Southwest Oklahoma Has a New BBQ Restaurant to Try

Lawton, Oklahoma is many things. There are a ton of different definitions and reputations for this town, depending on several factors. Who you ask, how old they are, and when and why they lived and/or visited our little SWOK town.

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The elephant in the room... Lawton has a long-standing reputation as the dangerous Murder Capital of Oklahoma. While it may have been true in the past - this is the fun fact my father told me when I first moved here - that's not the case for L-Town these days. Does murder happen? Sure... but most of the cases read like they're FAFO situations.

Home of the worst roads in Oklahoma - This is a fair and common assumption, but I've driven some pretty horrendous city streets in some other small towns. The City of Lawton is actually finally making an attempt to fix a lot of our streets right now. That's a big plus.

The Green Mile - This one is hilarious. When Oklahoma opened up the Wild West of medical marijuana, Lawton had more dispensaries per capita than any other place on earth. It was so common to see two or more weed joints in every strip mall that the people dubbed Cache Road "The Green Mile."

It's the Oklahoma fast food capital, pawn shop capital, nail salon capital, Mexican and Chinese food capital, etc... but the Shady-580 has never been known for good barbeque, and there's a valid reason for that.

Lawton is so diverse that nobody can agree on what good BBQ is.

Located adjacent to Lawton is Fort Sill - home of field artillery for the US Army. And like any town dependent on military and federal jobs, the demographics of the people living here is a jumbled mixed bag of backgrounds from other states, cities, cultures, and countries.

Those from the Southeastern United States only consider sour pickled whole-hog pork to be BBQ. Those from The South like sticky sweet meats. The Midwestern fellas tend to think ribs should be mushy and fall off the bones, and the Texans feel that if it's not bitter with that bite of nasty mesquite smoke, it's inferior in every way.

I get that nobody tends to think of Oklahoma as a BBQ destination, which is wild since we're the only state doing it right.

Simple rubs with a little flavor smoked low and slow over hickory and pecan woods. Good bark, smokey bites, and ribs that rightfully should have a little chew to them.

I also get that I'm super partial to Oklahoma BBQ having lived here so long, but as a once-adopted Texan who first tasted BBQ in Goliad, this is a hill I'll gladly die on. It's also probably why when people ask my opinion of BBQ in Lawton, this is my standard answer.

Now I do understand that every individual has a different taste. Some prefer the Boomerque over at Billy Sims. Others talk endlessly of John & Cook's. Native Smoke in Elgin has captivated the rural crowd, but my tastebud bang-zone is home at Rib Crib.

This is America, we can respectfully disagree.

A new BBQ eatery has popped up in Lawton, and I'd imagine everyone will want to try it.

It's called Smokie Bites BBQ, and it appears to be a food truck. They haven't announced a grand opening celebration just yet, but are getting meats out to people in a common Oklahoma way.

My hometown high school wrestling team fundraises by selling vacuum-sealed pre-cooked racks of ribs. If the Facebook page is any indication, Smokie Bites is doing the same, advertising hickory smoked ribs for the masses with an aim to fully open their food trailer in early 2025.

While whole-hog nuts will likely never admit smoked ribs are better in every.single.way... the rest of us will be delighted to get a taste when we can.