We were on vacation. We were in need of dinner after exploring some amazing arch formations. Check those arch formations out, by the way. So when we found a bbq place down the road a little way, we decided that we needed to check out this little bbq place in a state park, called Rickard Ridge BBQ.
The first thing we noticed was that this was your standard "state park" looking place. The alphageek sometimes wonders if the same company builds every state park in the United States. All state parks seem to have the same look and feel. The second thing we noticed was that the restaurant was having live bluegrass night. Because we thought we might want to chat, we asked to be seated in the back, and the staff happily accommodated us. In the end, the level of the live music was just fine, and not so loud as to ruin a meal. Live music must be pretty common here. As the band was playing, members of the audience would join in for various songs, and the audience seemed to enjoy it. Even though we are not bluegrass folks, we enjoyed it too.

We took some pictures, but they are just not up to standards, so this review is short and sweet.

It seems like bbq places these days are "new school" and "old school". New school seem to pay a lot of attention to changing the experience by adding some newer, more creative side offerings to the usual fries, hush puppies and cole slaw experience. Old school places are all smoked meat, with the kind of sides that are never going to out shine the main course. This place seems old school to me, in case you care about that sort of thing.

The menu mentioned several house specialties. Picking from those specialties, we settled on ribs with green beans and sweet potato fries for me, with smoked chicken thighs, onion rings and a house salad for Mrs. ag.

When the ribs arrived they were good, but perhaps a little dry that day. The tastes were excellent, and certainly still very good. I fixed them up with a little sauce, which was smokey as well, with a touch of sweetness. The green beans and sweet potato fries were good, but nothing other than a side to some good bbq.

How were those thighs? If we are ever back there again, we will be getting those chicken thighs again. They were smoked to perfection, and the meat was moist and tender. They were rubbed with a touch of seasoning as well. We made sure to get a to go box for those thighs, and mrs ag was nice enough to let me have them for lunch the next day.

We left satisfied, enjoyed the music a little before we left. Certainly, Rickard Ridge BBQ is worth a stop in, rather than stopping at some boring fast food chain.

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