Mother Smokin’ Good announces move to downtown; Bordertown BBQ opens with a splash
By Gene Brancho
The Island News
A new spot for Lowcountry barbecue is setting up shop in downtown Beaufort. Mother Smokin’ Good BBQ announced on Monday that they will be opening a brick-and-mortar restaurant in downtown Beaufort at 101 Scott Street, the site of the former YoYo’s Ice Cream Shop.
According to owners Marquith and Danielle Green, the new spot will offer take-out service only, but with an expanded menu.
Focusing on traditional, Lowcountry-style barbecue, the family has been operating a very popular food truck in the area since 2017, popping up at our local festivals and other events throughout Beaufort County and the Southeastern U.S., and has amassed quite a following.
“The new spot will allow us to expand on what we’ve offered on our food truck menu, and to add additional items,” Danielle said.
“Our menu will offer ribs, brisket, pulled pork nachos, turkey legs and chicken, as well as other Lowcountry favorites including hash, collard greens, black eyed peas over rice and all of the other fixings you expect from a local southern barbecue restaurant,” she added.
“We serve the kind of barbecue that we grew up on here in the area, the kind we love,” Marquith said. “All of the meat smoking will be done on site to guarantee peak freshness.”
“We’re especially excited about our popular Oorah Devil Dog,” Danielle said. ” It’s one of our most popular items from our food truck; a foot-long beef smoked sausage sandwich that everyone loves. We can now add additional toppings for it including chili and other things, since we aren’t limited to what we are able to stock in the truck.”
The couple have been looking for a brick-and-mortar spot to open a restaurant for the past two years. “We’ve been searching for the perfect location, and looked at several other locations. When this one was offered to us, it was kind of a no-brainer,” Marquith said.
Plans are to have the new spot open in the middle of May, right after the annual two-day Taste of Beaufort festival, and it will be open seven days a week, to start.
But don’t worry. Mother Smokin’ Good BBQ will still be bringing their food truck to our local festivals.
“Yes, we’ll still be joining in the fun at A Taste of Beaufort, The Soft Shell Crab Festival, The Gullah Festival, the Beaufort Oyster Festival, and many others, so you’ll be seeing a lot of us,” Marquith said. “That’s where we got our start here, and where we’ve met so many wonderful people.”
We’re excited to be able to bring a traditional, local barbecue flavor to the downtown Beaufort area and we look forward to being a part of our wonderful downtown community,” Danielle said.
More barbecue news
Speaking of barbecue, Bordertown BBQ opened its doors on Saturday at Beaufort Town Center offering a Texas-style barbecue experience. What seemed like half the town showed up to get a taste of the new fare, as the line extended out the front door, around the building, and even spilled over onto the street.
The opening day was so popular, the restaurant ultimately ran out of most of its food to serve.
Bordertown’s menu offers a mix of Texas-style barbecue and Mexican street fare.
“The close overlapping of Texas barbecue and Mexican cuisine is what makes our name Bordertown, and the inclusion of Mexican flavors to traditional Texas barbecue is what makes our menu different because they compliment one another,” said co-owner Kristen Miklinevich.
According to Miklinevich, the key to their taste is “Central Texas-inspired slow smoked meats on a 1,000-gallon stick burner.” In typical Texas barbecue fashion, the menu offers smoked meats by the half-pound, and includes smoked brisket, pulled pork, beef ribs, chicken, turkey, pork ribs, smoked brisket tacos and sandwiches, smoked pork carnitas, grilled local shrimp and fish tacos,
“We started to run out of some items around 5 p.m., on Saturday. Then we called the kitchen completely by 8 p.m.,” she said. “We had no idea how many people would show up, or what items they’d favor most when they did, so we didn’t know whether to smoke five briskets or 15. Now that there’s a better idea of that, we will do our best to ramp it up — still, with the intention to run out. Not running out means food in the garbage because we don’t serve day-old barbecue.
“Our patrons were wonderful with lots of familiar faces of people who have been cheering us on, helping us build, and just being excited for us. We already have met so many cool people who will hopefully be our regulars.”
Bordertown BBQ is open Thursday through Sunday from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m., unless the food runs out again. You can find it at 2001 Boundary Street at Beaufort Town Center, behind Starbucks.