Posted on June 10, 2022 at 11:40 PM by The Biker Lawyers
How To Eat Well at a Motorcycle-Friendly Restaurant With Awesome Live Music
I was just out killing time, driving to Galena, when I noticed a big red barn on the side of the road with a bunch of bikes parked outside.
I was out of my familiar territory, and I had never heard of this place before.
There was a sign that said The Hilltop at Menominee, but that didn’t really help me to figure out what this place was about. I decided to turn around at the next exit to go see for myself what kind of a place could draw so many riders.
The Smokehouse Band: Live Biker Entertainment
As soon as I got out of my car, I heard live music. I walked around the back of the place, where I found a big deck with a live band (called The Smokehouse Band) set up and entertaining this big crew of bikers that I had just found.
After I talked to a few of them, I found out that there were two chapters of the Red Knights (firemen) gathered to eat and listen to music.
Challenge Accepted: The (Award Winning) Wings
I questioned a few of them about the food, and they immediately recommended the wings and huge pretzel. A lot of other people had already ordered the wings, and I could smell the chicken cooking throughout the whole building.
You can get Honey Sriracha, Hot Buffalo, Garlic Parmesan, Sweet Chili, Asian Bourbon, and Kickin’ Bourbon for flavor choices. The menu shows that they won the 2019 Wing Fest, and I’m pretty sure that’s not the only contest they have ever won with the wings.
A Big Pretzel for Big Appetites
The pretzel was the size of the whole plate. It comes with cheese for dipping, and you probably won’t have room for much else if you decide to eat the whole thing.
Comfort Food at Hilltop
I also saw a couple eating beside me who weren’t with the biker groups. They had a hot beef sandwich that looked and smelled amazing. From talking to them, I gathered that this is one of their favorite places to come for hot beef.
Apparently, this place used to be a supper club, but now it’s more of a bar that serves comfort food along with standard bar food items.
Looking for a Motorcycle-Friendly spot to take the crew to eat and enjoy live music? This is it!
This would definitely be a good destination for a road trip on a bike, and big groups of bikers are obviously not a problem for them to handle. Everybody I talked to seemed really happy with the food and the music.
Second-to-none Scenery
The scenery in the area is beautiful, and this would most assuredly be a fun route for touring the countryside.
Galena is just a short ride in one direction, and nor far in the other direction, you will cross over the Mississippi River.
If you are looking for a lot of stuff to do in a small area, this is it. Galena has the old historic buildings and lots of shops, while the towns on both sides of the river are also fun to explore and have places where you can get right next to the water.
The Hilltop at Menominee is somewhere in the middle, and they can make sure you get some good food. If you get lucky like I did, you might even get to look at a lineup of really gorgeous bikes outside in the parking lot.
A note from Will Carter, The Ambassador of Flavors:
“This is one of many biker bar reviews I will be doing on a weekly basis. The goal is to promote local bars as destinations for motorcycle enthusiasts. These reviews will be part of an online resource created to help bikers find bars with good food and entertainment.”