Authentic Southern barbecue in a classic New England town

By CYNTHIA HOCHSWENDER

SHARON — The business scene in town is really "cooking" now. In addition to Darren Winston’s vintage bookshop opening on Main Street this weekend, Bennett Chinn also plans to open the doors to his new barbecue restaurant, When Pigs Fly.

He plans to serve beef, pork and chicken, all in mouth-watering seasonings, spices and sauces and cooked in a 500-gallon smoker.

"This is going to be the real deal," he promised.

Chinn has a chocolate-thick drawl and antecedents in Georgia, Louisiana and Tennessee (he grew up in Georgia). And he certainly knows how to cook. A graduate of the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, N.Y., he has been the chef at Cascade Mountain Winery in Amenia, Moosilauke in Kent and Bullis Hall, a Relais and Chateaux hotel in Bangall, N.Y. He’s worked with some of the most famous chefs in the New York City restaurant scene, including Thomas Keller and Daniel Boulud (whom he refers to as Danny).

Most recently he has been the chef/owner of a private catering business: "I bring the New York restaurant experience to private homes."

He wasn’t exactly thirsty to own his own restaurant, but an idea began to percolate in his mind last May when Chris Garrity called him and offered him a tiny commercial space in Sharon. The space is best-known to local diners as the former home of the Little Brick House pizzeria, across the road in the center of town from the firehouse.

"I slept on it," Chinn said, recalling the night after Garrity had invited him to rent the space (which he owns, and which is next door to his real estate office). "And I woke up at 2 a.m. and knew what I wanted to do. Barbecue. It’s in my blood. It’s something I know. It’s something with a heritage."

He has been revamping the interior of the former pizzeria (most recently it was Caffe Tazza) — and the exterior, as well. He has expanded the eating area to the side of the building, and might eventually add a flat-screen television so diners can sit at picnic tables outside and watch sports. In winter and in case of inclement weather, the business will be mostly take-out. And he will continue to run his catering business, so that he will be cooking very high-end food for private clients and "a food that works with this economy" to barbecue customers.

Although he wants to keep prices low, Chinn promises "a very clean product," meaning that he plans to get organic, high-end meats and other ingredients. There will be pulled pork, ribs, beef brisket with barbecue sauce, barbecued chicken and, of course, side dishes, lots of them.

"Sandwiches will be $6.95 to $10, a half rack of ribs will be $10, a full rack will be under $20," he said. "Nothing will be over $20. Everything will come with sides. You can order a kit, with an assortment of meats and several sides."

He’d also like to do special events such as crayfish boils and shrimp boils, perhaps as a fundraiser for a local group, he said, glancing across the street at the firehouse.

The restaurant is expected to open around July 4, if all the permits are in place by then. He and partner Roger Ecker, a restaurant industry veteran with more than 20 years experience, plan to start cooking July 2.

To find out what’s happening, call 860-492-0000.