Wire Mill Saloon & Barbecue in Georgetown: On CT's Best BBQ List for 12 Years

In January 2014, when Gino Marsili opened the doors to Wire Mill Saloon & Barbecue, his recollection is, “There were maybe only a few of us doing BBQ; me, Bobby (Bobby Q’s), and Wilson’s in Fairfield.”

Approaching his twelfth year running the pits in Redding’s Georgetown section, Marsili still has a smile on his face doing what he loves, serving the community his brand of BBQ that locals love—including a few of my personal friends who say it’s their favorite ‘cue in Connecticut.

Marsili’s culinary journey, though, started way before Wire Mill’s debut. A Johnson & Wales graduate, Marsili said he was always into food, and after culinary school, he and his family opened an Italian restaurant on St. Simons Island, Georgia before he got out of the industry completely, and moved back to his hometown of Ridgefield in 2001.

But his BBQ story dates to back when the building was a deli, owned by Marsili, called Mini Vinny’s, named after his son, Vincent.

Marsili renovated the space himself, going for that BBQ shack look, even acid washing the sheet metal walls, and thrifting signage and knickknacks from the Elephant’s Trunk Flea Market.

“In 2008 when the economy crashed, I reinvented myself and started doing BBQ because I got some influence when I lived in Georgia and started to love BBQ,” Marsili says. “I started smoking (at the deli), it grew legs, and it took off. I closed the deli in 2013 to remodel this place, tearing up the tiles, making the tables and the bar. I didn’t know what I was doing. I made so many trips to Home Depot for sheet metal (for the walls), thinking 20 sheets would be enough for the whole place. Lots of heart and soul went into this place.”

Every BBQ tale involves a good amount of research and development, and Marsili’s is no different. He’ll straight up tell you that he “made a lot of bad BBQ before I made any good BBQ” and the Lang Smokers you see outside of Wire Mill weren’t always there.

Wire Mill smokes with both oak and Cherrywood

“My father-in-law (Jerry Edwards) built me my first smoker here, but if we go back a little bit, a friend of mine built my actual first one, and it didn’t even work!” he says. “It cost me a fortune and it didn’t even work. You have no idea. I said, ‘Can you build me a smoker?’ He told me to just buy the propane tank. As it went on, he gives me the, ‘I’ll let you know’ when I asked how much it would cost. It was the biggest piece of garbage. He goes, ‘You gotta build a bigger fire.’ I did and parts of it were practically melting off. If he told me what it would cost at the beginning, I wouldn’t have done it!”

With an idea, a logo designed by Vincent when he was in eighth grade, and a name, a nod to Georgetown’s Gilber & Bennet Manufacturing Company, where Marsili’s father, Vinny, worked for 34 years, Wire Mill was set to begin smoking.

It’s style, back then, and still to this day, is something Marsili describes as “kind of weird.”

Pork chops are a popular special at Wire Mill

Also a frequent special are lamb chops, cooked by the rack, rested, and sliced to order.

It’s got all the staples; baby backs, brisket (smoked up to 18 hours), wings and smoked chicken quarters, pulled pork, and homemade Texas style pork sausage. But what Marsili also does that you don’t see everywhere is he’ll smoke racks of lamb and pork to cut into chops, he’ll fire up duck breasts, meatballs (he is Italian, after all), stuffed peppers, meatloaf, and Wire Mill grinds its brisket to shape into burgers, and they run an often special in Nashville hot chicken, a crowd favorite. And sometimes he’ll smoke house-cured pastrami.

“It’s not Kansas City or Texas flavor, it’s our own little flair,” Marsili explains. “I don’t know if I can say I put my own spin on it, but it’s definitely a little different. I learned as I went; what worked, what didn’t, lots of trial and error and talking to people to get better.”

Other popular meatiness, whether you’re crashing the bar or cozied up around the fire pit with a cocktail or craft beer, are the sandwiches. Some are the Fat Jackson, pulled pork topped with mac & cheese and curly fries on grilled Texas toast; Don’s Sausage Dog, a smoked sausage link dressed with grilled peppers and onions on a pretzel roll; and their most ordered, according to GM/bartender Matty, The Monster, smoked brisket with their homemade horseradish sauce.

Bourbon and BBQ are a perfect match.

Pictured: Maple Manhattan - Old Forester, Full Moon Maple Moonshine, sweet vermouth, bitters

Marsili, while happy with his BBQ, is even happier that he’s built an environment at Wire Mill that feels like family.

“They’ve (my staff) all been here since we opened,” he says. “Matty has been here since the start. Freddie has had three jobs since he came to America; he worked at my uncle’s restaurant, then Ancona’s, and now he’s here after both of those closed. And I have one guy in the kitchen, Camacho, I met him at Lombardi’s Pizza in West Redding. He was there, Frank asked me if I needed a guy, he said, ‘Here’s Camacho.’ He’s been with me 24 years since I had the deli. I watched his kids grow up, he watched mine grow up, and he’s just as genuine as the day I met him.”

Grab a platter, stick around a while. If you pay attention, Marsili enjoys making and serving BBQ, and his customers and staff are family. His interactions with them and the smiles all around are evidence of that.

12 Old Mill Road, Redding
203.544.9988, wiremillbbq.com