Smoke & Porter Public House

An elevated dining-out experience on Traverse City's east side

By Janice Binkert | Jan. 1, 2022

Whether you’re a camper or not, if you are from Northern Michigan, you probably have fond memories of sitting around a campfire on a beach or in your own backyard around a cozy wood fire — either roaring or glistening with dying embers — captivating your senses with its intoxicating aromas of smoke and its elemental beauty. Henry Bisson fell under the spell of wood + fire at a young age and now recreates that memory every day in his kitchen, to the delight of his guests at Smoke & Porter.

When Smoke & Porter first opened in July 2015, the last thing chef-owner Henry Bisson wanted was for people to assume it was a barbecue place. But that’s just what happened, due to the word “smoke” in its name. “It wasn’t smoke as in barbecue, though, it was smoke as in cooking with wood,” Bisson explains. “Actually, I was cooking chicken legs over a makeshift wood-fired grill in my backyard one night when the inspiration for this place came to me. It was the smoke that triggered the concept, and it came down to the simplicity of the thing. That simple chicken was delicious. It’s that campfire flavor. And I’m thinking, ‘Well, this is it. I want to bring that flavor to an elevated dining out experience.’ Doing barbecue wasn’t our intent. In the beginning, we didn’t have a ‘From the Pit’ section on the menu. We didn’t do brisket and pulled pork every day. But the people spoke, so we had to adapt and shift part of our concept. And I actually kind of grew to appreciate it more over time.”

With the “smoke” component of the name in place, Bisson says the “porter” component was a natural. “As it happens, darker beers, like stouts and porters, pair very well with smoked meats, or any smoked foods. It made sense, especially since we have so many good local beers, including porters. Also, a porter is that person who is carrying things for others, so we also consider the word porter to represent our service staff. They’re bringing the experience of our food and drink to you.”

Although the menu does now include some barbecue, the wide array of food choices it offers couldn’t be more diverse. Bisson says that part of the reason for adding the subtext “Public House” to the Smoke & Porter name and logo from the start was that they didn’t want to call themselves a restaurant. And they didn’t want to be known as a barbecue place. “We wanted to have the flexibility to just explore whatever we wanted to explore, food-wise. We didn’t want to be locked into something that we felt we weren’t or something that wouldn’t allow us to go in different directions or expand on our concept. And then, of course, there’s the whole history of British and Irish public houses (pubs), which through the centuries have been a kind of social hub for the community, and we definitely did want that welcoming aspect to come through.”

SMOKED FUSION
Besides being utilized in the smoking process in the kitchen, wood also plays a significant role in the dining room: Tables, floors, chairs, and trim, as well as the 20-foot-long bar, all made from local hemlock, are polished to a warm patina, providing a rustic counterpart to the otherwise industrial feel of the space. And the finished menu items that the “porters” bring out to guests have their own yin and yang.

“My food isn’t quite fusion cooking,” says Bisson, “but I have no shame in pulling in any flavors from other types of cuisines. If they work together, fit together, and can make a good dish, by all means, why not American barbecue with Indian curry, for example? Or Korean flavors, as in our pork lettuce wraps (hoisin BBQ pulled pork, gem lettuce and apple kimchi). I mean, people are cooking with fire all over the world. So why should I limit myself? Our smoked chicken has a chermoula rub on it that is common in Moroccan and Tunisian cooking. That’s not your typical barbecue rub. And our fish and chips – a nod to our ‘public house’ identity, with a twist — is Cajun seasoned, beer-battered whitefish (with waffle fries, malt vinegar and watercress slaw, and remoulade).” More menu variety comes in the form of roasted beets (with shaved Brussels sprouts, red quinoa, dried apricots, goat cheese, Marcona almonds, and black garlic lemon vinaigrette) or a recent special feature of Swiss raclette (served with Texas smoked sausage, confit fingerling potatoes, cornichons, baguette, and whole grain mustard). 

Smoke & Porter’s house-made desserts are always fun and creative, and like the main menus, they change regularly and seasonally. A recent list included chocolate cake (with coconut-pecan icing and raspberry coulis), eggnog crème brûlée (with molasses gingersnap cookie), and the always-available “float flight” for kids (Northwoods Soda root beer, ginger ale, and orange cream soda with vanilla ice cream).

