Smokin Guns BBQ

*** THIS RESTAURANT IS PERMANENTLY CLOSED ***

Smokin Guns BBQ call to arms: “If it’s not smoked over wood, it’s not BBQ. It’s something else.” Amen.

What to eat at Smokin Guns BBQ

Of course, the meats are smoke-cooked. But so are baked beans, loaded with bacon. Even macaroni & cheese is radiant with the perfume of smoke from smoldering hickory and cherry wood. Its inherent creaminess is smartly balanced by the bite of fire.

Another fine product of Jim and Kelly Patterson’s reverse-flow smoker is meat loaf, in which a kaleidoscope of applied spice insinuates itself into every bite. This great rugged slab of beef is just-right juicy, well-packed but not too dense: one of the most unusual (and best) meat loaves I’ve ever had.

Now, about pork, the signature dish. Paradoxically fatless and succulent, torn into ineffably tender shreds and nuggets, it is a mesmerizing harmony of smoke, meat, and spice rub. It’s not mopped with sauce as it cooks, nor is it served with sauce (unless you insist). It is an elegant chord of flavor that makes most sauced BBQ seem like sticky child’s play.

Chicken is no poor relation from the smoker. I haven’t had whole pieces, but the chicken salad Kelly makes, using Dijon mustard, garlic, green onions, bits of celery, and a jot of mayo, is impossible to stop eating. No wimpy ladies-lunch chicken salad, it delivers walloping satisfaction on plate or in a sandwich.

Smokin Guns BBQ is a food truck, offering umbrella’d outdoor seating that is shared with the popular Feel Good Food Truck, which hosts the parking area. For unpleasant weather, there is a cool indoor dining area with tables & chairs, TV, games to play, low-carb fare from A Steller Kitchen, and small-batch-from-scratch Aiken Ice Cream for sale by cup, cone, and pint.