Industry Beer and Barbeque (IBB) is a restaurant serving, as an astute reader may suspect, beer and barbecue. It is the third local tasty installment from Chef Chris Jones and partners, a culinary triumvirate presently including Lowbrow Pizza and Beer and Industry Pizza.
IBB’s barbecue is uncommon in the Naples area as it uses offset smokers to cook their meats. Offset smokers combine an off grill smoker box containing wood and or charcoal with a barbecue grill. This allows the smoke to pass over the meat, cooking it at low heat and imparting a barbecue flavor.
IBB uses hickory and live oak woods in their offset smokers. It is an art knowing how to cook meats in this fashion using the correct amount of heat, smoke and airflow to produce optimal textures and flavors in the finished product.
Chef Jones was all in a number of years ago with his Porker BBQ food truck. His barbecued meats and menus thereof using a mobile format were very good. I was anxious to see how his previous food truck venture translated into a brick and mortar setting.
At IBB he has combined his barbecue acumen with a fantastic selection of Craft Draft Beer from Southwest Florida, easily one of the area’s largest. Both of these offerings were a very big “culinary carrot” on a stick for me. Readers must be aware that this craft beer selection is dynamic and changes frequently. I have posted this beer menu as being representative of the numbers, and not the selection of local craft beers available.
The interior of IBB is commodious, festive and appointed with the work of local artists.
What really struck me was the availability of a coin-op jukebox, something one does not see very often anymore. In terms of beverage, the local craft draft beer selection is legion and one of the best in town, with over 70 varieties.
If beer is not your thing they do have a decent wine selection with a rumored soon to be liquor license.
My dining companion and I sampled a number of Food Menu items on two separate visits.
The first thing sampled was the pimento cheese dip. Pimento cheese is shredded cheddar cheese with mayonnaise and pimento red bell pepper). This dip is affectionately known as Carolina Caviar or “pate du sud” (pate of the south).
I love pimento cheese on top of fried green tomatoes, their proper crown. The pimento cheese at IBB was very good, kicked up a bit with the addition of a bit of heat, probably cayenne pepper. It was great on the vehicle provided, saltines. For cheese lovers, a highly recommended dish here.
The barbecued tacos followed.
We also ordered El Puerco Gordo (the fat pig) sandwich.
The sandwich was excellent. This was a veritable wall of meat consisting of prime brisket, pork belly and pulled pork in between two pieces of bread. It was served with condiments of in house pickle chips, pickled onion and pineapple slaw, a cabbage slaw with pineapple and vinegar.
The Frito pie served with this was really clever. Served in a bag of Frito chips, the pie consisted of Frito chips, beans, cotija cheese, jalapeno and chile crema. This was an excellent menu item and plenty for two. I think this was my favorite dish of our two visits, highly recommended.
On the second visit, we ordered the Meatfest. It is served on what I like to call stainless steel “prisonware” and is an obligatory serving for at least two. It features all of the establishment’s regular barbecue fare.
Counterclockwise starting at 5 o’clock, there are tortillas, pickled onion, Hawaiian rolls, BBQ beans, cornbread, honey butter, turkey, sausage, pork belly, brisket, pork ribs, pulled pork, mac and cheese and two different slaw offerings from the restaurant.
My favorites were the in-house-made sausage, the hot guts link and the beans. The beans are pinto beans cooked in beer, with barbecued bits added. On the whole, the Meatfest was really good and a great retrospective of IBB barbecue. To make all this even better, you can get 20% off your entire bill during their happy hour that runs from 4 to 5:30 PM daily.
With IBB’s location in Bayfront Naples, I think this will be the breakthrough culinary concept and location that really puts Chef Jones et. al. on the map of Naples’ restaurant scene. All of his culinary endeavors are highly recommended. If you haven’t been to IBB, go. They will not disappoint.
That’s that for another post on Forks.
Industry Beer and Barbeque
449 Bayfront Place
Naples, FL 34102
(239)331-4160
Sunday-Wednesday, 12-9 PM, Thursday-Saturday, 12-10 PM; Happy hour 4-530 PM daily with 20% off your entire bill; Kitchen stops serving one hour before closing; All major credit cards accepted.
