More News

Steve Klobosits doesn't need many words to see how customers feel about his pulled pork barbecue, coleslaw and ribs. He just looks around.

"You don't have to ask anyone anything," said Klobosits, owner of West Laurel's Kloby's Smokehouse, which has developed a faithful customer base with its burgers, barbecue and ribs since it opened two years ago.

"If [customers] are smiling and licking their fingers, they've already told you everything that you could possibly want to know about your food," he said.

Kloby's came to Laurel after moving from its original location outside Baltimore, where it opened in May 2004. The restaurant has expanded its menu in recent years, and Klobosits — who runs the place with his wife, Michele — said Kloby's offerings would continue to grow this year.

The restaurant, located in a shopping center near Route 29, installed a bar last year and keeps tabs on the latest in beer trends, offering the trendiest brews along with old-fashioned favorites.

"We talk with the beer geeks," Steve Klobosits said in reference to customers who track ever-shifting beer tastes. "We want to know what they're talking about."

But Kloby's barbecue is what draws the crowds. Slow-cooking the meat and topping it with homemade coleslaw — giving the sandwiches a crunchy texture — distinguishes Kloby's dishes from fast food or chain barbecue, Michele Klobosits said.

"We don't want to make [barbecue] that you have to cover with sauce," she said on a recent Monday night while the dinner crowd streamed in, most of them asking for the Carolina-style pulled pork sandwich ($5.99).

Kloby's burger menu includes the BBQ bacon cheeseburger ($7.99), the Carolina burger ($8.99) — topped with coleslaw, pig sauce and pulled pork – and the beef brisket burger ($9.99), decorated with grilled onions and barbecue sauce.

The restaurant's French fries are boardwalk style, and side orders include barbecue beans, green beans, collard greens and macaroni and cheese.

The owners' daughter, Miranda, is a server and cashier, and said about half of the orders she takes are for Kloby's pulled pork.

"It's definitely popular," said Miranda, 14. "People have always loved it."

That includes Michael Cataldo, a customer so impressed by his first meal at Kloby's that he returned with a friend three days later to get a second helping of baby back ribs.

"This guy really knows what he's doing," Cataldo said of Steve Klobosits, adding that the slow-cooking eliminates the fatty parts of the ribs and makes for a healthier, tastier dinner. "It's a really refreshing taste ... and a really great find."

Kloby's Smokehouse

7500 Montpelier Road, Laurel

Phone: 301-362-1510

Hours: 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Sunday through Wednesday; 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Thursday through Saturday.

Web site: www.klobysbbq.com