STEPH DEROSA: SLOW BURN >>>

Ranch House BBQ & Steakhouse
Spicy Hot Link Sausage
Price: $2
Burn Factor: Four out of four Molotov cocktails

Just about 10 miles south of Olympia off Highway 8 lies the best establishment peddling meat of the smoked variety I’ve ever had the pleasure of patronizing. Recently rebuilt after battling an unexpected and devastating fire, Ranch House BBQ pulls out all the stops in order to give you utmost delectable food quality. The portions are perfect, the taste is decadent, and the atmosphere is both fun and friendly.

I could go on and on about every implausibly amazing menu item holding its own in national BBQ competitions (and believe me when I say Ranch House owners Amy Anderson and Melanie Tapia have the competition ribbons on display to prove it), instead I will tell you what burned the shit out of my mouth this week: Ranch House BBQ’s Spicy Hot Link Sausage.

My new friends Anderson and Tapia wouldn’t tell me what was in the sausage that made it so g-damn hot. “It’s specially made for us over at Western Meats, and I can’t tell you the secret ingredients,” Anderson declares. Evil women, I tell ya. They maliciously chuckled as I fanned my mouth and frantically reached for my beer after taking just one bite of this incredibly blistering piece of spicy meat. No sympathy from these girls, none at all. As if my tears weren’t enough, they proceeded to go back to the kitchen and return with a cup of hot wing sauce for me to try â€" a sauce that set Ranch House’s spice rating at the highest I’ve ever conceived.

[Ranch House BBQ & Steakhouse, 10841 Kennedy Creek Road S.W., Olympia, 360.866.8704]