The Metcalfe Smokehouse

Barbecue in Elora, the people behind The Metcalfe Smokehouse decided early, should not read as Texas or Carolina. They call it uniquely Elora barbecue instead, and the phrase carries some weight because of who is using it. Dylan James, the chief operating officer of Elora Brewing Company, opened the smokehouse in 2026 with the brewery's Jon Laurencic and Jim Murphy, and by their own account it is a separate restaurant rather than a second brewery address — a distinction they took the trouble to say out loud. It sits at the corner of Metcalfe and Mill streets downtown, in what used to be the Metcalfe Tap and Grill, under a name borrowed straight from the street.

The kitchen builds around the smoker. AAA beef brisket is the throughline: it turns up sliced on a bun with white onions and pickles, portioned a-la-carte by the half-pound, and offered as the upgrade on every combination plate, which is how a smokehouse signals that the meat is the point and not a garnish. Pork ribs come by the half-rack, pulled pork gets a Carolina mop and slaw, and smoked sausages and a quarter of smoked chicken fill out the a-la-carte board. The sides pull their weight: tater tots dusted in a house dry rub, baked beans, coleslaw, mac and cheese, and cornbread that comes standard with the two- and three-meat plates. The plates scale all the way to a five-meat, five-side family platter built to feed four.

What keeps The Metcalfe from reading as a one-note brisket counter is a house-favourites section with its own ideas. Pork Belly Burnt Ends arrive sticky with gochujang, green onion, sesame, cilantro, and crushed peanuts, closer to composed eating than platter default. Riverfest Fried Chicken gives the table a reason to come for something other than smoke, three pieces finished with buttermilk dill and hot honey. Even the salads reach past obligation: an arugula Elora Greens with pine nuts and lemon-honey, a Santa Fe with black beans, dates, and tortilla crunch, a Sow Umami bowl with tahini-lime and chia. The burnt ends and the tahini bowl on the same menu are the tell that this kitchen is thinking well past the platter.

The backstory is short but pointed. These three already know how to run a full house a few streets away — Laurencic and Murphy are among the founders of Elora Brewing Company, and James runs its operations — so The Metcalfe reads less as a debut than a second act with a different craft at the centre. Rather than clone the brewery, they took a downtown corner that has changed restaurants before and pointed it squarely at smoke. The brewery still turns up in the glass: Elora Brewing beer pours alongside wine and cocktails, which is about as much of a second-location handshake as the partners seem willing to make.

The everyday case is already simple. The Metcalfe keeps long hours, later on weekends, with a pergola-shaded patio and a menu that runs from a plain sausage on a bun to platters meant to anchor a whole table: kids get sliders and sweet potato tots, a lighter appetite gets the salads, and a group gets the family platter with the sides to match. This is a first summer, and the menu will keep moving. What is already fixed is the intent behind it — a barbecue house built to belong to Elora rather than import somebody else's version of it.