With a Side of Cider

During our recent visit to Halcyon Days Cider Co. we not only had the chance to partake in delicious ciders, but also to enjoy the grounds (with a fully walkable labyrinth inside their orchard), listen to live music, and take in some food. Knowing they have a nice setup that encourages people to come out, sample their wares, and sit for a while drinking booze, Halcyon Days regularly brings in live acts and, more importantly for this review, food trucks to delight the drinkers and other attendees.

At the time of our visit the Love All Barbecue truck was just getting set up. There was only one other patron in line ahead of us (a guy puffing away on a nasty smelling cigar, so we weren’t so much “in line” behind the guy as way off to the side, waiting for him to clear out). It took only a few minutes for the guy running the truck to get the previous customer’s food out to them, and then we were up to grab a quick order of grub for our table.

As there were three of us in the party, and we were expecting to head back home once our ciders were done, we went with the trio of tacos, with brisket as the protein of choice. We aren’t big pork fans, generally speaking, and chicken can be hit or miss at barbecue places. Even sit down restaurants often overcook their chicken to the point where it’s less a protein and more a dry confetti. Brisket felt like the safe choice as it wasn’t pork, but it still had a high enough fat content to hold up to thorough cooking.

The brisket was fantastic. Moist and smoky with a solid rich, salty flavor. The sauce was light and sweet, with a hint of brown sugar and just a tiny bit of kick. The tacos were topped with pickled onions, adding a lovely pop with a bit of tang. There wasn’t an ingredient on the tacos that didn’t seem like it belonged and everything worked in concert.

Honestly, we wish we’d gotten more, but by the time we’d finished the tacos, and realized we wanted other stuff, there was a long line to the food truck and we were nearly done with our cider selections. Waiting around upwards of half an hour to get more food from the truck didn’t seem like an efficient use of our time. It would have been tasty, we’re sure – these tacos alone sold us on that – but the wait was just a bit too much at that point, even for really good barbecue.

But it was really good. Loves All is a smaller food truck but it didn’t pull any punches on its flavor. Living in the South we have a selection of barbecue places in the area to choose from, but having barbecue and having good barbecue are two different things. Plenty of places can serve meat with sauce, but few of them do it well. Of the four varieties of barbecue we’ve had in our area, this one has so far been the best.

And it sat really nicely on a belly full of cider, which is a real plus. After you’ve tasted eight different varieties of alcohol, Loves All Barbecue is the perfect way to add to the menagerie of flavors happening in your mouth. It suited us just right on that warm Summer day, and we’re already keeping an eye out for the next time the truck might be by us. More tacos, and other selections, will be in our future.