Lagerheads Smokehouse
 Medina, Ohio        Date of Visit  02/16/13              http://www.lagerheads.us/

Another new adventure, Lagerhead’s Smokehouse in Medina which we had heard had the best BBQ sauce in the county so we were excited driving into the suddenly blinding snow. There is a wait and no spaces in the parking lot, wonderful. A nice crew of folks had assembled inside the door and we got a “must-have” recommendation from a fellow waiter who told us we had to get the pork rinds. Far be it from us to refuse a recommendation…even fried pig skin. The interior is countryesqe, put together nicely. The tables weren’t set up to make a lot of sense in the room we were seated in with an enormous empty swath of space left abandoned to fit the only big top against the wall.
 

They Might Brew Better Than They Q
 

Our server was average and outside of screwing up one of our orders (they took care of it leaving the mistake at no cost btb) did alright through the night.

Along with the pork rinds and Lagerhead fries we tried a couple of the house brewed adult beverages. The barnburner was a golden lager that looked pretty good. I tried the savage, a stout which had a deep bitter/sweet flavor and savory chocolate finish. A good start. My first pork rind made me happy we had ordered them. I have never bought them in a bag and have only had them on one other occasion but the crunchy porkiness was spectacular. No successive bite could get close to matching though as the grease dulled the palate almost instantly leaving them tasting more like packing peanuts. There was a bright vinegary hot sauce served with them that kept me munching on them but only to get the taste of the sauce. The fries were doused with cheese, bacon and green onions but were themselves extraordinarily greasy and limp which made for a less than successful dish.
 

We ordered the combo app plate with wings, ribs, onion rings and cream cheese jalapeno wraps, a beef brisket sandwich, a full rack with corn bread and the combo dinner with pork loin and chicken. The brisket sandwich looked alright, it could have used a little extra cleaning to remove some of the ponderous layer of fat that survived the cooking. The only difference between the appetizer combo and our dinners were the onion rings and the wraps. The wraps were reportedly pretty good but the onion rings were left uneaten…I didn’t try one but that’s not a sign of desire.

My combo arrived with ribs instead of the chicken, which was added due to the mistake. The chicken had a nice layer of smoke and was generally juicy, not bad over all. The ribs were a mixed bag. My now free half rack had been burned black on top during reheating which made them less than pleasant. The full rack didn’t have the same problem, had the same nice balance of smoke and were actually a little above average in my experience.
 

The real surprise for me was the pork loin. Three thick slices had been smoked and cross hatched on the grill. I really like pork loin, somewhat healthy, nicely piggy, a good combo. This stuff had been smoked to the point that it flaked almost like well done fish. I would definitely order those again.

The cornbread that was ordered as a side with the rack was interesting. More like a yellow cupcake with a hint of corn flavor. Not my favorite. I prefer a hint of sweet in cornbread but this was a definite overload. I had a similar problem with their sauce, better than Bullies by far, it reminded me of a few that I have had with some sort of pop/soda reduction. No bite, little richness, lotsa sweet. I am really interested in trying the Chorizo, olive balls appetizer…hard to imagine but I would try those over the fries or rinds easily. Not bad for Medina, some of it is worth the wait.