We just love small, out-of-the-way, family-owned restaurants.
Artman Country Smokehouse is just that type of restaurant – a bit rustic, small and quaint. My dining partner’s favorite food is barbeque, so it was a no-brainer to try this place to see if it passed his taste test.
There’s a small parking lot out front with limited spaces and a nice outdoor dining area with picnic tables covered with patio umbrellas. Once inside, you can easily survey the entire restaurant. You seat yourself and your server happily greets you (what a pleasure). The servers genuinely appear to enjoy working there.
The place is just swimming in the wonderful smoky aroma of barbeque. The menu selections are limited, but that’s fine because, well, how many ways can you serve barbeque? You can see the menu by clicking HERE.
I’m a huge fan of brisket, so I ordered a brisket sandwich with a side of broccoli casserole. The portions were very large – so big that I ate most of it without the bun because I wanted to be sure that I enjoyed all of it!
The brisket was smoked and cooked to perfection – fork-tender with a bit of crispy around the edges. The broccoli casserole was made with rice and rich, creamy cheese. Have you ever eaten something that clearly was made with love? Well, this was it for me.
My dining companion ordered the pulled pork sandwich with baked potato and a side of fried green tomatoes. The sandwich was overstuffed and cooked as perfectly as it can get. The baked potato was just as good and not overcooked, as many are when eating out. The fried green tomatoes were perfectly fried – crispy outside and soft inside. They came with a side of dipping sauce and were excellent.
My other dining companion ordered the French dip sandwich special with a side of fries and corn casserole. The roast beef was served in a type of baguette and was tender, juicy and sliced very thin with melted cheese on top. It was cooked through without any hint of being medium rare, as he preferred, but it was still very tasty. The fries were crispy-crunchy coated on the outside and soft on the inside. And the corn casserole was creamy and tasted as if they used fresh corn on the cob – a taste that is truly unmistakably wonderful.
We’ve had the smoked Moinks on our previous visits, so I’ll describe them here in one word – delicious. They’re meatballs made with sausage and beef, stuffed with Pepper Jack cheese and wrapped in bacon and smothered with BBQ sauce. Oh – my – gosh! They are beyond what our tastebuds could have imagined. A MUST try!
Our server offered up some homemade banana pudding, but as tempting as it was, we just didn’t have room to eat any more. Next visit, we all vowed to eat dessert first.
Artman Country Smokehouse is located at 6900 SE Hwy. 42 in Summerfield. It’s open from 11 a.m.-7 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday and 11 a.m.-6 p.m. on Sunday. The restaurant is closed Monday and Tuesday.
If you’re a barbeque fan, you’ve got to give this eatery a try. I’m betting that you won’t be disappointed.
