Central Coast restaurants: Cue and Crew The Entrance North

“There’s no bulls**t. You just come and get fed”, says Cue and Crew’s smoke and brew guru Haydn Powell. No need for fancy words … the meat and coffee speak for itself.

Fiona Killman

2 min read

June 21, 2019 - 12:00AM

Central Coast Gosford Express Advocate

Cue and Crew boys check out that low and slow barbecue. Picture: Sue Graham

Thirteen hour cooked beef brisket, pulled pork, ribs and a smoker named Shaniqwa … enough said.

The team at Cue and Crew keep it simple, yet serve the best slow cooked meat on the coast, along with sensational coffee.

Owners and self-confessed pyromaniacs Haydn Powell and Michael Freeman have been running Cue and Crew for the past 18 months, and word is quickly getting around the coast community.

“We have a strong following, the locals are great,” Mr Powell said.

“During one of our fresh barbecue nights, we sold out in 15 minutes. We’re the only ones doing this type of food on the coast.”

Owners Michael Freeman and Haydn Powell in their element. Picture: Sue Graham

The boys, who previously worked together at a local cafe, start at 4am to crank up the smoker, slow cooking the brisket until 4.30pm and then resting it for an hour.

Drawing inspiration from the infamous Frankin Barbecue in the US, they use Queensland iron bark, from 350 year old trees, which is a “nutty, good all-round wood”. Paired with a cracking spice rub, it’s a match made in heaven.

Friday and Saturday nights are fresh barbecue nights at the restaurant, where customers choose from beef brisket, pulled pork, pork ribs, a 400g beef rib or quarter chickens.

Popular choice the Brisket Cheese burger. Picture: Sue Graham

The meat is accompanied by coleslaw pickles, white bread and home made sauce.

“It’s such a cool night, everything comes out on platters,” Mr Powell said.

The lunch menu is full of their infamous meats, and we couldn’t go past the Brisket Cheese burger, with the succulent smoked brisket, caramelised onion, American cheddar, pickles and barbecue sauce.

The Brisket Bean Nachos also highlights the incredible brisket through the bean mix, served with an amazing ranch dressing.

Brisket Bean Nachos. Picture: Sue Graham

This bean mix was also perfect in a quesadilla, served with fresh avocado and surrounded with the restaurant’s spice rub. Licking the plate at this restaurant would have to be common practice.

There’s also a breakfast menu, featuring the brisket omelette, brisket and egg roll along with build your own breakfast options.

Mr Powell and Freeman have always been into American style barbecue, describing it as a “science” with so many factors involved in the quality of wood, fire management, and achieving the optimum cooking temperatures during the long cooks.

The produce is sourced locally, with brisket coming from Angus cattle in Wingham.