Came to to this small place in Acheson industrial on a snowy Friday evening. The industrial building is more suited to light duty industrial, and not really suited for a restaurant. But the owners have tried to utilize the space. I'll say one thing the space is nothing fancy. In fact, it's pretty rustic (read: rough).
Friday evenings Smoke & Ash run a $20 buffet. I'm leary about buffets as I'm more of a quality over quantity type. I've often said there are really no good buffets. Well I now feel I need to eat my sentiment on that one.
We started talking with the owners, who are the very humble and incredibly gracious folks working behind the counter. We decided to go for the buffet, and what was on the menu... well Meat ! There was ribs, brisket, pork, chicken, all smoked. There was also, corn muffins, chili, fries, baked beans, and something else I'm missing.
We ponied up to the buffet and tried the brisket, ribs, pork and chicken, along with the corn muffin, chili, and beans. Sat down at our table, and then the magic happened. That first bite of the smoked pork... Woah ! I didn't expect that to be that good. Ok, let's try the ribs... Woah again ! Corn Muffin... Woah a third time. What's going on here ?? Everything that we tried was outstandingly good ! Even after being completely full after the first plate, I had to go up and get more. The owner suggested the fatty brisket instead of the lean cut. Yup, dude knows what he is talking about, it was outstanding.
The owner suggested trying his wife's (I assumed was his wife), bread pudding. I'm not a huge lover of bread pudding, but this was again, outstanding. The owner told us that this was her first attempt at making it, and he feels that the next attempts will be better (I wish my first attempts at cooking were this good).
The owner sat with us for a bit and talked about his business and how he cooks, it was really very nice to have a talk like this. The weather that evening was less than desirable, and we were very fortunate that there was no one else in the place, to be able to chat with the owners like the way we did. I'm sure the owner was not liking how slow business was, but he indicated that Saturday evenings the place is usually pretty full.
This is a true Mom and Pop shop, with one of the daughters (again assumed daughter) working there as well.
Overall, the location of Smoke & Ash is not ideal for me, but I can see where they are able to service a ton of folks that work in the industrial park. Luckily, they are a fairly easy drive from my location. The building they are in is nothing fancy. Where Smoke & Ash earn their stars, that fabulous food and the very humble nature in which they interacted with us. They have real passion for what they do, and are very proud of what they do. For $20, I was seriously impressed and other than the fact that I ate way more than I should have. I'm going back very soon. read more