Smokey River BBQ

Soooooo tender ribs and brisket. EPICALLY good for small town Minnesota.
Friendly service and all was well.
Unlimited sides was a big plus too! Loved the baked beans!

An interesting dining experience. Dining options are limited in Lanesboro.
Had a brisket sandwich with a beer, about $ 12.
The brisket was cut in nice thick slices and had good flavor. Quantity and quality of the meat was good. The bun was good, not a typical
hamburger bun. The BBQ sauce was bland.
Came with chips and cornbread. The cornbread was terrible, cold and gummy.
The Goose Island beer was great, would have been even better in a glass.

Great addition to Lanesboro’s dining options. The brisket was delicious, and we thoroughly enjoyed the sides. Perfect spot right by the river– kudos!

In the winter, Lanesboro is a ghost town. I’m visiting for a few weeks, and have found that most shops and restaurants aren’t even open during the week. Because of this, the weekends are especially fun, with many of them opening up their doors to the cold and lonely (and hungry!) patrons outside. A recently opened restaurant, from what I can tell, is the Smokey River BBQ. I’m happy to report that they’ve really tried to stay true to a classic BBQ shack, w/​a simple interior, counter service, and throw-​away utensils and plates. The food isn’t too bad either. I’d paid $ 10 for a pulled pork sandwich, that came with homemade cornbread and two sides.
The best part (in my opinion) is that you get to serve the sides yourself, from a mini-​salad bar next to the order counter. Every single side is homemade, so I doubt you can go wrong. I had the smoked corn (one of 2 – 3 hot sides) and the wild rice salad. The corn was nice, but the wild rice was amazing. Nice and «al-​dente», with nice shredded cheese throughout. I felt like half my stomach was in MN w/​the rice and half my stomach was in the South w/​the pulled pork. I wasn’t *particularly* impressed with the bread the pork was on — it appeared to be homemade, but was a bit doughy/​undercooked and soggy. But in the end, who cares about the bread? I came for the meat. It was well smoked and very tender, but lacked a bit in flavor. So I put some BBQ sauce on (surprised to find there was only one choice of sauce), and found it to be mediocre in flavor.
Compared to a traditional southern BBQ shack, this couldn’t hold much of a candle, but for it being a little start-​up in the middle of nowhere in southeastern MN? Fantastic.
As I was leaving, I discovered something odd, that made me love the place even more — it appears that they do some (if not all) of their cooking in a semi-​trailer out back. Doesn’t get better than that!