Smoke Shack

Smoke ShackAfter waiting WAY too long to visit AJ Bombers, I promised myself that I wouldn’t make the same mistake with Smoke Shack, which is owner Joe Sorge’s newest restaurant endeavor. As luck would have it I didn’t have to wait long at all before Joe invited me in to sample the menu.

Since I wanted to get a little (or actually not so little in this case) taste of everything I ordered the four meat combo, which consists of homemade sausage, pulled pork, pulled chicken and sliced brisket. I chose the mac & cheese as my side and the combo also included a pretty decent sized piece of cornbread.

I normally don’t even like cornbread, but I could easily sit there all day long eating the stuff from Smoke Shack. I actually have a friend who works for a similar type of restaurant and I’ve heard him mention no less than five times how much he loves the Smoke Shack’s cornbread. If even your rivals are raving about you you’re clearly doing something right….

The problem I have with most barbeque, and I’ll admit that my barbeque eating experience is pretty limited, is that I feel like I always end up with fatty chunks of meat that are drenched in sauce. What was perfect about Smoke Shack for me is that all the meat comes unsauced and then you yourself (using one of their five housemade sauces) can decide exactly which and just how much (or how little) sauce you want.

Barbeque is sort of like sushi to me in the sense that when it’s served to you with no sauce on it is when you can really tell whether or not the restaurant serving it actually uses quality ingredients. It’s easy to cover up subpar meat with a ton of sauce, but when that same meat tastes just as amazing sans the sauce is when you know it’s good. Again, I’m FAR from an expert when it comes to barbeque, but I can tell you what’s good and what isn’t, and Smoke Shack is good.

I’d actually be really curious to see what the restaurant could do brunch-wise if they decided to start opening up a little earlier on Saturdays and Sundays. I can definitely see myself sitting out on their patio enjoying a couple drinks and a late southern-inspired breakfast. In the meantime though I’ll definitely be back to try Smoke Shack’s Bacon Bourbon Brownie and maybe some of their Whiskey Ice Cream that I was way too full to try at the end of my first visit.

5 Comments on Smoke Shack

  1. Erica
    May 31, 2012 at 11:19 am (12 years ago)

    I’ll have to add this to our places to checkout. I dig that they put the sauce on the side too. We just ate at Jerry’s in Germantown and found out they are closing so will need a new bbq place!

    Reply
  2. eatwisconsin
    May 31, 2012 at 11:59 am (12 years ago)

    Check out Pat’s in Waukesha. Sauce on the side there. I’ll even meet you over there.

    Reply
    • Nick
      May 31, 2012 at 12:01 pm (12 years ago)

      I’ve been meaning to stop in there too. A buddy of mine works super close to there and was telling me how good it was.

      Reply
  3. JNo
    May 31, 2012 at 2:24 pm (12 years ago)

    A must try is Pat’s Rib Shack in Waukesha

    Reply
  4. poco
    May 31, 2012 at 9:12 pm (12 years ago)

    Hmm… I guess the BBQ is sub-par up there in Wisconsin. Come down to the Southern US and we’ll show you some awesome food; sauced or not!

    Reply

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