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Check out our review on The North Jersey Restaurant Guide "But if you think it smells good, wait until you find out how it tastes. The pulled pork is good, but Sibona spends a lot of time on his ribs, and with a strong, smoky barbecue sauce (incorporating more than 15 ingredients)"
--The North Jersey Restaurant Guide

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(Excerpt from the Star-Ledger)
Yes, there is good barbecue in Jersey.
The Munchmobile shows the way. 

Friday, August 02, 2002 

BY PETER GENOVESE
Star-Ledger Staff

TOP DOG
We found decent if not authentic barbecue wherever we went.  The two standouts were Joann's Bar / Hot Rods Real Pit BBQ in Mine Hill, and Pop's in Madison

"People ask me if this is Texas barbecue or North Carolina barbecue," said Anthony Sibona, standing in the kitchen at Joanne's Bar/Hot Rod's Real Pit BBQ in Mine Hill, Morris County. Sibona, a red chili pepper bandanna around his head, smiled. "This is Yankee barbecue. It's the way us Northerners do barbecue."

Sibona delivers his own tangy take on pork ribs, pulled pork and pulled chicken sandwiches, and brisket.

"I think barbecue is the next big thing," insisted Sibona, 35. "It's going to be like Mexican (food) was in the'90s.
 

Smoke Chef Anthony Sibona pulls pork at Joanne's Bar/Hot Rods Real Pit BBQ in Mine Hill.
(Ed Murray/The Star-Ledger)
 

Joanne's Bar/Hot Rod's Real Pit BBQ, Mine Hill

And then came a long, loopy ride to Mine Hill, where the Munchers found themselves at a bar plunked in the middle of a residential neighborhood. Barbecue here? Why not? The guy with the red chili pepper bandanna knows what he's doing. Joanne's has been open about 15 years, while Sibona opened Hot Rod's Real Pit BBQ there in April.

He makes some meaty music in Mine Hill, in more ways than one. Cassette tapes he plays in the kitchen include the Hot Rod BBQ Soft Side (blues), Motown and doo-wop.

"Ribs are my signature item," Sibona said in his kitchen. He removed a slab of pork from the smoker and started pulling it apart, tossing the stringy strands in a mix of barbecue sauce and water in a pan on the stove. His BBQ sauce is tomato-based, like most BBQ sauces in such barbecue strongholds as Texas and North Carolina. Sibona tosses in 15 ingredients, including paprika, brown sugar, celery salt and seasoning salt.

It's a thick, husky barbecue sauce, a world away from the smooth, sweet sauce at the Southern House. "This is the best sauce," Murray declared.

The ribs, while thick, could have been juicier; the nicely charred top layer is on the salty side.

"We make the best baked beans in the world," says waitress Tracy Loeb.

No Munch modesty, but she can be forgiven; the baked beans are made by her mom, Carmen.

They are beans worth bragging about, with a strong, almost intense, smoky flavor. Okay cole slaw. Crisp corn on the cob, and cornbread with maple butter. Miller liked the hush puppies here the most, but their counterparts at Pies-on Pizza seemed crispier.

"Wonderful," Miller said of our night in Mine Hill.

A rib roadhouse, with jukebox and pool table. We sense, or hope for, a trend. Miller's Munch day was over, but the Munchmobile's driver, ever the saucy one, would ride another day.

MUNCH TEAM FAVORITES

Guest Muncher Sue Steele Miller, pulled pork sandwich, full slab of ribs, Joann's Bar / Hot Rods Real Pit BBQ, Mine Hill

Star-Ledger reporter Peter Genovese: ribs, baked beans, Joann's Bar / Hot Rods Real Pit BBQ, Mine Hill

Star-Ledger photographer Ed Murray, cornbread, pulled pork sandwich, barbeque sauce, Joann's Bar / Hot Rods Real Pit BBQ, Mine HIll