Smokin' Jack's BBQ

You have been asking me to get to Milwaukee for BBQ, so when a new place opened I jumped on it. If you love real slow smoked barbecue, a neighborhood room with actual personality, and a Bloody Mary that just won best in the city, this is your place.

This is not a rooftop bar or elevated Southern cuisine. It is a warm room that still carries the character of the bar that used to live here, real smoke smell the second you walk in, and Murray Hill energy with zero pretension.

Owner Jack Holt has been grinding since 2020: ghost kitchen, food truck, market stall, American Family Field, and now his first full service restaurant.

The smoked buffalo wings are not bar wings. They smoke them first, then finish them on the grill, so you get real smoke flavor with a subtle BBQ undertone in the sauce. The USDA Prime sliced brisket is juicy and tender and breaks apart with no effort, which is what a twelve hour smoke does. Hit it with the competition glaze and it goes somewhere else entirely. The smoked gouda mac is creamy and worth the add.