Owner Robin Salzer "The Sauce is Boss"

Sizzlin' Shrooms

You smell Robin’s Wood Fire BBQ & Grill before you see it. The rich smell of true wood smoking. They even have a large barbecue grill behind the restaurant. The interior is an amalgam of pre-1970’s memorabilia one-of-a-kind beer signs and unique license plates line the walls and ceilings of this family eatery.

What makes Robins’s unique is the intangibles. As owner Robin Salzer likes to say,  “It’s the intangibles, the little differences, the nuances that make you different.”

Beer Battered Onion Rings

One of those intangibles that Robin’s offers is their unique and flavorful cole slaw. Made with an oil and vinegar base and studded with bits of blue cheese and pecans, it makes a refreshing change from the traditional sweet, mayonnaise-based cole slaws that are usually served with barbecue. Another nice change is the wild Maine blueberry corn muffin served with a blueberry butter, a sweet treat that balances out the richness of the barbecued meat.

Another “intangible” is the Sizzlin’

Blueberry Cornbread and Cole Slaw

Shrooms, a garlicky mélange of mushrooms, butter and spices, served sizzling on a cast iron platter. I was told by Robin that they grind the garlic themselves from fresh — not the jarred — garlic for this restaurant intangible.

But wait there’s more. Onion rings, not in a heavy traditional batter, but coated in a beer-based batter. Lightly crispy, dipped in Robin’s original BBQ sauce, these onion rings are a tasty treat.

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