I go out to lunch almost every week with my mother and boyfriend. We thought we would take advantage of the weather cooling a bit and eat outside this week. There are loads of places where we could have gone to eat on a patio somewhere, but places on the water tend to be pricier and not as abundant. So I thought, why not pick up something to go and enjoy one of the zillion amazing public parks we have in the area?
We stopped into SmokeHouse Pit Beef and ordered quite a bit of food, and took it to Miami Beach, in Bowley's Quarters. Would completely recommend this park, with a small beach, on Bay Drive (zip 21220). They have a couple picnic tables overlooking the water. You couldn't ask for a better spot for lunch - and you don't have to tip your waiter or deal with other diners. Just clean up after yourself when you leave.
I've driven past SmokeHouse PitBeef like a gazillion times in my life, but the poor reviews kept putting it on the backburner for me. But when my mother passed along some coupon flyer she received in the mail I figured what the heck? I like a good meat sandwich. Let's roll the dice.
I stayed in the van while my boyfriend and my mom went in to order. They came out with SO MUCH food, claiming that they had gotten buy one get one free sandwiches, and free potato salad. Can't argue with free. They weren't in the store long, about 15 minutes, probably less. Some eerie alarm went off for the neighborhood while they were inside, but they didn't hear it. One of those "this is a test..." but LOUD, throughout the neighborhood, which is near the air guard base... with the klaxon noise, and the not-quite-clear mechanical voice telling you... something... thank God this is only a test... I still don't know what I should do if there's some kind of enemy strike, or the zombies are attacking... It was vaguely like a bad indie horror film.
I had the pit beef sandwich with potato salad (Homemade with my mama's recipe!). The sandwich is no Chaps. Tolerable, but I had a difficult time cutting through the meat with my plastic knife. Now before you go getting all riled up about 'who eats pit beef with the fork and knife?' please keep in mind that I am severely disabled and both my hands do not reach my mouth. Holding a big sandwich together and raising it to my mouth is impossible, so I do what I can to get the food into my mouth. But I do think my difficulty cutting through the meat does speak towards its tenderness, or lack thereof. I dressed it with horseradish (which had no kick), barbecue sauce, and raw onions. As for the potato salad, my mama makes better. MUCH better. This was basically potatoes in mayo. Not much flavor, definitely needs at least some boiled egg or sweet relish. Personally I would also add onion, and maybe some celery seed. But then again, I think my mom makes the best potato salad EVER.
My mom had Pulled Pork BBQ (Homemade, tender pulled pork with a little Hickory BBQ sauce) with fries. She didn't share or offer a taste (except to the bee that kept buzzing around her at the park), and she finished everything. She must have enjoyed it all, to have kept it all to herself, especially knowing that I think french fries are life.
My boyfriend had the pit ham (buy one get one free), which he really enjoyed and some wings - which he said were "hammered" and were thrown away. His favorite was the 8" Pit Beef Hoagie (Cooked to your preference: Rare, medium rare, medium, medium well and well done) which he said was "A-MAZ-ING."
It was a really delicious meal, and we had a great afternoon until I got my wheelchair stuck in the sand - ugh, I'm an idiot. Check out their menu here:
https://www.smokehousepitbeefmd.com/menus/
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