Food Truck Smoking Kow’s Debut Barbecue Restaurant Arrives This March

Smoking Kow BBQ, the local food truck that’s fed D.C. diners smoked meat-topped mac and cheese for nearly three years, is opening its first brick-and-mortar restaurant next month in neighboring Alexandria, Virginia.

Founder Dylan Kough tells Eater he is looking forward to expanding his menu beyond the smoked pork, chicken, and brisket currently served on his roving food trucks once he settles into the fully renovated restaurant still taking shape at 3250 Duke Street.

Kough says the roughly 1,500-square-foot space should have seating for nearly two dozen customers — at rustic-looking picnic tables, of course — along with a dedicated kitchen for his team. Kough recently acquired a bigger smoker (he’s currently a part of food incubator Union Kitchen), and general manager Paul Tecchio says the restaurant plans to have at least a couple of beers on draft — he mentioned Alexandria-based Port City Brewing Company as one possibility — as well as other selections in cans.

In writing the menu for the new restaurant Kough says he’d like to work additional meats including ribs and sausage into the regular rotation, and plans to build up the sides — currently limited to mac and cheese or coleslaw — significantly. He also said he’d like to create more “composed sandwiches,” floating an idea for a brisket-based offering with cheese and pickled chillies on a brioche bun from Lyon Bakery.

The new restaurant is projected to operate from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. to start, though Kough is still mulling whether to go seven days a week or give everyone a rest on Mondays. Meanwhile, downtown workers will still be able to get their fix as well.

“We’re gonna keep the trucks going,” Kough says.