Backdraft BBQ at Headwaters

Backdraft BBQ at Headwaters Not your average Northwoods Supper Club. Specializing in seafood and smokehouse dinners. You'll find food here you won't find anywhere else.

06/01/2026

Here comes something a few of you have been waiting for:

WHAT: We're running a 2 day test kitchen the week before we officially open. We're setting up and running dinner service to work out the bugs and dial in the kitchen and server flow.

WHEN: June 24th and June 26th 4pm till 9pm. The 24th will be full menu and the 26th will be our usual All You Can Eat Friday Fish or Ribs

WHO: Test days will be limited to 50 guests. Send a message with who you are and how many in your group. After the first 50 people for the 24th, names will go on the list for the 26th. If you don't make the list in time, don't worry, we'll be open the following week starting the 1st from 11am - 9pm

Hopefully the nights will go smoothly, but if they don't, we'd rather know and have time to correct it before we officially open for business. See you then.

05/28/2026

We know there's a fair number of people in the area who buzz around on ebikes and escooters. We know this because we've found more than a few of them parked next to the building plugged in and charging and the cameras outside see everything. I could be "that guy" and bitch and complain about it but I'm not that guy and I have an idea. "Oh s**t" you say... "he's got an idea" you say.... And you'd usually be right to be concerned because I've come up with some REALLY dumb ones over the years. But I don't think this is one of them. I propose a trade. We're having a work day this Saturday. Lots to do to get ready to open. Lots of friends and family coming to help. Why don't some of you bike and scooter riders stop by around 10am or so and help us knock some projects off the list. And while you're helping us out, why don't we figure out and set up a spot we can put a charging station? We can pick a spot that you can park your wheels and plug them in and we'll run power cords and charging blocks there. If someone has a rapid charger they wanna donate, we'll put that out there too. Then when y'all stop in to grab food or a drink you'll have your own charging area to park in. I'll even leave the outside outlets switched on so if we're closed you can still charge up. Think it over and we'll see you on Saturday

WE'RE HIRING COOKSIf your idea of a good sandwich is a tuna mayo like your grandma makes then please don't bother respon...
05/27/2026

WE'RE HIRING COOKS

If your idea of a good sandwich is a tuna mayo like your grandma makes then please don't bother responding Seriously. Last time I was hiring for a cook I got over 200 CVs. You know how long it takes to read 200 CVs? I need a second in command to bang out a ton of BBQ and semi-fancy food in a kitchen the size of a closet, and you also have to put up with my wife because I do, and she's the real boss. The money $16/hr and those without passion need not apply. It's $16 an hour and a cut of the kitchen tips. Don't ask for more because I don't have it. You'll literally be making more than me because I am essentially working for free until the place is paid off. I'm dead serious about the money thing. Don't come to an interview and then say it sounds great but you've got your kid's school clothes to buy or whatever. I don't care. There's no money. There's $16/hr and some tips, 30-40 hours a week. Deal with it. I'm working 75 hours for zero. You can definitely get more hours once the place has legs, and eventually we'll be open more days so there's the possibility that you can be the solo guy (or gal) in charge of a lot of shifts if you're decent. In fact, if you're awesome and you have actual cooking skills, you'll probably be my best friend and you'll work 55 hours a week and I'll let you put whatever horrible music you enjoy on the stereo and buy you beer.
I don't care if you're super outgoing or actually mute. I don't care if you've got tattoos. I don't care if you only work in kitchens to get away from your horrible significant other. I don't care about anything other than that you're fast enough not to be in the weeds constantly and you want to be part of something genuine and good. This is a BBQ joint. You can learn a lot. You can have a good degree of freedom. What you cannot do is be a pain in my balls because my life savings is on the line and I have to work with my wife all day so I don't have time for any primadonna bulls**t. Come be part of a family and make better BBQ than the Northwoods knows what to do with or go pursue your MasterChef dreams at one of the properly fancy places around the area (or bang out grease bombs at an all-night bar if that's what you're into) I promise if you're good you'll be full-time in no time and I'll take care of you. I know how horrible this industry can be and I'm not looking to take advantage of anyone or burn you out so I can go on vacation all summer. It's going to be a hard job but I genuinely think we can do something refreshing and different in this area so if that seems like the type of thing you're into, shoot me a message here or email your CV to [email protected] and we'll make it happen

