First Bite: StormKing Barbecue

The pizza king loves barbecue—so now he's making it himself.

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Jordan Smith is well known to Twin Cities pizza-heads because of his coal-fired pizza empire, with ultra-thin crust pies cooked a little shy of 2,000 degrees, that draw fans at all three Black Sheep Pizza locations. But, do you know what Smith has always done on his days off, even back when he was a well-known restaurant consultant and opening chef? He'd go spelunking for barbecue.

He'd find barbecue with white sauce in Alabama, whole roasted pigs in the Carolinas, ribs in Kansas City, and of course, brisket in Texas. He looked for a spot to open his own barbecue place in Minneapolis for years, Smith told me, "It really was a barbecue desert." But solid fuel cooking in pollution- and fire-hazard-sensitive Minneapolis is hard to put together. "Finally I gave up on the dream." Then he realized he could vent hardwood exhaust through the same complicated system he had in place for his coal-fired pizzas, and so he tucked a smoker that can hold 700 pounds of meat into the back of the Eat Street Black Sheep Pizza location, and devoted a little 500-square-foot spot next to Black Sheep to barbecue. He christened his little barbecue place StormKing, and opened by doing a very few things very well. Those few things: Niman Ranch smoked brisket, local MRS pork shoulders, and good chewy ribs. "What really turns me on as a cook at this point is plain things, or I guess I should say simple things. If I give you a slice of brisket it better be good, because it’s just sitting there on the tray—there's nowhere to hide." 

Well, on early visits I'm just nuts about the place. The brisket is ultra-tender, so smoky, with a bark with just enough bite and fat that's plush, rich, and wonderful. To get some of that brisket you walk up to the window and the person behind the counter slices it to order, so you can get it thin, thick, or however you like. The pork shoulder is meaty and not falling away to nothing. The greens are big and walk that line between chewy and tender that good greens ought to walk. Even the fries are good—fresh cut, golden, home-made tasting. Smith told me I missed out by not getting the sausage, which the kitchen makes from scratch. I'll be back!

If this were the right time to drive in a circle and compare this brisket to the Twin Cities' other best briskets—at Q Fanatic, Handsome Hog, and Revival St. Paul—I would do that. But this is not the right time. The right time for that is in the future, after Daniel Del Prado's barbecue restaurant opens. Or at least, it is not the right time for me to drive in that circle. It might be the right time for you. Because when a very good chef of long-standing makes something they like to eat on their day off, that is a great day in local food.