Jeremy Ratliff
Reporter
If you happen to have noticed the distinct aroma of smoked freshness in the downtown area recently, your nose’s radar was most likely picking up the mouthwatering signals emanating from the new Dixieland BBQ Restaurant located near Family Video.
In fulfilling a long-time dream, owners Scott and Cindy Sense opened Dixieland BBQ located at 608 E. 2nd Street Ste. B, on Wednesday August 17.
“Cindy’s brother Walter and I, had discussed the idea of opening our own restaurant off and on for several years,” Scott explains,
“We were looking at opening a place in Tomahawk but it just didn’t work out.”
“Then this past February our son Jody opened up a cafe in Seymour,Wis.” Cindy adds.
“I helped him out with opening, such as cooking and so on and really enjoyed it. Then Scott and I got to talking again and we decided to just go for it. We had the itch to just give it a go and see what happens. We agreed if we didn’t do it now, we may never do it. The time was right and we didn’t want to pass it up.”
Both Cindy and Scott agree things fell into place rather quickly; deciding on a BBQ menu for their restaurant and finding a large, spacious property downtown.
“We saw this space was available and knew it was what we wanted,” Scott said.
“We have a lot of space available to us here, which will be nice if we decide to expand in the future. Also being located right in the middle of downtown is definitely a huge plus too. I’ve always enjoyed barbecuing and so far we have been kept very busy. It’s been a great start for us.”
In fact, the couple’s immediate success has seemingly come on the heels of word-of-mouth,
“We haven’t really done much advertising and just recently started a page on Facebook,” Cindy adds.
“We just wanted to try it first you know, open the doors and see what happens. And for the most part, we have sold out of meat nearly every evening since we have opened. Everyone who has stopped in has been very supportive and understanding.”
Although the restaurant is open Thursday-Sunday 11 AM-7PM, Scott and Cindy are usually in the kitchen most days when the restaurant is closed; working to prepare fresh, each and every menu item offered to their customers.
“Everything we offer is homemade. Our meats are all smoked fresh, from our Pulled Pork which is smoked for 18 hours to our briskets which are smoked 12-13 hours. Our ribs and chicken are smoked between 5-7 hours,” Cindy said.
In addition, Dixieland BBQ offers homemade sides such as American and German Potato Salad, Cole Slaw. Macaroni and Cheese and corn bread muffins. Rounding out their menu are various homemade desserts courtesy of Cindy; ranging from apple, cherry and blueberry bars, caramel apple bars and fan-favorite Peanut Butter Fluff dessert.
Scott and Cindy can be reached at the restaurant during regular business hours at (715) 722-1101