We’ve been home for a few weeks now. School has begun, work is in full force, and there’s the faintest scent of autumn in the air, despite the persistent 90 degree temperature.
As bossy color reflects on the long (looong, looooonnngg) summer, we find ourselves yearning not for the breezy porch in St. Michaels, or even for the slower, sweaty pace that characterizes the season.
No; we find ourselves craving barbecue. [More…]
We stumbled upon the most delightful barbecue place in Easton, Maryland this summer. It’s called, fittingly, The BBQ Joint, and it’s so delicious and so cleverly designed that we had to tell you about it.
Instead of going for a barbecue “theme” involving rusty iron, darkness, and bluegrass, Chef/Owner Andrew Evans (above) introduces modern features into a color-saturated, friendly space and hopes for the best.
We’re told he designed it himself. We are impressed.
The restaurant itself is tiny, but it feels open thanks to the tall pitched ceiling. It’s a deep blue painted with an undulating gold pattern that looks alternately like the night sky or a psychedelic quilt.
Giant, wood-veneer drum-shaded suspension lights of varying sizes, hung at different heights? It works.
As for the cable lights, bossy color is not generally a fan, but in this application they serve a clear purpose (how else to light the tables so far below that ceiling?) and do not offend.
Our waitress told us that the space previously housed Evans’ Thai restaurant, so we assume much of the decor has been re-purposed. Of this, bossy color highly approves.
Like the lights, the slatted bench backs could be a holdover, but Mr. Evans has made it all work in this new context.
The overt nods to barbecue-dom are the pig pictures and the sawdust on the floor. We don’t mind them, though. Not one little bit.
The next time you’re tooling around Maryland’s Eastern Shore (on your way to a Delaware beach, perhaps?) we urge you to give The BBQ Joint a try. We believe that both your discerning palate and your discerning eye will be most pleased.
The first trio of pictures is from The BBQ Joint’s website.
Annie Elliott – aka bossy color – is an interior decorator and design blogger in Washington, D.C. She has been quoted in publications from The Washington Post to The Seattle Times and is considered an expert on color, residential space planning, and telling people what to do in the nicest way possible. 