
Dinghy’s Smoked Barbeque Ribs
Tastemaker
By Lynda Wheatley | Feb. 27, 2021
Dinghy’s Restaurant & Bar in downtown Frankfort was hit particularly hard by the pandemic restrictions. “We don’t have a patio, and the City of Frankfort prohibits sidewalk tables. Because Dinghy’s is a very small restaurant, compliance with the social distancing restriction eliminated almost 75 percent of our seating,” owner Steve Christian told Northern Express. As a result, sales in the last year were down about 69 percent. And yet … Dinghy’s is still chugging along.
Christian credits a bump in takeout orders that followed his investment in better packaging: “We replaced Styrofoam clamshell boxes that cost less than 10 cents each for quality plastic microwaveable boxes that cost 47 cents each.” But we can’t overlook what Dinghy’s puts in them — most frequently, their locally famous smoked BBQ ribs. With two giant smokers in the eatery’s dedicated smoker room, Dinghy’s smokes seven different meats — pulled pork for their BBQ sandwich, tri-tip sirloin for their French dip sandwich, half-chicken, some of the best chicken wings around, andouille sausage for their bacon-wrapped sausage appetizer, and their utterly amazing, uber-meaty St. Louis-style pork ribs, which you can get with their own (and our favorite) sauce, or dry-rubbed.
Can’t decide? They’ll even let you do a half-rack of each (normally $16.99 per half) for the price of a full rack ($24.99). Really though, for your own good and that of Dinghy’s, do yourself a favor and pick up a full rack of each. The improved packaging, we attest, keeps them delicious for days. Find Dinghy’s at 415 Main St. Call (231) 352-4702 or order online at www.dinghysrestaurant.com.
Trending

Meet the Karens
Every so often, Northern Express includes stories suggested by readers. This is one such story, and it came from Ada Takacs.… Read More >>
Summer Adventures Await: 22 Events Happening Up North This July
We all know about the big festivals happening around the North in high summer. So we skipped the obvious and dove into these… Read More >>
Sixty Years of Alpenfest
Sixty years—can you believe it?! This Alpenfest will be one for the books, and all the fun runs from July 8-12 in Gayl… Read More >>