Milwaukee’s barbecue community is about to sustain a loss. Heaven’s Table BBQ (5507 W. North Ave.) is closing on Oct. 7, a move that owner Jason Alston says “is time.” Between teaching in the culinary arts program at MATC and his community work, he says he was ready. And this: “I got tired,” he says.
After starting Heaven’s Table in 2018 with a location in the now-closed Crossroads Collective food hall on the East Side, Alston opened his brick and mortar in 2021.
Alston didn’t start his career in the restaurant industry making BBQ. Before Heaven’s Table, he worked in the kitchens of restaurants-no-longer, such as Umami Moto and Mikey’s. The cooking he grew up with inspired him to start his own concept. Barbecue was “something I grew up seeing my grandparents and my uncles making, and it was something that kind of fell in my lap easily,” he says.
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At Heaven’s Table, Alston quickly built a following for his slow-smoked beef brisket and hickory-smoked pork ribs with house dry rub. His menu also offers rib tips, smoked chicken and range of sides, including mac and cheese, dirty rice (which is especially good with the brisket), greens, coleslaw, house baked beans, coleslaw fries and cornbread.
Next week, he also plans to bring back his popular pastrami.
Despite feeling ready, Alston admits he feels sad, too. “I’m shedding tears looking at the pictures [on Facebook] from the first days of Heaven’s Table. I think it all finally hit me this morning,” he says.
Hours until the closing: Tues-Fri 3-8 p.m.; Sat 11 a.m.-7 p.m.
Alston’s closing announcement on Facebook:
