East Idaho Eats: Barbecue cafe inside hardware store has tasty house-smoked meats and sides

SODA SPRINGS — A barbecue cafe is sizzling with tasty house-smoked meats, burgers and classic sides.

Caribou Jack’s BBQ in Soda Springs is located inside a red building that’s a hardware store called Caribou Jack’s Trading Co.

“You can buy a barbecue sandwich with some nuts and bolts at either cash register at the store. Usually, at McDonald’s, they say, ‘Would you like fries with that?’ We ask, ‘Would you like a gallon of paint with that?’ It makes it kind of unique and fun,” said Robert Lau, the owner.

Lau shared some delicious sides, brisket, and a burger with EastIdahoNews.com.

One side shared was the red dill potato salad, which is nice and refreshing, even in the wintertime.

“It is my mom’s recipe. The family has been eating it for a lot of years. When we first started out, we had what we called a picnic or country potato salad which is your traditional yellow one and this one and everybody just loved the red dill so we made that our potato salad,” Lau said.

The baked beans are another homemade recipe.

“My wife, my kids, and I all played around with lots of ways to make baked beans, and so this is another homemade recipe. Everything here at Caribou Jack’s except the breads, we make in-house,” he said.

Caribou Jack’s BBQ has a unique touch to it too. The tables that anyone can sit at are designed by Lau’s children. One has pictures on it, another is designed to look like a green tractor, and there’s one with an American flag with the state of Idaho on it.

“We have seven different tables here at the restaurant, and all of them were created and designed by our kids. They came up with different ideas of what they wanted to do, and off we went,” Lau said.

Lau shared some brisket and an original barbecue sauce.

“The brisket we cook overnight between 10 and 14 hours depending on the piece of meat,” he said. “This is a house-original barbecue sauce. Our middle son developed that recipe for us. It’s a secret recipe. The goal is to, someday soon, be able to bottle it with our rubs as well and have them for sale.”

There are a few different sauces, including one that is called the raspberry chipotle.

He additionally offers chili at the cafe, but it’s not the typical kind that you would think of.

“Our chili is a little different in where we choose to use black beans instead of a pinto or white bean in our chili and then hamburger or ground beef. We do put in chili powder in the chili, and we also use a bit of chipotle powder to give it a little bit of its kick and a little bit of variety from your standard everyday chili,” Lau said.

Last but not least, one of the most popular items is called the 8 Mile Burger. Every Wednesday, Lau says they do a burger, and it’s always different.

“(This one) has pulled pork, bacon, cheese, cheese sauce, crunchy onions and our house-made barbecue sauce,” he said.

Caribou Jack’s BBQ is located at 50 East Second South and is open from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Friday and closes at 5 p.m. on Saturdays. The hardware store opens at 8 a.m. Click here to learn more.