Deadwood Smokehouse; where to start… #Review

Briony Wilson
22nd August 2018

Deadwood Smokehouse in Nantwich describes itself as ‘A Restaurant like no other, using the freshest ingredients with their own recipes to create some authentic American BBQ in the heart of Cheshire.’ After hearing that the Deadwood brand is expanding and has recently branched out into Mold, we wanted to give some of the food a try, the American themed menu is popping up everywhere, with big portions full of flavour but not everyone gets it right… unlike Deadwood.

We went in with high expectations as Deadwood Smokehouse won Best Newcomer at the Taste Cheshire Food and Drink Awards this year and the Nantwich Food Awards 2017, not an easy feat. The restaurant has a great atmosphere and rustic décor and it doesn’t try to be too American… after all we are in the heart of Cheshire. We were greeted as soon as we entered the door with welcoming service and were shown over to a large booth. I personally think booths are a great form of seating in busy restaurants as it gives you a little bit of privacy but still allowing you to enjoy the vibe.  Not to forget that with this style of food, plenty of space is required to accommodate all the sides and shakes that go so well but often make a table feel cramped; well not at Deadwood.

It didn’t take us long to decide that we were going to give the Deadwood Platter, one of the Big Boards, a try. The Platter is £44.95 and advised for 2 people to share, it comes with: ½ rack of Baby Back ribs, Jalapeno Sausage, Jumbo Beef Ribs, Low ’n’ Slow Brisket, 4 Chicken Wings, Louisiana Potato Salad, BBQ Pit Beans, 2 Corn on the Cob, 2 Seasoned Fries and Slaw. Deadwood also offer you the chance to upgrade your fries to ‘Dirty Fries’ which we couldn’t turn down, they are seasoned Fries served with Shredded Brisket, BBQ Pit Beans, Maple Bacon, Mac ‘n’ Cheese and Brisket Gravy topped with Fresh chilli.

We thought this was the perfect opportunity to sample a little bit of everything on the board, we also loved the idea that £1 from every platter is donated to CALM Suicide prevention. We chose to visit Deadwood at Lunchtime and so it didn’t take long for our food to arrive, but it did give us a chance to have a peek at some of the other dishes going out to our fellow dinners, everything looked fabulous and just like the pictures we see back in the office.

When the food arrived our first thought was… Where do we start? Second was wow the waiters must be strong to carry all this food! Everything came on one large board that we used like a lazy Susan (how lazy was she to have a thing named after her?) spinning it around to taste all the different elements. We tried to come up with a game plan as to the best way to try everything, it failed, so we just got stuck in! Apparently, this is what most people do too, so we didn’t feel to ashamed.

First, we went for the Low ’n’ Slow Brisket, this had a great flavour and was so tender, we could have just eaten a plateful of this, but to be honest every time we tried a new element we said exactly the same thing. To pace ourselves, we next moved on to the Corn on the Cob. I know what you are thinking, why fill up with corn when there is so many amazing things in front of you, well this corn was packed full of flavour and the ideal accompaniment, so we kept going back to this through-out. We thought it was time to give the Jalapeno Sausage a try, not something that I would normally order, but it added a bit of variety to the offering, it was smokey and spicy without being over powering and unlike a lot of sausages of this type it was neither dry or excessively fatty. This went perfectly with the Louisiana potato salad which had mustard style sauce rather than your standard mayonnaise, which may not be to everyone’s liking but it added something a little different.

Next, we uncovered the chicken wings, they were sticky and perfectly tender. The sauce was sticky and had just the right kick as you would expect, I can be a bit of a wimp with spice so loved that there were 2 sets of sauces on the board that gave each diner the option to add more spice or barbeque to each element or if you are like me, mayo to cool things down. The wings went great with the BBQ Pit Beans, they had a great Smokey flavour and again offered another texture. Everything on the board had its own flavour but went well with everything else.

We had now uncovered the Baby Back Ribs, the problem with a lot of options it takes a while to get down to the centre and by this stage we were excited to try the ribs, something I have always enjoyed but so many people get them wrong. These pork ribs had enough fat to cook the meat to perfection, so they just fell of the bone, but you didn’t experience a mouthful of fat, they had a lovely sweet BBQ sauce, enough to flavour, but not too much to drown the taste of the pork. It was clear a lot of love had been given to these ribs in the cooking process, they were some of the best I have had in a long time. They were lightly upstaged by the Jumbo beef ribs, but that is a personal preference. Again, cooked to perfection and just fell off the bone, the sauce was the perfect accompaniment and the meat so tender you barely ha to chew. The Beef ribs are smoked for 12 hours and this provides an amazing flavour, but with the sauce was so well balanced so not to overpower the meat. As with everything on the platter everything had amazing flavour and attention has clearly been payed to using great quality ingredients and cooking to enhance this rather than masque this with big powerful flavours, which is easily done with BBQ.

Those who know me, know that I always judge a place like this on its chips and the Dirty Fries stole the show for me, and would be the main reason I keep returning to Deadwood. Despite all the toppings the fries were really crisp, and everything had its own flavour, from the spice on the fries to the creamy cheese sauce of the mac ‘n’ cheese, the shredded briskets and maple bacon throughout gave you a great meaty flavour and the brisket gravy, kept everything warm.

Tegan and I may have failed in our challenge to eat the whole thing, but it was Lunchtime and we gave it a go. I think this would be challenge even for those with a bigger appetite than ours and think this could be the perfect sharer for between 3 maybe 4 people with maybe a few cheeky sides like a house salad or some onion rings. We left very satisfied but almost unable to walk, our eyes were definitely bigger than our stomachs, but we cannot wait to return, next time with stretchy pants.