Concept only.No pit, no brisket, not yet.Here's the idea
Inside a hangar turned barbecue joint at sunset: steel trusses, string lights, long communal tables of people eating, trays of brisket and ribs in the foreground, and a small airplane parked in the open hangar door

ON THE FIELD · WARD FIELD · KJWB

Low and slow. Like your approach.

Barbecue out of a hangar. Florida oak, fourteen hours, sliced to order on butcher paper. Taxi up, eat, go home heavy.

The MenuFlying In

Named for the one place a pilot never wants to end up. Ours is the good kind of smoke.

FLORIDA OAK///NO SAUCE REQUIRED///SOLD BY WEIGHT///GONE WHEN IT'S GONE

TODAY: UNTIL IT'S GONE

THE PIT

Wood, time, and nothing clever.

One offset smoker, split oak, and a pit crew that starts before the tower opens. There is no oven finishing anything back there.

The hangar at dusk with the door rolled open, warm light inside, split oak stacked against the wall, and a smoker on a trailer beside the entrance

Fourteen hours

Brisket goes on at four in the afternoon and comes off when it's ready, not when we'd like it to be.

Florida oak and citrus wood

Split and stacked against the hangar wall. You'll smell it on final.

Sold by the pound

Order by weight at the counter, carried to the table on a tray. No plates, no pretending.

When it's gone, it's gone

We cook a set amount every day. Show up late and you get what's left, which is usually beans and an apology.

FLY IN · DRIVE IN

The best $100 brisket on any field.

  1. 1Land at Ward Field (KJWB). Check the chart supplement and current NOTAMs before you go.
  2. 2Taxi to transient parking. Tell them you're here for barbecue.
  3. 3Walk down the hangar row to the one with smoke coming out of it. Order at the counter.

Hours

  • Wednesday – Saturday11am until sold out
  • Sunday11am until sold out
  • Monday & TuesdayClosed. The pit's cold.

Find Us

In a hangar on the field at Ward Field (KJWB), a made-up airport

No phone yet · smokingholebbq.com

Flying club, fly-in breakfast, or a group of eight or more? Call ahead and we'll hold meat back for you, which is the only time we ever do.

Rules of the Pit

01

We sell by weight.

Order at the counter, watch it get sliced, carry the tray yourself.

02

When it's gone, it's gone.

No holding brisket back for later. Later is tomorrow.

03

Sauce lives on the table.

Not on the meat. Try it naked first, then do whatever you want.

04

Bottle to throttle.

The tea is free for the pilot. The FARs are not optional.

05

Butcher paper is a plate.

So is the tray. Napkins are a suggestion.

06

Be kind to the counter crew.

They've been up since three in the morning with the pit.

OUR STORY

A pilot, a hangar, and a pit that runs all night.

Sixteen years in restaurants, most of them with a tray in my hand. Thirty more in the air.

A smoking hole is what pilots call the place nobody wants to end up. It seemed like a fair name for a barbecue joint in a hangar, and it turns out the smoke is the only thing the two have in common.

An old hangar, the door rolled open to the ramp, a pit going all night, and an airplane parked twenty feet from the table. Opening someday.

WHAT THIS IS

A restaurant that doesn't exist. Yet.

Smoking Hole BBQ is a restaurant concept, not a restaurant. There is no pit, no address and no brisket. Nothing here is open for business, and Ward Field (KJWB) is made up too, named for my grandfather, so you won't find it on a chart.

It was dreamed up by a professional pilot who spent sixteen years in restaurants, most of them carrying a tray, and the next thirty in the air. A smoking hole is what pilots call the place nobody wants to end up. It seemed like a fair name for a barbecue joint in a hangar, and smoke is the only thing the two have in common.

The menu, the prices and the rules of the pit are real intentions rather than real offerings. If it ever opens, it will look a lot like this page.

Want to hear about it if it ever becomes real? Leave a note on the fund page.