Get your Texas barbecue on! Prometheus smokes like some deliciously scented dragon breathing low and slow with a peppery glow. Named for the Greek god of fire, Prometheus is an offset Texas smoker, crisping brisket, turkey, chicken, short rib, and pork, cowboy-style. Add a local brew in hand? Perfection. The smoker—and the delectable experience—can be found in Wyatt Davis and Janet Clarkson Davis’ backyard at Llano & Rye, their bonanza of pit-grilled meats you can order for your own summer barbecue party on a seacoast plate.
Watching pitmaster Wyatt work his magic on a spice-dusted Dino Rib—short for Dinosaur Rib, which means Fred Flintstone yabba dabba doo for the senses—I ask about how they decided on the name LLano & Rye. “Llano, in the Hill Country of Texas, and Rye, on the Seacoast of New Hampshire, set the standard for us in terms of ‘time well spent,’ so that choice seemed clear to me!” Janet says. “We were looking for a name that captured the joy of being together with family,” Wyatt tells me. The couple met in Texas and together run Clarkson Davis, their management consulting practice focused on nonprofit clients.
Llano & Rye is catering extraordinaire, and Wyatt and Janet are the curators of Texas comfort mixed with seacoast salty-ness. Their business is bringing red oak- and maple-smoked barbecue to our granite ledges and sandy beaches. They describe their vision as combining the “beauty of Texas’ wide skies and its barbecue culture” with New England’s classic coastal charm and neighborly gatherings. “Tastes like Texas, feels like New Hampshire,” says Janet. Creating community and get-togethers with neighbors is the common denominator. Wyatt and Janet love “cook days,” when neighbors arrive to pick up their orders.
“We cherish time by the pit talking about whatever is going on in everyone’s lives. An extra bonus is to see how many of our friends and customers also know one another,” says Wyatt. He and Janet are active in the Seacoast and hope to expand their vision for Llano & Rye deeper into the community. Subscribers to their mailing list get notices of their pop-up events in the area.
Sitting in Wyatt and Janet’s backyard, enjoying the blue sky and warm temps with the hint of salt and low tide coming off the harbor, we’re all in good spirits. Plates balanced on our laps, we discuss how music adds to the barbecue experience, and I’m curious what kind of music Wyatt chooses to accompany his work. “Lyle Lovett and his Big Band,” Wyatt says, smiling.
For non-connoisseurs like myself, Wyatt explains the difference between Carolina and Texas barbecue styles. Texas barbecue is cooked low and slow over a live fire, seasoning with a rub of kosher salt and coarse black pepper. Wyatt calls this a Dalmatian Rub; the rub, along with the cooking process, makes a dark crust of melted fat and black pepper called bark. “It’s all about the meat, fire, smoke, and time,” he says. “And it’s always wood smoke. Always.” Carolina barbecue, on the other hand, is known for sauces made from “protected recipes” kept between generations of families and never shared. Janet adds a mindset focus, saying, “the energy you bring to the cooking is definitely infused in the result.”
As I bite into some “bark” on a Dino Rib and experience taste-bud happiness, Wyatt describes the surprising similarity of the Seacoast and Texas weather. The Texas Hill Country is not only hot, he explains, but humid. It’s much like Seacoast humidity. “Both are great for cooking barbecue.”
Is there New England barbecue? My version is a sad one: slathering supermarket sauce on thawed chicken and tossing it onto a gas grill that is ten years old and usually encrusted with grit or tin foil fragments from charring salmon. I’d rather head over to Llano & Rye for the real deal. I leave with a bounty of true Texan hospitality: some to go—which means a lot of barbecue. I have two of those Dino Ribs, wrapped and ready for dinner. “See you soon,” I smile.
There’s a secret on the seacoast, and you’re in on it now.
Llano & Rye. www.llanoandrye.com. 214-676-7509.
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