Barbecue joint offers free meals as a thanks to troops

He likes feeding Fort Carson soldiers the best. Barbecue brisket. Sliced pork. Pulled chicken. All cured with the same rub that earned him national exposure on "Live with Regis and Kelly." These smoked meats are the least Larry Neuhalfen can offer.

How else can a former trucker say thank you?

Neuhalfen, 62, owns Dad's Smoke Wagon BBQ, which serves free meals to soldiers who have returned from duty in the past 60 days or soldiers who are going to be deployed. The cost comes from the pockets of his own sauce-blotched khakis.

On a recent afternoon, he sat on one of the benches behind his Fountain barbecue shack, which is about the same size as the tractor trailer where he smokes his meat, and explained why he feeds servicemen: "These men and women here in Fort Carson and around the world for the U.S. were not drafted," he said. "They need a whole lot more respect than the Korean and Vietnam veterans."

A Vietnam vet himself, he comes by his respect for enlisted servicemen and -women honestly.

Before Dad's Smoke Wagon was nominated for "Best Brisket" by "Live with Regis and Kelly," before a friend taught him the recipe to his brisket rub, before this trucker spent 40 years hauling frozen beef across the nation, Neuhalfen was a 19-year-old country boy who enlisted.

In 1966, Neuhalfen left the corn farms of Seatonville, Ill., to truck military equipment along the 18-mile stretch of Vietnam Route-1. He served three years, but trucked until the age of 56, almost 300,000 miles later.

"That was enough," he said.

Afterward, Neuhalfen sought a hot dog stand but found the perfect brisket recipe instead.

And on May 26, 2005, he hauled his custom tractor-trailer, with a meat smoker fuming inside, down to the George's Union Station to start his first barbecue business.

Three weeks ago, Neuhalfen received a phone call from New York City with news that he was chosen as one of five grill masters with the best brisket for "Live with Regis and Kelly's Ultimate Hometown Grill Off." To be considered, Neuhalfen sent a YouTube clip for the online popularity contest, where enthusiasts voted for their favorite barbecue restaurants.

In Neuhalfen's minute-long clip, he spends 18 seconds on his brisket and devotes the rest to U.S. troops.


Watch Larry Neuhalfen talk about his brisket and the troops

"My passion for food is only overridden by my passion for these kids doing their thing for their country," he says.

He lost the contest.

But that hasn't dampened his enthusiasm nor that of his regulars.

Civilian barbecue fan Wayne Peacock still visits Dad's Smoke Wagon at least once a week. He spotted Nuehalfen in his red T-shirt uniform and called him "Dad," like other Smoke Wagon's regulars who have grown familiar with his round waist and white hair.

When a solider walked in to order sliced pork, Peacock told Neuhalfen he'd cover the $7 charge. Put it in the "troop fund," he told Neuhalfen.

"He's more of a pop to some of these people, anyway," Peacock said. "He gives more to these people than anyone else here."

Anyone who tells Neuhalfen that he or she has recently returned from duty or is on the way receives a meal on the house.

Nuehalfen has no way of checking.

"If a man or woman is so hungry they have to lie to get a meal, so be it," he said. "It's not much, but it's something."

DETAILS

Dad's Smoke Wagon BBQ
6679 Camden Blvd., Fountain.