-P

Taking a break today. Team Disc Golf day
05/24/2026

Taking a break today. Team Disc Golf day

We're not even open yet and the swear jar is full
05/22/2026

We're not even open yet and the swear jar is full

05/21/2026

BRING US YOUR STUFF

We realized we have a lot more space to fill and not enough stuff to fill it. If anyone has any stuff they'd be willing to donate or loan us, we'll find a place for it. Here's some stuff we're looking for:

Old bunker gear
Fire tools
Helmet shields and patches
Wildlife mounts
Strange or odd items
Haunted items
Antique fire service memorabilia
Things from the history of the building and town

Stuff we are NOT looking for:

Blow up dolls
Balloons
Grandma's box of beanie babies from 1981
Clowns
Autographed photos of Rosie O'Donnell

If you have any of those things, feel free to drop them off at the restaurant. We're there most days working. If we're not there, shoot us a message and we'll meet you wherever or shoot a message and drop it on the deck unless it's raining
Thanks everyone

-P&E

WE'RE DONE. THAT'S A WRAP. WE ARE CLOSING THE DOORS AT GRESHAM LODGE. In the words of Corporal Hicks, "That's it, man! G...
05/21/2026

WE'RE DONE. THAT'S A WRAP. WE ARE CLOSING THE DOORS AT GRESHAM LODGE. In the words of Corporal Hicks, "That's it, man! Game over, man! Game over!"

And in the words of Paul Harvey, "... And now..... for the rest of the story"
The shutdown is temporary, only 6 weeks, which gives us time to tear down, pack up, and move everything to our new home: The place you all probably know as Headwaters in Boulder Junction. We've got a bunch of work ahead of us to get set up and ready to open July 1, but first and most importantly special heartfelt thanks go out to Denise Goldsworthy of ReMax Realty and the owners of Razz's, Anne and Tom, and David and Carrie for supporting us and making this deal happen. Thanks to Larry for taking a flyer on us when everything went to s**t three years ago. Thanks to Gooch and Laurel for always giving us straight honest no bulls**t advice. Thanks to Ian at Boulder Junction Brewing for giving us an opportunity to give people a preview of what we offer. Thanks to all of you who came in to eat at Gresham and gave us the kick in the ass we needed to do this. That said, we are who we are. We're Backdraft BBQ. We're not gonna try to be anything we're not. The menu will remain mostly the same. We're adding a few things and we're dropping a few things, but it will be the same quality BBQ you're used to but you can eat outside if you want. Yes there will be cheesecake, don't panic. This move also gives E a dedicated space to make all our desserts and sell them under her own brand: Bite Me Bakery. We suspect she'll be making a LOT of cheesecakes.
Sorry this is a long post, and lots more words than we intended so we'll wrap it up with this... We're gonna offer live music when we can and we'll host events and participate in community events and club rides and host meetings and private events and we still cater events. Our food is dialed in even if the event might not be. But we'll get it nailed down because that's what we do.. We make it work. This is a huge step up but we're gonna go hard because we don't know how to do things any other way. See you at the new place.

-P&E

Another full rack to the table
05/16/2026

Another full rack to the table

Margarine cubes with Fruit Loop dust....for curious servers
05/16/2026

Margarine cubes with Fruit Loop dust....for curious servers

Address

5675 County Road M
Boulder Junction, WI
54512

Opening Hours

Friday 4pm - 9pm
Saturday 4pm - 9pm

Website

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