Sweet Smoke, a new Milwaukee pop-up, makes barbecue Texas style
A chance meal at the famed Franklin Barbecue in Austin, Texas, a decade ago ultimately led to the new Milwaukee pop-up Sweet Smoke Barbecue.
Sweet Smoke makes Texas-style beef brisket plus pulled pork, turkey and ribs, sides, sandwiches and occasional specials like barbacoa tacos and pork belly. It can be found most weekends at Enlightened Brewing Co., 2020 S. Allis St., from noon to 4 p.m. or until sold out.
And June 29 will be the first Wednesday it will pop up at Ray's Wine and Spirits, 8930 W. North Ave., Wauwatosa, from 4:30 until 8 p.m. or until the barbecue is sold out. Other dates at Ray's include July 6, July 20 and July 27. (Sweet Smoke posts its schedule on Instagram.)
Adam Beilke, who operates Sweet Smoke with his wife, Cindi, went to Austin about 10 years ago to meet up with friends, one of whom said they should eat at Franklin.
"He mentioned getting there and waiting in line at 8 a.m., which I thought was absurd, since they don’t open until 11," Beilke said.
Once Beilke tried it, he saw the light.
"I couldn’t believe barbecue could taste like that, and I just became obsessed with re-creating it at home," he said.
That is, strictly as a hobbyist, at first. Working in accounting and finance, Bielke said his restaurant experience was limited to McDonald's in high school and a frozen custard place in college, and cooking at home wasn't much of a draw.
"My dad was always a good cook and tried to get me interested in it. I rejected it," Beilke said.
At first, anyway.
The first offset smoker that Beilke saw, the sort typically favored by serious barbecue folks, was a small one that his father had for making ribs.
Later, his father bought him a smoker as a wedding gift, and that finally stoked his interest. Then came the trip to Texas.
"I went to Franklin and had my mind blown, so to say," he recalled.
He began dialing in his barbecue and, more recently, cooking more in general during the pandemic, as he worked from home.
He upgraded his offset smoker to a 500-gallon one by Primitive Pits in Cumming, Georgia; the firebox is a 250-gallon tank that's welded onto it.
Primarily, he uses hickory wood. "Other woods we have locally don’t penetrate that huge hunk of meat as well," he said of the brisket.
He keeps the rubs for the various meats simple; brisket is 2 parts pepper to 1 part salt plus some Lowry's seasoned salt, for example.
In April, he left his job as the chief financial officer for a travel company to operate Sweet Smoke full time. His wife left her career in teaching (with a pause while their children were small, working part time at Three Brothers).
"We're here for the long haul," he said.
Cindi Beilke makes the sides. In summer that might be cucumber salad or Mexican street corn. Corn muffins, potato salad or baked beans are other typical sides.
Meats are sold by the half-pound or pound; brisket, for example, is $28 a pound, $14 a half-pound. They'll be served on a platter with slices of white bread, sliced pickle, pickled red onion and the house barbecue sauce, with a mustardy note to it.
"It's always exciting when people order a platter," Adam Beilke said. "They're the most fun to put together, and they're the prettiest."
Sweet Smoke also serves pulled pork, turkey and chopped or sliced brisket sandwiches ($10 to $12).
Once new equipment arrives, he'll resume making smash burgers and Texas-style hot links. The burgers are made from brisket trimmings, and the snappy sausages are half pork shoulder and half brisket trimmings.
"The plan is to kind of keep pushing along," Adam Beilke said. "We’re happy to do this for now."
Sweet Smoke also is lining up catering jobs, and he's considering offering vacuum-packed smoked turkeys and brisket at Thanksgiving and Christmas by advance order, with instructions for heating at home.
Meanwhile, Sweet Smoke has the appearances at Ray's and most weekends at Enlightened, which is in former industrial space that belonged to the Louis Allis Co.
"It really is like a beautiful marriage. The space is beautiful; it’s good beer," Beilke said. "The ambience is very nice for eating barbecue and drinking beer."
Contact Carol at carol.deptolla@jrn.com or (414) 224-2841, or through the Journal Sentinel Food & Home page on Facebook. Follow her on Twitter at @mkediner or Instagram at @mke_diner.
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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Sweet Smoke, a new Milwaukee pop-up, makes Texas style barbecue
