April 27--It's hard to believe that Smack Shack, the new 10,000-square-foot behemoth at the base of the Google building in the West Loop, started as a food truck zipping around Minneapolis, serving one style of lobster roll (New England) and a couple of po'boys. (Actually, it was the food truck; the first legal one in Minneapolis, it bore license number 001.)
"A food truck is a great way for small concepts to see if they can possibly do a brick-and-mortar," says founder and owner Josh Thoma. Six years later, Smack Shack has two: a 200-seater in Minneapolis and the Chicago location, which opened April 21 and seats 300. The casual restaurant (translation: flip-flops A-OK) is a joint venture with Chicago's Four Corners Tavern Group, whose owners visited the Minnesota Smack Shack, fell in love and proposed a partnership.
Thoma lights up when he talks about seafood, starting with the lobster roll the truck made its name on: -- "classic New England (style) with cucumber, tarragon and a little bit of lemon aioli, served on milk bread. Picture two pieces of Texas toast joined at the bottom and stuffed with lobster." We're listening ...
The menu here adds a Connecticut-style lobster roll, served warm with butter on a split-top hot dog bun. Also: a raw bar, clam chowder, stone crab, catfish, shrimp and grits, and a heck of a lot more seafood, plus some meat and veggies for the ocean-averse. But the star of the show is the lobster boil, an extension of a party Thoma used to throw for friends.
"I used to do boils in a horse trough, propped up on cinder blocks with big turkey burners underneath," he says. "I would put white duct tape around the side of the trough and write down times that each lobster went in so I would know what was done when."
At Smack Shack, he's upped the game to a 100-gallon boil with what he calls a "lobster-go-round" -- a merry-go-round of metal hooks around the perimeter of the giant pot. Mesh bags stuffed with lobsters hook on, dangle into the broth and cook; once a bag is done, the chef on boil duty can spin it to where he's standing and pluck it out.
Coming soon: weekend brunch and weekday happy hour (3-6 p.m.), which will offer $1 oysters and drink specials. Thoma's favorite cocktail is made with sweet-tea vodka, ginger beer and lemon. "If you were to do a patio pounder, that would be it," he says.
Sadly, there's no patio. But floor-to-ceiling doors open along the Morgan Street side of the restaurant, for a similar effect, and there might be a block party in Smack Shack's future. "In Minneapolis, we do one every year, with about 4,000 people and live music," Thoma says. "We're still learning the ins and outs of licensing, but we'd love to do that here."
Smack Shack, 326 N. Morgan St., 312-973-1336, www.smack-shack.com
mconrad@tribpub.com
Twitter @marissa_conrad
