Business boomed last summer for Terry and Sherry Sept a few months after they opened the first location of the Smokehouse BBQ, a southern style barbecue restaurant in Leduc. It was thanks, in part, to the bacon bomb. It’s a dish made up of four-hour-smoked Italian sausage stuffed with fried bacon on a big bun and sold at the restaurant and from the Smokehouse food truck. The couple brought them to the Taste of Edmonton, and sold more than 10,000. It still reigns on their menu at the new 124th Street location. The new space has an extra kitchen in the back, home to the Septs’ smoker. The pulled pork sandwich is a testament to the wonder of that smoker – tender meat is topped with coleslaw and caramelized onions.
After a fire in November, the 124th Street restaurant closed for several months. But, luckily, it’s open again with delicious options like the prime beef rib. It’s a standby made up of several pieces of fall-off-the bone meat alongside two of several choices: Fries, creamy mac and cheese, dirty rice, Cajun potato salad, baked beans or coleslaw. You add your own sauce. Try the raspberry chipotle sauce for a mix of sweet and a kick of tart that’s in harmony with the savoury meat. No dish will dethrone the bacon bomb but, according to the Septs, the smoked turkey gumbo is a close second. The smoked turkey swims in a stew of peppers, onions, okra, and kale; but what makes it taste so good, says Terry, is the gluten-free poultry stock, made using rice flour. Everything here, right down to the sauces, is made in-house. (10810 124 St., 587-521-6328, smokehousebbq.ca)
