In 2011, in the height of the foreclosure crisis, Gary and Vicki Brown purchased this property, which at the time was a small landscaping company call Northland Gardens.  They already owned  landscaping and lawn service companies and thought it would be a nice addition to their businesses.  In 2012, they decided to add a little trailer, selling some smoked ribs, brisket and pulled pork, to attract some tourist drive-bys and people from the state park across the street…thus Lakeshore Smokehouse was born.  At first glance, this unique eatery might not catch your eye. In fact, you might have driven past Lakeshore Smokehouse during previous trips without taking a second look..

If you know us, you know we are suckers for good BBQ.  In the past 15-20 years it seems that a lot of BBQ places have popped up in the metro Detroit communities.  Some good and some . . . not so much.  The problem that most people have with BBQ is that it can be expensive, and nobody likes to pay top dollar for average food.  Well Lockhart’s BBQ in Royal Oak is far from average. 

In 1994, Dave Anderson opened the First Famous Dave’s restaurant in Hayward Wisconsin, and its popularity quickly grew! Today, they have over 180  locations in 30 states and 3 international locations in Winnipeg, Abu Dhabi and Dubai.  There are 7 locations in Michigan: Saginaw, Flint, Roseville, Novi, Westland, Taylor and Troy.

This week we are back to Ann Arbor, visiting one of our all time favorites for not only BBQ but for great home brewed beers. Blue Tractor BBQ & Brewery.  The beautiful thing about this local brewery is that they also have a full liquor license so they don’t just sell beer and wine.  We have featured the Blue Tractor before, in 2019, as part of our Fun Food Friday posts . . . but a lot can happen in 5 years so we felt them worthy of another mention. 

It all started in 1995, when Curt Catallo and his wife Ann Stevenson opened up the Clarkston Union.  Curt’s parents had bought the old church, to save it from disrepair, and were not sure what to do with the place. Curt and Ann had an idea, and together with their opening chef Bill Fortin, they opened the Clarkston Union Bar & Kitchen. 

We love good BBQ, I mean who doesn’t?  This weeks destination is definitely one worth talking about.  They opened their Livonia location back in the Spring of this year, over 2 years after announcing they were coming . . . Thanks Covid!  While it took a while to get open it was worth the wait.  Who are we talking about?  Well of course it’s Bad Brads BBQ.  Since we are avid BBQ fans, we are not new to Bad Brads. They now have  4 other locations: Clinton Township, New Baltimore, Shelby Township, Orion Township.

Cider and Doughnuts and Beer oh my!  It’s Friday and time for this week’s Fun Food Friday! It's that time of year and the smell of cider and doughnuts is in the air.  We know there are a lot of cider mills in the area, and everyone has their favorite.  If you are an Eastsider you probably go to Blake’s, Franklin Cider Mill is an old standby, and there is always Spicer’s in the Hartland/Fenton area and the Dexter Cider Mill out near Dexter/Pinckney. Here in Northville, we have Parmenter’s.

This week’s FFF was featured back in 2019 but so much has changed there, we felt the need to give them another shout out.  It is absolutely one of our favorite places for some delicious smoked meats, which you can tell are cooked with pride.  Lakeshore Smokehouse in Lakeport MI just north of Port Huron.

You all know I love BBQ. I love to make it, and I really love to eat it! The making of BBQ comes easy to me . . . . buying it not so much. BBQ can be expensive. It’s worth it, but it’s expensive just the same. So I am picky where I get it from. If you are scaling it out (charging by the pound) then you are not likely to get my business. This leads me to this week's Beckerz Bites Fun Food Friday location: Max & Bella’s Smokehouse.