‘Destination dinner’ spot on Ohio Renaissance Festival grounds: What to know about 1572 Roadhouse Bar-B-Q

It takes “a lot of preparation (and) a lot of time (to try) to make sure everything is as perfect as I can get it,” said Pitmaster Lisa Jones.

Credit: Natalie Jones

Credit: Natalie Jones

What it’s like working at the Ohio Renaissance Festival

Jones typically gets to the restaurant around 6:30-7 a.m. and stays until 9-9:30 p.m.

She will start smoking pork butts on Wednesday for Thursday Bike Night. With the Ohio Renaissance Festival in full force, the last Bike Night of the season will be Sept. 12.

The meat will be in the smoker for five or six hours, where it is temped regularly. She shreds the pork the next morning and then the process repeats for the next day.

On an Ohio Renaissance Festival day, she goes through about 15 pans of pork. That’s 90 pork butts for a three-day week. 90 pork butts would typically last her almost two whole weeks, Thursday through Sunday.

“This is my adrenaline,” Jones said. “I don’t do hikes. I don’t do roller coasters. This is it.”

From May through August, she works with her staff to prepare them for an influx of customers during the Ohio Renaissance Festival. Over two months, the festival sees more than 200,000 guests.

“Seeing their happy face when they’re walking away with the food or coming back in to tell me how good it was — that’s my favorite part,” Jones said.

Credit: Natalie Jones

Credit: Natalie Jones

Almost a decade of BBQ

1572 Roadhouse Bar-B-Q was founded in 2016 by Pitmasters Chris Cavender and Mike Tenore. They opened the BBQ joint as an opportunity to keep their seasonal employees.

“Chris has a long history of BBQ,” said Aaron Powell, who manages the food program at the festival. “He’s done a lot of competitions, and he’s won a lot of awards...”

The restaurant continues to use his seasonings for their rubs. They also offer his house made sauces: Roadhouse Blues (sweet BBQ sauce) and Smokin’ Hot (spicy BBQ sauce).

“We try and pride ourselves on... being more like just a family atmosphere. I mean it’s laid back,” Powell said. “People are always having fun, but then we have a wide variety.”

1572 Roadhouse Bar-B-Q offers tri-tip, a cut of meat that’s popular on the west coast, during its early season. Tri-tip is the bottom part of a sirloin and it’s very tender.

“We’re definitely a destination dinner,” Food & Beverage Director Brittany Reed said.

Every Friday, the restaurant serves prime rib along with staples such as pulled pork, turkey breast and hot links. All meats are smoked on-site.

Favorite homemade sides include mac and cheese and baked beans. For dessert, customers should try the blackberry or peach cobbler.

“We want to be a well-known BBQ place in the state of Ohio,” Powell said. “We want our name to grow and we want to perfect it more and more as we go.”

To do this, 1572 Roadhouse Bar-B-Q has been participating in off-site events.

Queen’s Tea is available at 3 Fools Pub

When visiting the festival, don’t forget to grab a drink at 3 Fools Pub. It’s connected to 1572 Roadhouse Bar-B-Q.

“This bar has way more offerings than any of our other bars on site,“ Reed said.

Credit: Natalie Jones

Credit: Natalie Jones

Customers can expect 16 taps of craft beer and hard cider options, along with several specialty drinks.

A favorite is the Queen’s Tea featuring a mixture of Honey Mead and Woodchuck Amber.

HOW TO GO