The Woodshed Smokehouse in Fort Worth’s menu is revealed

Bigger news than the Dead Sea scrolls.

Photo by Kevin Buchanan

Tim Love's Woodshed Smokehouse

FORT WORTH — The WoodShed Smokehouse, Tim Love's new restaurant in Fort Worth, which is already emerging as one of the biggest openings so far in '12, officially released the details of its menu on Friday.

If you visited the website before 5 p.m., it actually said that the menu would be "revealed on Friday at 5 p.m." Friday at 5 p.m. is not exactly an optimum time to reveal something, and it sat there all weekend, almost unnoticed.

But today is Monday, it's a new day, and it's time to notice the menu. It starts with Snacks, which read like tapas, nearly all of them "smoked":

Tortillas and camp bread with "pit master fat," oooo, that sounds unusual
Smoked almonds with chile salt
Smoked marinated olives
Crispy potatoes with smoked garlic aioli
Smoked artichokes (for $9, yikes)
Smoked whitefish dip with camp bread.

The only snack not officially smoked is: Mexican corn.

Salads sound good, though not particularly original, other than Item #1:

Grilled broccolini with lime and crispy garlic
3 kale salad with celergy greens, guanciale, smoked pepita, and Manchego cheese -- boy, that one has every trendy thing in the book
Shaved fennel and pear
Beet and ricotta with smoked pistachios

Someone really ought to do a drinking game here with the word "smoked".

Next category -- Simple Plates & Tacos:

Brisket stuffed piquillo peppers with "bone broth", hmm, bone broth, hmmm
"Local"? acorn squash, Tuaca -- a Tim Love favorite -- and dark brown sugar
"Today's sausage"
Whole smoked cauliflower head with olive oil, lemon, and chile arbol; Love says he treats it like a brisket.
Bulgogi beef with house kimchi -- making his own kimchi
Bourbon & Coke pork "bahn mi" with pickled chiles
"Today's animal" -- yikes

Sandwiches

The "Skinny chicken" sandwich -- with fried chicken skin, "fresh mayo", watercress, and red onion -- is the only novel one. The other three: pulled pork, chopped beef, and burger.

New Q

In addition to traditional BBQ beef ribs, pork ribs, and tenderloin, there is this section called "New Q" -- it's the big deal here and includes:

Smoked red fish en papillote with vegetables
Game bird with -- get this: "wood-braised spelt". Spelt is a grain. Wonder how you wood-braise a grain.
"Fancy mushrooms of the season"
TRENDY TRENDY: Bowl of ramen noodles with meat juices, chiles, and quail egg. Price: $15. Ramen noodles are usually popular because they are dirt-cheap.

And then there's the Dining With Friends section, where you order one meal for four people:

16-hour smoked beef shin with borracho beans and 3-kale salad, for $75
Open fire paella with mussels, clams, shrimp, rabbit-rattlesnake sausage (kindof like what he does at Lonesome Dove), and game bird, $75
a 60-ounce bistecca alla Fiorentina with crispy potatoes for $90

If food doesn't do it for you, there's an entire section devoted to the four kinds of wood they use to smoke with. A menu of wood -- sounds positively yum.