Owners of Duluth Grill to Open Second Restaurant

The OMC Smokehouse will be a different concept for Lincoln Park.

The owners behind the Duluth Grill are ready to serve up some brand new flavors in a second location.

“We have a lot of work to do,” said Louis Hanson, managing general partner of the OMC Smokehouse.

Louis Hanson, also one of the managers at the Duluth Grill, sees a lot of potential in the new Lincoln Park location.

The brand new restaurant will be called the OMC Smokehouse. OMC stands for oink, moo, and cluck. It will serve barbecue.

“Barbecue hasn’t been seen tapped yet in Duluth and we’re really going to take on the projects we have and transform and give northern Minnesota the style of barbecue it deserves,” said Hanson.

After the success of the Duluth Grill, the Hansons looked at their talented staff and feared losing them to other restaurants, so these Northlanders are going south for new flavors.

“It will be a challenge, you can feel the life in this building. If we’re going to keep the food tradition going in Duluth, we need to look at secession as part of the plan without my wife and I getting too old and too tired to keep running it,” said Tom Hanson.

The Hansons have already gutted the one-hundred plus year old building which used to be a bar and men’s club.

“If these walls could talk there would be some stories,” said Hanson.

So while much work needs to be done, the Hansons look forward to being a part of the revitalization in Lincoln Park.

“There’s always the fear of failing but I think that’s a good thing to have. It pushes us to another level of wanting to be successful and doing justice to food,” said Hanson.