Lazybones Smokehouse II
43203 Garfield Road, Clinton, MI, 48038
(586) 247-7427 - www.lazybonessmokehouse.net
Molly Abraham, Detroit News Restaurant Critic:

 Deni Smiljanovski's original spot in Roseville has spawned this sibling, with more seating and a patio. It serves the same menu of wood-smoked ribs, pulled pork and chicken, along with excellent, housemade sides.

Molly Abraham, Detroit News Restaurant Critic: Deni Smiljanovski's original spot in Roseville has spawned this sibling, with more seating and a patio. It serves the same menu of wood-smoked ribs, pulled pork and chicken, along with excellent, housemade sides.
 

Lazybones Smokehouse
27475 Groesbeck Hwy., Roseville, MI, 48066
(586) 775-7427



Molly Abraham: The little building in an industrial area of Roseville, a former truck stop, may look pretty much like any modest carry-out, but there's a definite difference. Virtually everything, from the cornbread biscuits and Yukon Gold potato salad to the three barbecue sauces, is made in-house. \n And the beef, pork and chicken is all smoked over Michigan applewood from Blake's Apple Orchard by Deni Smilanjovski, a member of the American Culinary Federation and a trained chef, who gave up working for others to take over space. The little building, done up in bright, upbeat oranges and reds reflects the cuisine. Pulled pork, smoked spareribs and chicken and housemade side dishes of chicken gumbo and pit-smoked beans all add up to a find. Specialty pizzas, topped with pulled pork, smoked chicken or beef and Cajun sausage are also available.

Creator: Detroit News

By Ric Bohy

Some finds, some tips and a little bit of news:

Lazybones Smokehouse
If you're going to the 2005 Comerica TasteFest, Thursday through July 4 in the shadow of the Fisher Building, make a point — I mean it — to stop by Lazybones' booth and try a plateful of some true, Southern- and Western-style barbecue. The downside is that, unless you live within bone-flinging distance of Roseville, you'll have to drive there to get more — I don't and I do.

Young chef-owner Deni Smiljanovski has a heritage and a professional background that would seem to argue against understanding true American smoked 'cue — his family is Macedonian, and his résumé includes a silver medal in the Culinary Olympics and stints at the tony Golden Mushroom, Bloomfield Open Hunt and Orchard Lake Country Club. But when it came time to decide what, if anything, to do with his family's longtime truck-stop diner on industrial Groesbeck Highway just north of I-696, he saw a niche and decided to fill it. He traveled and studied and tasted and experimented, learned well from his mistakes, and produced a menu that will captivate Southern transplants and surprise those who know only Detroit barbecue.

Be warned — if you expect Lazybones ribs to be the sauce-soaked, fall-off-the-bone sort that rules in Detroit and southeastern Michigan, you may be disappointed. But free your mind — these are the dry-rubbed, mopped and slow-smoked ribs that give ol' boys fits down yonder, and there's no good reason to restrict yourself to one style of barbecue. The ribs are sauced by you, from a cup on the side, and are already well-seasoned by an herb-and-spice rub and Michigan-grown applewood smoke. When you take a bite, it pulls just enough, with a satisfying zip when it comes off the bone, to remind you this is atavistic eating at its bone-gnawing best. Another point often misunderstood around here — that rosy pink ring just under the surface of the smoked meats doesn't mean they're undercooked. It's the highly prized "smoke ring" produced when somebody knows what they're doing while feeding wood to their fire.

The ribs are St. Louie-style, Kansas City is well-represented with "burnt ends," the beef is fine Texas smoked brisket, and the chicken has a sweet Kentucky sauce very similar to Detroit's. My favorite, as it usually is if prepared as it should be, is Carolina pulled pork — also sauced on the side.

Everything — the chipotle-smoky red sauce and other sauces, broasted ranch fries, sturdy mashed potatoes, sweet-tart slaw, pit-smoked beans, dense Cajun sausage, pies, everything — is made in-house. Make a special point, too, of trying the smoky chicken gumbo, made traditionally with okra. Don't shuck it for that reason — the slimy pods thicken the gumbo and add great flavor, losing the slime in the cooking process.

All of it's for carry-out (I'd like to see Chef Deni put in three or four tables so you can cop a squat and get good and messy eating his smokehouse goods), delivery and party catering. 27475 Groesbeck Hwy., Roseville; 586-775-7427; lazybonessmokehouse.net.