For Southern smokehouse fare, head up north

WADDINGTON — Tasty, smoky barbecue has made slow and steady inroads into north country cuisine in recent years.

While many restaurants serve pulled pork and sauced ribs direct from their supplier's truck to your plate, a few have stepped out and cook their barbecue on the premises.

Such is the case with Seaway Diner and Smokehouse on Route 37 west of Waddington. You can't miss it — there's a wooden shack resembling an outhouse right next to the road with a crooked smokestack through the roof billowing real smoke. Inside there's a lunch counter for casual dining, a propane-powered woodstove for cozy sit-down dining and stuffed pigs all over the place to create a "smokehouse chic" ambiance.

Kevin and Kelly Liddell opened their folksy eatery a little over a year ago. Kevin is originally from Heuvelton. He migrated to Orlando, Fla., more than two decades ago and married Kelly, "a true Florida cracker," as he puts it. The fast pace of central Florida prompted them to move the family to a safer, quieter place up north.

Kevin has spent the last 20-plus years in the restaurant business, perfecting his signature barbecue and "good ol' home cookin'." Kevin does the majority of the cooking with assistance from Kelly. She is the head waitress, and she's a natural at it.

They serve lunch and dinner six days a week, fresh fish fry on Fridays and breakfast on the weekends. Menu items include sandwiches and wraps, salads, burgers, dinners and a few fried favorites. All categories are touched with barbecue in one way or another.

Take barbecue nachos ($7.99), for example: tortilla chips covered with chopped tomatoes and green peppers, jalapenos, black olives, onions, shredded Monterey jack cheese, salsa and sour cream. Here's the barbecue part — it's topped with lightly sauced, lightly smoked pulled pork. Wow! The flavors combined perfectly to make an outstanding dish.

This was one huge nacho platter. The menu says it's big and suggests sharing it, and they're not kidding. You'd better bring some friends along to help out.

We were there at dinnertime, so we ordered from the dinner section of the menu, which offered mostly barbecue standards but also grilled chicken breast, sirloin and shrimp, New York strip steak and their pasta bake, a variation on pasta primavera.

We stuck to barbecue, and we weren't disappointed. Portions were plentiful and the price was right, most $9.95 except for the ribs, which were $11.95 for a half rack.

Pulled pork was probably our favorite. It was hand-pulled, moist and flavorful with a nice "bark" on the outside pieces, formed when the dry rub caramelizes and turns to a crust-like consistency. Homemade "special sauce" was served on the side, allowing the flavor of the meat to shine.

Smoked turkey breast was very nice and quite moist, with just a hint of smoke flavor. A generous amount of thick-sliced turkey filled the plate, sauce on the side.

The St. Louis-style ribs were fall-off-the-bone tender, a result of being slow-cooked. In this case, the half rack was glazed with their sauce. It's a very different and interesting sauce, sweet and a bit fruity, reminding us of an Asian dipping sauce.

We asked Kelly what was in the sauce, but she said that's her husband's pride and joy, a "well-guarded secret." Hey, we wouldn't tell anyone, you could trust us, we told her. That didn't work.

At many barbecue places, beef brisket is dried out. Kevin's brisket was certainly not, slow smoked for hours until tender, juicy and delicious.

A layer of fat remained on the meat, no doubt what kept it moist as it cooked.

Kelly had a smooth, relaxed approach as a server and was full of colorful quips throughout the night. Here's a classic one: "Is everything OK?" Then after a perfectly timed pause, "You wouldn't tell me otherwise, would ya?"

Barbecue dinners come with fabulous Texas garlic toast and two sides.

Smokehouse beans were absolutely great, deep-flavored with brown sugar, molasses and some other magic stuff. We did everything but lick the bowl clean.

Coleslaw was finely food-processed with just a touch of onion, creamy and sweet. I thought it was terrific. The barbecue aficionados at the table would have preferred it with more vinegar and some finely chopped carrot. Hey, who's the food critic here, anyway?

House salad consisted of iceberg lettuce and romaine, a little purple cabbage, quartered grape tomatoes and chopped green peppers. Try the barbecue ranch dressing, made in-house.

They offer potato salad and macaroni salad during the summer. We didn't try their sweet potato fries, a side that's popular in the South.

Desserts are homemade. Kevin made the pumpkin pie, Kelly made the warm blueberry pie and Kelly's mom made our favorite, a not-too-sweet, very yummy pecan pie.

Dinner for four came to $73 before tip.

Kelly sets the tone out front with her warm, Southern hospitality and banter. Kevin does a bang-up job with the easy-on-the-smoke barbecue.

Kelly told us their hearty weekend breakfasts include selections like sausage, gravy and biscuits and hash made from their smoked brisket. Friday fish fry offers fresh haddock battered four different ways, from the familiar beer-battered to Southern cornmeal-battered.

Seaway Diner & Smokehouse is a neat little family-owned, family-run restaurant that we'd be happy to visit again.

You can contact restaurant reviewer Walter Siebel via e-mail: wsiebel@wdt.net.

Seaway Diner & Smokehouse

11421 Route 37

Waddington, NY

388-7891

Home-cooked food and barbecue at this family-owned, family-run restaurant.

HOURS: 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Tuesday through Friday

7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Saturday

7 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sunday

Try their barbecue — it's all good: St. Louis-style ribs, smoked turkey, pulled pork and beef brisket.

Barbecue nachos are fabulous, a huge portion topped with pulled pork.

RATING: 3 AND ONE-HALF FORKS