LUNCH IS BACK!
Bisson just reinstated lunch service recently, having had to drop it for a time due to staffing and supply issues. “But with help from the landlord, the bank system, the government, and our loyal team, we were able to make it through and continue to operate at the same level we were previously,” he says. “There’s a desire for lunches, even here outside of Traverse City’s main downtown business district, and right now, we have the staff to do it.”

This time around, however, the menu is a bit simpler. “The one we had previously was more difficult to produce than our customers’ timeframe for lunch allowed. It was geared toward more of a dine-in situation, and it just didn't work for enough people,” says Bisson. “Now we have more grab-and-go type items like sandwiches that are an attractive alternative for people who otherwise would have to resort to going to a fast-food drive-through and getting stuck in long lines. They can easily call us ahead of time, be here in fifteen minutes, and the food is ready. And the main thing is, they’re not getting typical fast food. They’re getting really good food, quickly and conveniently.”

A new section on the lunch menu is playfully labeled Grilled Cheesish. “We say ‘ish’ because you’ve of course got all that gooey cheese melted in there and the crispy bread,” says Bisson, but we’re adding more interest.” Variations include the Cubano (mojo BBQ pulled pork, house-smoked ham, Swiss, Cubano pickle and ale-creamed mustard, on pullman bread), brisket (with smoked Gouda and BBQ onions, on pullman bread), and goat cheese (with olive tapenade and tomato, on semolina-fennel seed bread).

Keeping with the hand-held theme, Smoke & Porter still has burgers on the lunch menu, including the Truffle Huffer (with mushroom, brie, arugula, truffle vinaigrette and ale-creamed mustard, on brioche) and other sandwiches like house-smoked beef pastrami (with Swiss, horseradish-apple-arugula slaw and golden raisins, on caraway rye). Oh, and by the way, that caraway rye, pullman loaf, semolina fennel seed bread, and brioche are all made in-house.

PAYING IT FORWARD
Bisson is originally from downstate, and he worked at a local family restaurant as a teenager, where he “kind of got hooked on the [kitchen] environment.” He started out as a dishwasher and was quickly moved up to the line. “I loved the teamwork and the camaraderie that was formed there,” he says. “I really enjoyed being in the kitchen and I had a group of people around me that I was finally connecting with.” When it was time to think about college, he came north and enrolled in culinary program at NMC in Traverse City (now the Great Lakes Culinary Institute).

Apprenticeships and restaurant stints in fine dining establishments in Oregon, Nantucket and Traverse City followed. “I’ve had some great mentors,” says Bisson. “Their guidance and those experiences provided me with incredible learning opportunities and really shaped me. One of the most important things I learned along the way was that good food is really all about mastering the proper techniques and having the best ingredients.” And since the best ingredients are the freshest ingredients, sourcing locally is high on Bisson’s list of priorities.

Before launching Smoke & Porter, Bisson spent 12 years at Michael Peterson’s highly rated Lulu’s Bistro in Bellaire (now closed). “For the first five years, Mike was still there to mentor me, and the last seven years it was kind of my kitchen,” he says. “And that was a gift. I had the opportunity to try new things, figure things out.”

And now that he has his own place, Bisson is paying it forward: “I’ve got individuals on staff who have been cooking for a while, but now I’m trying to put them in situations where they can think their processes through,” he says. “I want to give them more opportunity for growth, just like I had. Instead of ‘Okay, this is the recipe, and this is how I want you to do it,’ it’s more ‘Okay, figure something out, try this, see how you would like to have it look and taste.’ That way, they can start exercising their creativity more. Because those are the kind of things that enabled me to move forward.”

Smoke & Porter is located at 1752 U.S. 31 North in Traverse City. Open Tuesday through Saturday 11:30am–9pm. Happy hour 3pm-7pm daily (and all day on Thursdays). Closed Sunday and Monday. For more information, including a wide range of catering and carry-out services, call (231) 642–5020, visit smokeandporter.com, or check them out on Facebook and Instagram.