My2ROOTS

Smoke Shack is selling ambience and a respectable menu.

Let’s talk sides for a second so we can get that out of the way and get to the main course.

We had Mac-N-Cheese. I crave a good mac-n-cheese, like junkies crave crack (is crack still a drug, I feel like now its more just a joke). I look for that smokey cheddar and crunchy crust. Smoke Shack has a good flavor mac-n-cheese, its more adult then a kiddie mac-n-cheese but it’s not their core competency. They have 3 or 4 cheeses to it. But it tasted more like an Alfredo with a little jack cheese added. It needed some crunch like a quick crumb topping and a little spice. I dumped some black pepper on it and that really did the job. Noodles were just a little over el dente.

Collards…I love collards. I like ham hocks and vinegar with my collards. I wish that’s what they served. It’s collards, but it’s too vinegar and sugary. Apparently its for the vegan, gluten free, all organic crowd. I appreciate diversity and getting to everyone’s needs dietary wise. But it’s the frickin smoke shack not the new age all organic, gluten free, sugar free, low carbon emissions, no balls, granola shack. Come on guys, you’ve got a salad on the menu. Go back to the roots of what collards are supposed to be and get them with the ham hocks or at least as an option. What good is a pork knuckle if you can’t cook perfectly healthy greens in its savory fat and juices. Might as well be a salad wedge (don’t get me started on the wedge…)

Damn it now I have to pontificate on the wedge. Okay the wedge is the restaurants way of saying “your too dumb to know we aren’t going to put any effort into this salad but we’ll call it a wedge and charge you $6.25 for it but its really just a 1/4 of iceberg (0.99 at the grocery store) and you have to do all the work.” I hate the wedge its just insulting. I don’t want to be a lettuce racist, but I think if you order a wedge salad there’s a good chance your a douche bag. Sorry.

Cornbread it’s good, it’s sweet, it’s not a traditional dense corn bread but I really liked it. It was like dessert on my plate.

The main event.

My first complaint is that the menu offers a combo plate but not in a traditional sense. It is four (4) meats of sausage, chicken, pulled pork and brisket. Here’s my problem, a traditional four meat (as in a competition BBQ four meat) is Chicken, Pulled Pork, Brisket and Ribs. That’s what I wanted to order. It is what it is though, I guess you could always ask for a substitute. Oh and I would charge more if you offered it with ribs, like $27 would feel about right…something to consider.

Just a quick preface. I’m a smoking meats competitor, a KCBS judge and I’ve won awards for my meat. That doesn’t give me any authority over smoking meat, just a reference from my competitors and my own tastes. I’m not a big deal, I don’t own or run a restuarant and I might be an asshole (according to some). So keep that in mind when you read critics in general. This is really good BBQ.

Let’s talk Ribs. They offer three (3) different kinds. Spare, Baby Back, and Short. Here’s the thing Midwest folks, true ribs are Spare Ribs or St. louis style. Baby back are for amateurs and back yard cooks who want it fall off the bone. The Spare ribs are the true smokers meat. Smoke Shack’s spare ribs were great! Good smoke, nice subtle dry rub and the bite was perfect. Off the bone with a nice tenderness and the meat stayed on the bone as the bone turned from grey to white. That’s perfection. I would have liked a little more kick but that’s personal preference and the Shack is trying to appeal to a mass crowd which I appreciate. They come out dry (no sauce) and they offer 4 sauces. All 4 are good, but the texas and the carolina mustard were top notch. Excellent ribs.

Pork shoulder comes to you as a big portion. Pork shoulder is one of those things that when you nail your recipe you never change it. If you love your recipe, then you love your pork shoulder. It’s like a child, you love it that much, but it won’t puke on you, poop on you, bite you, hit you or cost you more then 3.99 per pound. These guys are putting out a decent shoulder. Good bark on it, good smoke flavor, nice strands of pork. I would have liked to have gotten a little combo of the mighty muscle (a close to the bone almost conical shaped muscle that can be cut cross grain like a disc), some strand meat and a little of the darker meat. Here’s my very mild and small criticism – it needed some spice, a little heat. As it sat alone on the plate it was gorgeous and inviting. Warning I’m about to use the word moist…I know some of you hate that word. Why is that? Does it remind you of something fungal and growing between your toes (now I’ve really set the mood)? The pork pile-on was moist, just a little greasy which is perfect, good smoke flavor and a good ratio of “bark” added to the plate. My only complaint was I wish they offered a bottle of shake with the sauces. Shake being their dry rub in a shaker bottle so you can add a little more salt, spice and sweet as you need.

We talked to the owner afterward and told him most of this. He said something I expected and something the Gizznat had eluded to earlier. They’re selling a dinning experience not just smoked meat. It was a great experience, damn good meat, pretty good sides.

Oh the decor, it is a shack in its ambiance. If that shack was designed by an interior decorator from New York with an eye on attention to details and a $100,000 budget. It’s too perfect of a shack, which is amazing in that they can pull off a shack feel that is also spotlessly clean, charming and the lights turned down to the perfect temperature. I look good in that low lighting…you can’t see all the sauce dripping on my chin then on to my shirt and the greasy sheen of my cheeks after washing my face in pig fat! Mmm…delicious pig fat. Anyway, the rusted tin panels look dingy and dirty and shack like but they’re precise lines, clean and well designed. The corrugated galvanized sheet steel with hex heads holding them to the wall is the type of attention to detail you wouldn’t be expecting but its there. I liked the big chunky coat rack along the hall to the kitchen, although not practical considering the waiters were dragging out huge serving trays of meat and any coat in the vicinity had the potential for a drive by saucing. I liked the bar, it wasn’t extrordinary but functional and the decor holding the liquor display was very cool. A cross wire hatching with steel shelves. Simple yet “shack-cool” you could see motor oil easily replacing the Knob Creek.

They have the coolest reservation system I’ve ever seen. They took my name and phone number entered into a tablet (Ipad I think). Then I got a text with my wait status. I could see how many parties were in front of me and when we decided to saddle up to the bar instead of waiting for a table I text the hostess and took our name off the list. Ultra cool tech. Granted I think I sold my personal info for sweet swine meat but I’m okay with that.