Review: The Smoke Pit Barbeque

When traveling in Kentucky you will be faced with many food choices. Some of those choices will inevitably be barbecue. The most well known places seem to be located in Owensboro and until recently the little town of Campbellsville had none.

Pat Blevins took care of that problem when he built “The Smoke Pit” BBQ Restaurant for his Son. I took some time to speak with Pat about his philosophy on BBQ. Simple seems to be the key to his success and let me tell you it certainly seems to be working on his wonderful food.

We sampled his ribs, a full rack of baby back pork ribs. They were served with a rub of spices and no sauce on the ribs. There is a selection of about five or six excellent sauces that were available to choose from. We also sampled the sliced pork shoulder. This reminded me of smoked pork steak, they were sliced thin and had a nice smoke on them. The sliced pork was seasoned simply with salt and pepper; they were excellent for dipping in the homemade sauces.

Like the meats the sides were prepared with the same philosophy, simple, homemade and delicious. The potato salad was made with redskins and was creamy and slightly sweet; the coleslaw was finely chopped and creamy. I added some black pepper to mine.

Another item we sampled was the Kentucky Burgoo Stew. This is a regional dish that I have not seen anywhere other than Kentucky. The Smoke Pits’ Burgoo was fantastic, full of chicken, pork, and beef pieces; and loaded with potato, corn, lima bean and okra. You can get either crackers or crouton to go with your Burgoo. Get the croutons, they are made of their homemade yeast rolls and are perfectly seasoned, buttery and delicious. They are a perfect accompaniment to the Burgoo Stew.

Tomorrow we are off to Owensboro, but today in Campbellsville we ate some of the best Barbecue in Kentucky. Stop in and say hi to Pat ‘n ‘em at the Smoke Pit Barbeque Restaurant.

The Smoke Pit
1800 New Lebanon Rd
Campbellsville, KY 42718
270-789-6686