Smoke It Up Express

Food-Truck Smoke at Gather COLA

“Pulled pork, mac & cheese, peach cobbler… need we say more?”

That was Gather COLA’s welcome when it announced Smoke It Up Express, according to Chris Trainor of The State. The Columbia food-hall counter brings Chef Stanley K. Livingston’s longtime family-run Smoke It Up Food Truck into BullStreet, where low-and-slow smoked meats meet a menu built for both a proper barbecue plate and a forkful of loaded fries.

Pulled pork, chopped brisket, rib tips, chopped chicken, and smoked wings form the barbecue backbone.

But Smoke It Up Express also carries the sort of food-truck specialties that make a quick order memorable: Piggy Fries, loaded nachos, yellow-rice bowls, and Stanley’s Famous Peach Cobbler.

Inside Gather COLA, it is a counter-service stop with enough barbecue range to reward the traditionalist ordering pork and two sides, as well as the diner who would rather start with fries, cheese sauce, and smoked meat.

Food-Truck Roots Behind the Counter

Smoke It Up Express grows out of the barbecue operation Livingston built with his wife, Kimberly, and their family. The Smoke It Up Food Truck website describes the business as South Carolina-style barbecue cooked low and slow on a gravity-feed smoker.

That food-truck background shows up in the menu’s mix of traditional plates and more playful options. A pulled pork plate is there for diners looking for a straightforward barbecue lunch, but so are loaded fries, nachos, wraps, and rice bowls for those who prefer their smoked meat in a less conventional form.

The result is a menu that feels well suited to Gather COLA’s fast-moving, counter-service setting without losing sight of the barbecue itself.

Smoked Meats, Plates, and Baskets

Pulled pork, chopped chicken, chopped brisket, rib tips, and smoked chicken wings make up the backbone of the menu.

Barbecue plates come with two fixins, giving diners a more traditional meat-and-sides option. Pulled pork, chopped chicken, chopped brisket, six-piece smoked chicken wings, and rib tips are all available in plate form.

Those who want to build their own meal can order pulled pork, chopped chicken, chopped brisket, or rib tips by the half-pound. Sandwiches and wraps offer another easy route, with pork, chicken, and brisket all available in handheld form.

Basket meals lean into the food-truck side of the operation. A sandwich basket comes with a choice of meat piled on a bun and one fixin, while the wraps add lettuce, pico de gallo, and sweet red barbecue sauce.

Piggy Fries, Nachos, and Rice Bowls

The menu’s most distinctive dishes are the ones that put barbecue over fries, chips, or yellow rice.

Smoke It Up Nachos begin with a bed of chips, then add a choice of meat, nacho cheese sauce, sweet barbecue sauce, lettuce, and pico de gallo. It is the kind of fork-and-fingers meal that makes sense for a shared food-hall table.

Southwest Piggy Fries take a similar approach, layering a choice of meat over fries with nacho cheese sauce, sweet red barbecue sauce, and pico de gallo. For diners who want barbecue with a little more heft than a sandwich, this is likely one of the first places to look.

The BBQ Bowl swaps fries and chips for yellow rice. Diners choose a meat, then select sweet red, mustard-base, or kickin’ bourbon sauce before the bowl is finished with lettuce and pico de gallo.

Wings and Sauces

Smoke It Up Express offers smoked chicken wings in six-piece portions, either on a plate or as a basket with one fixin.

Wing sauce choices include sweet red barbecue sauce, mustard-base sauce, kickin’ bourbon sauce, and hot honey. The same sweet red, mustard-base, and kickin’ bourbon sauces also come into play on the restaurant’s barbecue bowl.

That sauce selection gives diners more than one way to approach the menu, especially for those deciding between a sweeter red barbecue sauce and a mustard-forward option.

Fixins and Peach Cobbler

The fixin list sticks close to barbecue staples: fries, baked beans, mac and cheese, green beans, coleslaw, and potato salad.

The menu closes with Stanley’s Famous Peach Cobbler, a dessert that connects directly to the Smoke It Up Food Truck’s long-running reputation for peach cobbler alongside its smoked meats and comfort-food sides.

It is an especially fitting finish after a plate of pork, a basket of wings, or an order of Piggy Fries.

Eating at Gather COLA

Smoke It Up Express is a good fit for diners who want barbecue in a casual, shared setting rather than a stand-alone dining room.

Gather COLA’s food-hall format makes it easy for a barbecue-focused diner to order a pork plate, brisket sandwich, or rib tips while others in the group explore the building’s other vendors.

For barbecue fans, the appeal is clear: Smoke It Up Express carries an established Columbia food-truck operation into a permanent counter-service setting, bringing smoked meats, mustard sauce, peach cobbler, and loaded barbecue favorites along with it.

What Folks Are Saying

Google Review

Among the Google Reviews, Local Guide Parshandatha Davis put it short and sweet:

The brisket plate with green beans and mac n cheese was delicious! Check them out.

Facebook Review

Over on their Facebook page, Tai Rogers summed it up:

Listen… this place is a whole vibe. The service was on point from start to finish, the food was chef’s kiss amazing, and the prices were so reasonable it almost felt like a steal. This is definitely one of those spots you end up coming back to over and over again because they just get it right every single time. Highly recommend!!!

Sample Menu

Note: Menu prices and options are subject to change over time. Contact the restaurant for the most up-to-date information.

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