Northern Smokes

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Northern Smokes in Highland Creek: Michelin-Recommended BBQ with a Northern Touch

The Ultimate Smoked BBQ Experience

Northern Smokes in Highland Creek is not your regular backyard barbecue. This is a place built around the craft of smoking meat, using custom reverse flow woodstick burners imported from the USA and seasoned split hardwood. There is no charcoal, gas, or electric here — just wood and time. Depending on the cut, marbling, and thickness, the smoking process can take up to fourteen hours to achieve tender, juicy perfection.

The result is Southern-style BBQ with a Northern touch, a promise that earned the restaurant a Michelin Recommended distinction in 2026. The menu focuses on brisket, ribs, and chicken, all 100% hand slaughtered halal. Standouts include the Angus brisket, smoked until it falls apart, and the Dino short ribs, mopped in house BBQ sauce and cooked until the meat pulls cleanly from the bone. For those who want a taste of everything, the All Meat Platter delivers a generous spread of brisket, beef back ribs, short ribs, chicken legs, and wings.

Beyond the meats, the kitchen turns out inventive sides and sandwiches. The Havarti sliced brisket sandwich layers six ounces of smoked brisket with Havarti cheese, horseradish, and caramelized onions. The McNorthern sandwich stacks two four-ounce slices of brisket with cheddar, pickles, and burger sauce. For something unexpected, the smoked brisket chili or the brisket poutine — fries topped with pulled brisket, cheese curds, and smoked gravy — show how American BBQ can adapt to Canadian cravings.

Northern Smokes also caters events and offers custom options. Whether you are stopping by for lunch or ordering a family platter that feeds ten, the focus remains on the fundamentals: real smoke, real wood, and real flavour. It is BBQ that earns its reputation one low-and-slow cook at a time.