THE RUMOR’S BEEN out there for several weeks and now it’s confirmed.
The old Bayou restaurant in Harvey is being transformed into a a barbecue restaurant and a brew pub. It’ll become the Lake Superior Smokehouse Brewpub.
Ribs, chicken, pulled pork, brisket all to be cooked in a recently purchased smoker. What else? How about steak, shrimp, some vegetarian dishes and….smoked tomato mac & cheese. Don’t ask. We’ll just have to go there and order it.
Owner Scott Arbour, who also owns a maintenance company, has a background in the restaurant business. His family’s been involved in it for years. He sees the new restaurant and pub as meeting a need in the community.
“We’re filling a niche,” he says. “And for me, it’s about the community, giving them what they want. Great barbecue, quality meat, great service, craft beer. This is a passion of mine.”
Major renovation is taking place inside the old restaurant. Repurposed barn wood and corrugated tin on many of the walls. Kind of a classy rustic look. The bar itself is not being changed yet. That’ll come a little later after the smokehouse is up and running.
The crew’s been busy with the renovation at the smokehouse for the last several weeks.
It’ll consist of a few distinct areas—the bar itself, the family friendly restaurant, the backyard patio with a canopy over it, and then something a little different: a tap room adjacent to the bar where imbibers will pay for cards that will enable them to pour from the taps themselves until the money in their cards runs out.
Twelve different brews planned–six from the brewery itself, along with six more from other craft breweries.
So when do the doors open?
Arbour says optimistically, maybe within a few weeks, but if you take a look around, it sure seems like they’re not yet close to tapping that first keg and smoking that first rack of ribs.
If you use your imagination, however, you can almost pick up a whiff of that piquant aroma–pork, brisket, chicken…and smoked tomato mac & cheese.