Linda Falkenstein
Bishop: "We'll keep it fresh, and it's all from scratch."
Just a little over three years after Robert Bishop launched his Blowin' Smoke BBQ cart on the Capitol Square, he is opening a brick-and-mortar restaurant at 1336 Montondon Avenue in Waunakee.
The official opening is slated for January 3, 2014.
The growing Waunakee area has only a modest number of restaurants. "The Chamber of Commerce has been calling me, so many people have been calling, asking when we're going to open," says Bishop. And with a location just off Hwy. 113 (near Arboretum Drive), it's also not far from Madison's north side.
The restaurant will serve the same Kansas City-style barbecue offered at the cart and its catering business -- smoked meats (beef, pork butt, ham, turkey and chicken), ribs and burnt ends, but in dinner as well as sandwich form. Bishop does his meats slow-smoked and dry-rubbed; a few tangy sauces are served on the side.
"It'll be the same, but fresh off the smoker, it's even better than at the cart," vows Bishop.
After a month or so, he'll start adding on to the menu with three kinds of steaks, an Italian dish with smoked salmon, some more fish entrees, and up to six composed salads. Six desserts will rotate, two per day.
"We'll keep it fresh, and it's all from scratch," Bishop confirms.
Beer and wine -- New Glarus beers on tap and wine from Wollersheim and other southern Wisconsin wineries -- will be served.
The restaurant will also have a drive-through, and, when winter is over, outdoor seating.
The downtown Madison cart will close on Christmas Eve, and stay closed until the second week of January while Bishop gets the restaurant on its feet.
Planned hours are 11 a.m. until 7 or 8 p.m. Tues.-Thurs., 11 a.m.-10 p.m. Fri.-Sat., and 11 a.m.-7 or 8 p.m. Sun. Check the Blowin' Smoke website and Facebook page for updates.
