A Superior BBQ

\A salty, oaky aroma wafts over the long line outside Wayne’s Smoke Shack on a June Saturday morning. Based on the blissful expressions on the faces of waiting customers, a casual observer might mistake this queue for pilgrims waiting to get baptized.  

Once inside, diners scan the list of offerings on the wall hoping the object of their barbecue affection is still available. By noon this day, Wayne’s popular smoked salmon and catfish, smoked pineapple ham and famous sticky toffee pudding were already sold out. Plenty of smoked brisket, ribs, shredded pork shoulder, pork belly and turkey breast are still available: Some days, the “sold out” sign hangs outside before the restaurant closes. 

At the counter, Sam Shelnutt takes orders for meat by the pound, deftly hand slicing portions onto a scale under heat lamps. She co-owns the smokehouse with her husband, Wayne Shelnutt, who is pulling food from the smoker. 

The meals are served simply on a paper-lined tray with sides of green chile mac-n-cheese, Southern green beans, baked beans or coleslaw.

While pickled white onions, dill pickle chips and three house-made BBQ sauces are available, the right way to appreciate the goodness is without any distractions, according to Sam. 

The rib and cobbler rush eases after 1 p.m., after which she sits briefly to talk about the business’ roller coaster ride to success and its singularly independent attitude. 

“This is a traditional Texas smokehouse, the kind that Wayne grew up with,” Shellnut says. “These are all his recipes. He smokes. I make the sides.” A photo homage to famous Texas BBQ joints like Austin’s Franklin BBQ fill one wall of the eatery. 

Wayne and Sam opened the restaurant in 2013 in a nondescript Superior shopping center, and the fare was an immediate hit. Wayne’s hasn’t entered any barbecue contests, yet it still remains on experts’ lists of the top barbecue joints in Colorado. 

The couple applied outside-the-box thinking to the establishment from the start. 

“We decided not to serve alcohol or to be open for dinner. We’re only open on Friday and Saturday. It concentrates the business into two days,” Sam says. “All our meats are hormone- and antibiotic-free and the beef is grass-fed. We don’t cut any corners.”

When the flames scorched Superior

December 30, 2021, was a day off for Wayne and Sam, who was seven months pregnant at the time. 

“We were out for lunch that day when we saw the smoke,” she recalls. “We went to check it out because we lived nearby. We got maybe one minute tops inside our house when we got there because the flames and smoke were so bad. We wanted to grab so much more.” 

Later that day, the couple heard the news while staying with a friend. “Our rental house and everything in it burned down completely, and we lost a car and a storage shed,” Sam says. Also lost were their daughter’s Christmas presents, unwrapped under the tree. 

The Marshall Fire, the most costly wildfire in Colorado history, destroyed 1,084 homes that day in Marshall, Superior and Louisville. 

Wayne’s Smoke Shack did not burn down, but it suffered severe smoke damage. “Ash blew in everywhere, and there was water damage from the snow the next day,” Sam recounts. 

Following what Sam describes as “an insurance nightmare,” the restaurant finally reopened on June 6, 2023. One year later, they are busier than ever.

“We were so grateful for all the community support,” she says. “Like everyone who went through the fire, you’re in this warm embrace for a while, and then you have to start over.”

Taste of the week: Wayne’s BBQ joy 

A devotion to quality and flavor shows in every dish served at Wayne’s Smoke Shack. This much bliss is not inexpensive, nor should it be. I haven’t tasted anything at Wayne’s that I wouldn’t happily order again, but some flavors are truly memorable: 

• Luscious, sugar-crusted, slow-smoked pork belly is what bacon wants to be when it grows up. It pairs well with Wayne’s tart-hot mustard BBQ sauce. 

• Texas-style brisket, gushing savory juice. 

• Fall-off-the-bone St. Louis-style pork ribs with a thick, chewy, almost candied bark.

• House-baked yeasted rolls brushed with beef butter that’s rendered brisket tallow mixed with grass-fed butter and salt. 

• Deep-dish peach cobbler served with real, freshly whipped heavy cream.

• Note: An on-site freezer offers packaged smoked meats for 10% off the menu price.