A smell of cherry and oak wood burning underneath the custom barbecue pit, fit to hold 12 racks of ribs, billows out across the corner of Chambers Street. The aroma reaches your nose a block before you even notice the vibrant yellow and black food truck. A sign draped across the truck cuts through the golden color with the bolded words “Good Smoke BBQ” — both the restaurant’s name and taste description.
“I mean, we’re smoking up the whole block. It’s hard to pass by, especially if you love barbecue,” owner Scott Doherty said, while wearing his meat-stained Joe Montana apron he’d been grilling in all day. “Low and slow, that’s what makes it fall off the bone.”
Good Smoke BBQ opened at 760 Chambers St. on Jan. 16 by Scott and his son, Trey Doherty. Together, they created a menu steeped in family and tradition. It includes half pounds of smoked chicken, baby back ribs and St. Louis-style for a fattier bite. The menu also features a variety of classic barbecue sides like potato salad and collard greens to complement each tender cut of meat.
Owner and head chef Scott isn’t a rookie when it comes to cooking for his community; he’s been perfecting the delicate craft of BBQ since high school. Scott graduated from South Eugene High School, where he met Ken Fuller, a local legend widely known as the BBQ king and credited with helping pave the way for the Eugene food truck industry in the early 80s.
It was Scott’s sophomore year of high school when he had his first run-in with Fuller. He recalled the story with a smile, saying Fuller yelled over at him as he was walking home from football practice, asking if he had a job. After he answered no, it wasn’t long before Scott was behind the pit, working the following three summers cooking and selling smoked meats with the king himself.
Gaining that firsthand experience sparked Scott’s appetite for cooking. “I really got the game down, you know, I was chopping meats, doing the cooking, doing his style, how he did it,” Scott said.
As Fuller’s right-hand man, the tradition of barbecue became ingrained in Scott’s technique. The Good Smoke BBQ menu is infused with hints of the decade-old barbecue recipes Fuller sold from local Eugene parking lots in 1976, accentuating homemade tastes to preserve family recipes.
“Everything Scott makes is all in-house recipes,” Trey said. “He makes his own barbecue sauce, makes his own mac and cheese roux, his own collard greens from his lady, and then, you know, the potato salads from our grandma.”
Whether Scott is on the clock or hanging out with friends, one thing remains consistent: his love for cooking. “Anytime I’d have a gathering or party or anything like that, with just family and friends, I would always get the pits out and throw up some food,” Scott said.
The “pit” refers to a custom grill passed down by none other than Fuller himself, designed to smoke up to 12 racks of ribs and about 15 chickens. It is critical to light up the pit in the early hours of the morning in order to get that tender, juicy result. With a low-and-slow method, the chicken and ribs are placed on the pit around 7 a.m., then removed, cut and ready to serve around lunch. Pulled pork often requires a 4 a.m. cook time, not leaving the pit until mid-afternoon.
Maintaining a fresh, homemade menu requires time and care, a tedious process to ensure consistent quality, even though eating it only takes a few minutes. Good Smoke BBQ offers more than just delectable foods on Chamber Street; it shares a family atmosphere of laughter and stories for everyone who walks by.
Best said by a joyful customer singing while being handed three racks of ribs, “It’s smoked. And it’s good. It comes off the bone, you know? And it’s made with love. That’s the part, the love. That’s the soul.”
