge. I could see this place going through tons of ribs during ski season. It'd make the perfect after ski snack.

The Pulled Pork- 'Started from the bottom, now we're here'! This pulled pork was awesome. It was the best pork I've had so far this summer. It was super tender. It literally melted in your mouth. Had the perfect amount of sauce. Shredded into small niblets of deliciousness. I'm not sure if Ben and Julie felt as strongly as I did about it, but I loved it.

The Back Behind was an unusual experience to say the least, but the food was great. The service was odd, with uncomfortably long waiting times between server check ups. I have a feeling this place probably runs smoother during the winter when they have extra staff on hand. If you're in Killington and need to load up on calories after skiing all day, check this place out. It's worth the trip, even if you go just for the poppers.