Stepping into Leslieville Pumps General Store & Kitchen is akin to setting foot inside a Kawartha cottage. With a duo of Adirondack chairs out front, countrified knick-knacks peering down from shelves and gingham aplenty, this project from brothers Greg and Judson Flom is at once a 24-hour convenience store, indie gas station and barbecue sandwich joint. While Greg studiously researched barbecue during a southern U.S. road trip, Judson tended to his smoker up north. A hybrid of different U.S. barbecue styles, the southern-style beef brisket is our pick — and the most popular choice on the menu (along with the pulled pork). Smoked with a blend of hickory and cherry hardwood, the brisket is slow cooked for 14 to 16 hours, then cubed until it’s ready to fall to pieces. Joined by onion ring–like crispy sweet onions, the meat is topped with a mix of grainy and Dijon mustards and the house barbecue sauce. Beef revelers can indulge in the goods indoors — while examining the old newspaper clippings that make up the tabletops — or settle down in a chair out front and check out the pump-side action.
