Happy and Savory Trails

In all the barbecue joints, in all the towns, in all the world, why did David Gelin not walk into mine? That’s the question on many BBQ restaurant owners’ minds since the publication this spring of his “BBQ Joints: Stories and Secret Recipes From the Barbeque Belt”.
Gelin actually visited (and sometimes ate a meal at) between 300 and 400 barbecue joints in the American South and would have written about more than 60 “except I ran out of pages,” he said. Fans — and those other restaurants — will be heartened to know Gelin is already hard at work on volume 2.
While born in New Rochelle and raised outside Washington, D.C., Gelin knew he was a Southern boy at heart his freshman year at Emory College in Atlanta. “I came for college and never left,” he said.
For years Gelin worked in advertising, on the creative side, as an art director. “But I kept losing my job. Advertising isn’t a friendly business, and I finally made the decision to get myself into a business that was.” The creative side of him led to calendars, first one for children, then one on Georgia barbecue, and pretty soon his first book.
The journey, ten thousands of miles, was a rare experience, said Gelin. “It’s not easy living out of your car, but then you find yourself on back roads appreciating the landscape and enjoying the freedom. And when you arrive at a great barbecue place, you get to spend time with people who love their work and work hard at it. They’re inspirational people.”  He has captured those very special people and their way of life in photographs and words in his very special book.
“I’ve come a long way since I was an unemployed art director looking at a future of bad cubicle jobs,” he allowed.
Gelin travels light, but always with Buddy, a rescue dog. He doesn’t always eat light however. “When the food is good, and every one of the 60 restaurants I wrote about was phenomenally good, you tend to eat a lot, but when I am home I go to the gym every day and am probably in better shape now than I was 15 years ago, ” he said.
When you want good barbecue, Gelin, now an expert in the field, recommends avoiding the chains at all costs and the places that are big on buffet (“they offer quantity but not quality”). In “BBQ Joints”, he writes “The word barbecue, or some derivation thereof, should appear in the name of the joint.” And if it’s not slow-cooked over hardwood coals for hours, it’s not barbecue.
For unparalleled barbecue, Gelin says you’ve got to go to the Texas Hill Country.
He journeys north next week for an interview on Martha Stewart’s radio show. In passing, he said he’s heard that Hill Country Barbecue in Manhattan, offers “pretty good barbecue for this part of the country.”
The very good news for Rye residents is that David Gelin is coming to The Rye Free Reading Room Wednesday, May 14, at 7 p.m. He’ll give a slideshow presentation, share a wealth of stories and sign copies of his book. Guests will enjoy a tasting of ribs from Westchester’s acclaimed BBQ joint, Q Restaurant & Bar in Port Chester.

– By Robin Jovanovich