Bethany Blues, bringing BBQ in Lewes

Raise your hand if you spend at least one summer weekend in Rehoboth or Dewey Beach.

OK, hands down.

Now raise your hand if, as soon as you get to your beach rental, you bury the car keys somewhere deep in your luggage, never to see their jagged edges or hear their jangly tune until check-out time comes.

Yeah, that's what we thought. OK, you can put your hands down again.

We're with a majority of beach-goers when it comes to driving as little as we can once we reach our sandy destination. Outside the occasional trip up to the Tanger Outlets or Movies at Midway, usually a result of inclement weather, we like to park it and forget it.

But there are dining options aplenty up on The Highway near Lewes, whether you've noticed them on your way to the ocean or not, and there's one that we've made a point to visit in three trips to the beach this summer, one that's certainly worth leaving Dewey or Rehoboth, and that's Bethany Blues.

If you've ever been to the original barbecue joint, located in Bethany (duh), the first thing you'll notice when stepping in the new place is the amount of space. While standing in the open-air entryway, it feels like over-sized booths go on forever.

Of course, this is a very good thing. Diners rarely leave any BBQ spot with extra room in their waistline, so the more room to "expand," the better. And Bethany Blues has plenty of menu items to help with the expansion.

The one we've gotten every time in is the Fiery Pigs on the Wing ($8.99), an ingenious combination of barbecue and buffalo sauce that will leave you saying, "Now why didn't I think of that?"

What you get on the plate is their St. Louis style ribs bathed in their Buffalo style hot sauce, served with a side of blue cheese. What you get on the palate is a dizzying brawl of sweet and smoky versus spicy and tangy. The blue cheese is a nice dip for the rib/wing, but our recommendation is to go at it sans sauce and enjoy the battle of flavors.

If you're up for the pigs on the wing, but want a taste of what else they have to offer, the Blues BBQ Sampler ($8.99) is a solid starter. You'll get two of the pig/wings, as well as two regular Buffalo style chicken wings, which tend to be a bit bigger than your average wing, and four slices of their smoked sausage.

For our dinner visit, decisions were difficult. Go with the brown sugar-rubbed hearty St. Louis ribs ($22.99 for a full rack, $14.99 for a half rack) or the sloppier, basted baby back ribs (same prices). The menu, however, made it easy for us, offering the rib sampler ($22.99), which allowed two of us to have half a rack of each, along with two sides.

The St. Louis style were definitely dryer than the baby back ribs, but we had a trifecta of sauces to lather them with, including the BB pit spicy sauce ($6 per bottle), the BB pit papaya sauce ($6 per bottle), and my favorite, the BB pit smoky sauce ($8 per bottle).

For lunch (as mentioned, we've been in quite a bit since they opened in May), the big winner was the wedge combo ($7.99), which pairs up their wedge salad with your choice of pulled chicken, pork or beef brisket sandwich. Gotta go with the pork, a mouth-melting tender pile of brisket sitting on a soft roll, with a side of fries and their cole slaw dressed in a tangy apple cider, honey and mayo dressing.

Though we had no room to even glance at their dessert menu, we got plenty of sweetness during our meal, courtesy of the complimentary baskets of cornbread and sweet cream butter.

This cornbread was so awesomely sweet, combined with the butter, that it felt like we were eating Twinkies with our meal. And no matter how that might sound, we raise our hands a give two thumbs up.

Insider tip: Monday through Friday, from 3-6 p.m. and again from 9 p.m.-midnight, Bethany Blues has happy hour specials, including 1/2 price apps, $4 house wines, $2.75 Dosgfish schooners and $5 martinis.

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