Hindsight BBQ: Must Eat BBQ in Waterbury

When you pull up to Hindsight BBQ, it looks like a barbecue joint. Forget the fact that you can smell the smoke off the wood for miles or the sight of a packed patio area of carnivorous customers smacking their lips on ribs, wings, and definitely the brisket. You might even forget you’re in Waterbury. The setup of picnic tables, greenery and flowers, fire pits, an outdoor bar, and massive smokers all make you feel like you’re about to eat BBQ in a setting reminiscent of the south.

The man behind Hindsight is Jeff Schmidt. And he wants you to feel like you’re at a BBQ restaurant.

Dine-in or place your order at the counter inside, and they’ll bring your platter out to you.

Schmidt is a self-proclaimed “restaurant baby.” His mom, Jayne Lamphear along with stepfather Red, own At The Corner in Litchfield and Black Rock Tavern in Thomaston. Schmidt has general managed at both, including a decade long stint after his family opened At The Corner.

Schmidt first got into the BBQ game as a hobby, but it quickly progressed into a pop-up. “I started doing it at Black Rock Tavern some weekends and,” he says. “COVID happened and I wanted to do new, so I did BBQ every weekend and that turned into every day. I even did pop-ups for brewery owners at Kent Falls, Tribus, Counter Weight, and Fox Farm. As the pandemic became more manageable, I said to myself, ‘I don’t want to stop doing this.’”

So he didn’t.

Hindsight has a cocktail menu and a serious rotating tap list. Because of Schmidt’s brewery connections, you’ll see beers from the likes of NEBCO, Counter Weight, Fox Farm, Tribus, Twelve Percent, and other great CT breweries.

The pandemic, Schmidt told us, was a good opportunity to take the leap to do something that was solely his restaurant baby, so he found a space. “This place maybe would not have been available if not for the pandemic,” he says as he begins to laugh. “It was a diner years ago, then it was a place where you could come and have a drink with hot models! It wasn’t a strip joint, but it basically was! It was painted hot pink inside with black ceilings.”

Jeff Schmidt with a platter fit for the Hulk.

Of course, like any BBQ enthusiast, and believe this, Schmidt is uber nerdy about the ‘cue craft, he continued his education with a trip down south. He spent time in Texas (one being LeRoy & Lewis BBQ in Austin), Georgia, and other states expanding his knowledge and learning from guys ingrained in the BBQ scene so he could bring elements back to Waterbury with him.

So, what’s Schmidt’s BBQ style at Hindsight? There isn’t one.

“It’s New School BBQ,” Schmidt says. “That’s not an official term! It’s not Tex-Mex, not Carolina, not Memphis. It’s like New American that borrows and has elements of everything.”

Because he’s not adhering to a style, you’ll see some eclectic offerings. Specials range from pork belly burnt ends glazed with something that’ll remind you of a sweeter General Tso’s sauce, to a porchetta slice with a fresh Italian herb “chimichurri,” and even deep fried gordita style tacos, maple-bacon ribs, and smoked pastrami Reuben sandwiches.

Additionally, sticky Asian style ribs, sweet and tangy Alabama white sauced wings, cheddar andouille sausage, duck fat fries with truffle ketchup, and fresh vegetable salads are more of what Hindsight’s hungry visitors should anticipate. And it’s all presented bright and beautifully, something Schmidt no doubt picked up during his time working at his mom’s restaurants.

But once you bring up brisket—Schmidt’s favorite meat to smoke—that’s when he lights up. He’ll tell you about the weather and how it being cold or hot, rainy or sunny, kinda cloudy, or how having the door open or halfway shut can all impact the cook. He might even break into a semi-tangent about types of wood and what they use regionally. And while he’ll tell you that nothing in BBQ is ever perfected, he stands behind his brisket.  “I’d put my brisket up against anyone’s,” Schmidt says. “Brisket is something any backyard enthusiast is into smoking. I only smoke Prime and nothing but. That quality makes a huge difference, and you couldn’t be any more wrong to say that it doesn’t.”

But make no mistake, the brisket you have at Hindsight isn’t just about using quality beef and a custom Italian blend spice rub from The Spice Mill in Manchester, there’s a lengthy process that isn’t only a 12-14 hour red oak smoke session.

Thick-cut brisket takes center stage on this platter. Some of the secrets in Hindsight’s brisket rub are ground whole bean coffee from Great Minds in Oakville, plus cocoa, and mole spice for a little heat. You can taste those flavors but none is overpowering.

“The two muscles in brisket (the point and the flat) make it hard to cook because they cook differently,” Schmidt says. “Done red meat is 165° but that couldn’t be more wrong for brisket. That’s under for brisket. I wrap it around 180° about eight hours in. It’s finished at 203°. Another big thing that separates BBQ places—even if it’s the same wood, same process, same sourced meat—is the trim. They don’t trim it right and leave a grizzly fat clump in the middle that doesn’t render. I cut mine out but still keep it whole. It’s a trick I learned in Texas. We also wrap our brisket in tallow, rendered fat we get from trimming that we grind up and render to make basically a butter consistency that keep moisture in there.”

Schmidt uses custom Offset Smokers. He worked with the manufacturer directly as they wanted to experiment with a smoker with an oversized, insulated firebox. “BBQ is huge in Sweden and Norway, so they asked me to experiment with it to see how it performs in cold temperatures,” he says. “When it’s 1°, I’m still getting an efficient cook.”

That’s a lot of nerding out over brisket but it’s worth it if you ask Schmidt. And even though Hindsight is so much more than thick-sliced brisket with a serious bark, brisket is where Schmidt, a then novice, learned his most valuable BBQ lesson…you have to rest it for a long time. “I smoked one (a brisket) for a party and I was done by 9 a.m. but the party started at 3,” he says. “I thought it’d take longer. I figured it wouldn’t be good by then and I didn’t want it reheated. I put it in a Yeti until the party and it was amazing! That was my ‘Aha!’ moment about it needed to rest a while.”

What started as a takeout only spot on October 15 of 2020, is now full service indoors and outdoors, and officially a year old and counting. Schmidt’s BBQ obsession—because that’s what this is—isn’t going away. “There’s no such thing as perfection in BBQ,” he says. “When you get obsessed with something, and when you get bit by the BBQ bug, once you go down that rabbit hole, you can only go further.”

His obsession is our benefit. Hindsight is a must visit for BBQ lovers.

1503 Thomaston Avenue; Waterbury
475.233.2971; hindsightbbq.com