Barbecue and more: Smoak BBQ Grill & Meatery serving up tasty treats

FACTORYVILLE - A new restaurant is making the scene at the former Lake Road Cafe near Lake Winola.

Owner Robert Bear drives from his hometown of Mehoopany to cook his barbecue specialties at his dining establishment called Smoak BBQ Grill & Meatery.

Using two large cabinet pellet smokers, he makes his popular dishes such as brisket cheesesteak, ribs and birria tacos. He likes how the pellets give his food its consistency. Although barbecue is popular now in the hot, summer months, he keeps his foods eclectic to keep customers coming back when the season is over.

“I keep my menu expansive in order to help during the slower, colder months,” he said. “I try to mix things up a little bit making it a different so it’s not the same old barbecue.”

Robert makes Brunswick stew, in which he mixes brisket, pork, and baked beans. He creates three different flavors of sauces – Memphis mojo (which has mustard in it), tequila lime, and cherry bomb (cherry coke mixed with bourbon). He plans to make infused sauces. He will soon have special dinners on Friday and Saturday nights after hours, in which he plans to make wild, exotic meats.

During weekends, Robert makes breakfast items such as corn bread muffins and breakfast sandwiches. He enjoys interacting with customers and giving them samples of food so that he can get to know them and know what they like.

“I’ve read a book a few years ago called ‘Unreasonable Hospitality’ by a four-star chef,” he said. “It’s about how he strives to provide a service that most restaurants don’t provide. I want them (customers) to feel like they’re coming home.”

Robert is open to having an acoustic jam night to play guitar with customers. The restaurant also has a radio with inviting sounds of blues, honky tonk and bluegrass.

The building, which has a rustic, backwoods feel, has been home to many kinds of establishments. It had been a breakfast restaurant, a lunch diner and even a regular house. Robert met the former residents of the building of when it was a house. They told him that the restaurant’s dining area used to be a living room and bedroom.

Before opening Smoak on June 1, 2023, Robert was quite a jack-of-all-trades. As a teen, he cooked for The Pink Apple in Tunkhannock. He later developed artificial intelligence for virtual tour guides in both the Field Museum in Chicago, Ill., and the Missouri State Museum. He was also a news graphic designer in Charleston, S.C. He later went to Memphis, Tennessee, where he did video/audio production for Graceland, FedEx and Showtime. He also helped design a production facility for Go Daddy in Scotsdale, Arizona.

For the past seven years, he became a teacher teaching subjects including video, storytelling, podcasting and journalism. He also started a school newspaper in Memphis.

Robert always wanted to open a restaurant, and he always liked doing barbecue. Most of his customers are from Clarks Summit as well as Newton Township, Dunmore and Bear Creek. He once had a customer come in with a big fish that he caught in Lake Winola. He traded the fish for a cheesesteak.

“I like serving people good food,” said Robert. “The work is long and thankless sometimes because you’re in the hot kitchen prepping sauces. It takes me four hours to make a sauce. But then, people try it. They’re like, ‘this sauce is fantastic’, and it’s like it just made it worth it.”