Smoky Point began somewhere in up in old Nordeast, probably on East Hennepin. The owner, Aleck “Smoky” Ellis immigrated to Minnesota from Greece in 1915. I suspect another branch of the family opened a restaurant near Robbinsdale called the Log Cabin. Eventually Ellis moved his operations away to the south where he built the iconic Smoky Point BBQ. The joint was famous for its fireplace, painted roof, table-side juke boxes and three cookers outside the building for cooking the wonderful barbecued ribs.
Ellis helped bring Met Stadium Bloomington advocating for a site across the street from the restaurant. The original Smoky point was demolished to build 494. Ellis reopened in a smaller building nearby. A year before his death in 1962, Ellis sold his property to the Decathlon Hotel and Athletic Club. The location of the old restaurant is about where the Radisson Hotel and Water Park were built, across the street from the Mall of America.
