Will Hendrickson stands with his 1,140-gallon L block smoker on Thursday, April 18, 2024, outside his restaurant Whiskey Hotel Barbecue, 5522 Elevator Road, in Roscoe. The restaurant’s opening is Saturday. (Photo by Kevin Haas/Rock River Current)
By Kevin Haas
Rock River Current
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ROSCOE — The debut of Whiskey Hotel Barbecue, 5522 Elevator Road, on Saturday won’t be the final evolution of pitmaster Will Hendrickson’s vision to create a premier Midwest barbecue joint.
Instead, think of it as the former food truck’s first iteration as a brick-and-mortar restaurant with more versions to come.
“What Whiskey Hotel is on Saturday is going to be a very different thing than what it’s going to be here in a few months, and maybe in a few years,” Hendrickson said. “I’m really excited for the different things we’re going to be able to do here.”
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Some of the cosmetics — such as the interior decorations and the sign made by Iron Paw Metal Fabrication — won’t be out for Saturday’s opening in the former Sabor Bar & Grill. But you can expect the same hand-trimmed, hardwood fire cooked meats that drew long lines and often led to sold out supplies during its first year as a food truck in 2023.
Hendrickson specializes in Texas brisket, Kansas City style burnt ends and South Carolina pulled pork. There’s also smoked and direct-heat ribs, smoked turkey breast, bacon burnt ends and macaroni and cheese, a side he was able to add thanks to the new kitchen space, among other items. He wants his new restaurant to be reminiscent of the type of barbecue joint you might visit in Georgia, North Carolina or Texas “while still being fiercely Midwestern in our approach to things,” he said.
“I felt that people in the upper Midwest would respond to really good barbecue and they have,” he said. “We’re not trying to be a Texas barbecue joint. … I want to create a really, unique, fun place for people to enjoy.”
Will Hendrickson believes in cooking his barbecue with a hardwood fire. He’s pictured Thursday, April 18, 2024, with a wood supply for his pits. (Photo by Kevin Haas/Rock River Current)
He runs the business with his longtime partner, Amy Bayliss, and a team that includesJohn Bunger, a former industrial equipment mechanic at theBelvidere Assembly Plant, and Cory McNease, who worked at Franklin Barbecue in Austin, a top-ranked Texas barbecue restaurant.
Hendrickson said he’ll also train more cooks at the brick-and-mortar space while keeping himself at the pits as much as possible.
“I’m never going to be fully away from those pits,” he said. “The goal is that I’m back there cooking as much as I can.”
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Hendrickson also plans to do whole hog roasts every week, and there is smoked Polish sausage and a spicier Texas-link sausage.
Cattle & Cream of Cherry Valley provides the sausages while Eickman’s Processing Co. in Seward cures the meats. In the future, Hendrickson hopes to be able to make his own sausage in house.
Bar service may also be added in the future, but Hendrickson said one thing he won’t add is video gambling.
“There’s places everywhere for people to do that,” he said. “I’d sooner shut it all down than do that.”
The restaurant is open from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday (or however long supplies last), and then the regular days will be Thursday through Sunday.
The Poplar Grove native is an Army veteran who served two tours in Iraq. He became a social studies teacher in Chicago after he was medically retired from the military. The name Whiskey Hotel is derived from the type of phonetic representation of the owner’s initials – W.H. – that is often used in the military. Doing so gave Hendrickson’s restaurant a connection to his past military service.
Hendrickson describes himself as an old-fashioned pitmaster. He uses hardwood for the fires in his pits, including a massive smoker nicknamed L-Block that Hendrickson manufactured with his cousin David Hendrickson from an 1,140-gallon anhydrous tank.
He fine-tuned his skills with a smoker through hours of experimentation and by studying the work of other pitmasters before he decided to go into the barbecue business. It caught on quickly after he opened the food truck in the Schnucks parking lot on Elevator Road last year, and his business has earned 46 reviews on Google — all of them five stars.
“That pipe dream of having this amazing barbecue joint … that felt like a fever dream back then, but that’s the path we’re on,” he said. “We would not be there if not for the customers who have given us way more love than I would have ever guessed, and I can’t be anything but incredibly appreciative.”
About | Whiskey Hotel Barbecue
Location: 5522 Elevator Road, Roscoe
Hours: 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. (supply pending)
Website:whiskeyhotelbbq.com
On social media:facebook.com/whiskeyhotelbbq
Contact:whiskeyhotelbbq@gmail.com
This article is byKevin Haas. Email him atkhaas@rockrivercurrent.comor follow him on X at@KevinMHaasor Instagram@thekevinhaasand Threads@thekevinhaas
