Limestone BBQ and Bourbon influenced by famed Franklin Barbecue in Austin, Texas

At the new Limestone BBQ and Bourbon, a slogan on the back of some employees' T-shirts gives customers an idea of what to expect: 

"Go Pig or Go Home." 

But even before walking through the doors of the 2062 Limestone Road restaurant, the fragrant, smoky aroma that seems to reach the parking lot is an early signal that tender slabs of eight-hour smoked brisket await.

Barbecue is a religion that seems to be preached loudest in Delaware's summer months.

Yet, Robbie Jester, culinary director for High 5 Hospitality group, believes the area's appetite for smoked meats won't wane when the seasons change. 

Limestone BBQ and Bourbon in the Limestone Shopping Center, near Del. 7 and Kirkwood Highway, is a new concept for the restaurant group that runs the state's Buffalo Wild Wings franchises and the Stone Balloon Ale House in Newark. 

The idea was dreamed up at the Stone Balloon, where Jester spends most of his time. The chef is perhaps best known for his many Food Network TV appearances, including besting celebrity chef Bobby Flay in 2016 on his program, "Beat Bobby Flay." 

Jester and line cook Nick Wallace, now Limestone's pitmaster, had long kitchen chats about the perfect barbecue.

"It was a collaboration," Jester says of Limestone, which quietly opened its doors July 27. "It really started with a conversation that Nick and I had. It was his interest and I dove into it." 

Wallace, who grew up in Cecilton, Maryland, spent weekends barbecuing everything from brisket to whole hogs.

His devotion to barbecue started with the Boy Scouts and into adulthood remains more than skin-deep. To prove it, he lifts up a shirtsleeve to show off a colorful tattoo of a hog in a chef's hat that's inked on his right bicep. 

Limestone BBQ, which can seat about 130 people, is actually two concepts in one — a counter-service barbecue restaurant and a bourbon bar with beer and craft cocktails.

Customers stand in line for the barbecue, and view a menu written on a blackboard. Then, they go down a cafeteria-style line and can choose prime brisket, ($12 per half-pound) fork-pulled pork ($8 for half a pound), St. Louis cut pork ribs ($5 for two, $14 per half rack and $26 per rack), $4 chicken quarters and sausage, $3 per link. Sandwiches, ($8-$11) on a cottage-style egg buns, also are available.

Sides ($3) include sweet-and-sticky baked beans made with red, black and white beans; white cheddar macaroni and cheese; local corn-on-the-cob from a Maryland farm; roasted Brussel sprouts; fresh-cut cabbage slaw; tomato-cucumber salad; and pesto sun-dried tomato pasta salad. 

Desserts include Grahammie's banana pudding ($5), a slightly altered version of Jester's grandmother's recipe, and "busted pies" ($5) or slices of pie served in parfait glasses.

There are no plates. Food is served on brown butcher paper and in paper containers on trays.

"It's like when you go to Texas, this service style," Jester says. 

"Room hosts" stroll the dining room giving patrons more sauce and "more napkins," which is really white bread and housemade pickles. Both come free with every meal.

Tables in the dining room are set with a roll of paper towels and four different sauces that can be squeezed on the meats. They include a classic barbecue, known as classiq; apple cider Carolina sauce, "philthy" hot barbecue, and sassafras white sauce that includes Old Bay seasoning. 

The chef says one of the biggest influences for Limestone BBQ is Franklin Barbecue in Austin, Texas. Patrons wait hours just to get into the obsessed-over barbecue joint widely considered one of the best in the country.

Jester and Bobby Pancake, CEO/COO of High 5 Hospitality, visited Franklin Barbecue before opening their own Delaware barbecue restaurant.

Limestone BBQ is made to look like a vintage barbecue shack. The building, a former Buffalo Wild Wings location, was renovated "down to the studs," Jester says.

The wood and tin on the walls were hand-selected and wooden tables, featuring mismatched chairs, were created by Amish artisans. Hanging pendant lights are made out of bourbon bottles, and booths are shaped like bourbon barrels. 

A sliding barn door separates two private dining rooms. One, a speakeasy-type setting, is known as the Rack House. It's located behind the bar and can seat 25 people.

Old-school cocktails served in a separate bar area are made with hand-crafted, hand-sliced ice cubes and homemade preserved cherries. Jester says the ice is crystal clear and dilutes slowly in drinks. 

The kitchen is open and features two Southern Pride brand smokers. Wallace comes in at 3 a.m. and begins feeding the commercial wood-burning barbecue pits and smokers a steady diet of cherry wood.

Brisket smokes for about eight hours and the restaurant can cook 72 racks of ribs at a time.

They've already gone through several hundreds of pounds of brisket.

"The response has been unbelievable," Jester says. 

"We're never going to reheat the food. We'll cook it and serve it until we sell out."

The barbecue shack opens at 11 a.m. Tuesdays through Sundays. Hours for the bourbon bar are: 4 p.m. to midnight Sunday and Tuesday through Thursday; and 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Friday and Saturday. The restaurant is closed Mondays.

Go to the Limestone BBQ and Bourbon Facebook page or call (302) 274-2085.

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Contact Patricia Talorico at (302) 324-2861 or ptalorico@delawareonline.com and on Twitter @pattytalorico