A well-known barbecue destination in Livingston Manor is turning the page on a new chapter.
After five years serving smoked meats and Southern-inspired comfort food in the Catskills hamlet, The Smoke Joint is handing over operations to the team behind Smokd Barbecue.
Jennifer Grossman of The Smoke Joint and JP Medina and Sarah Banks Medina of Smokd describe the shift as less of a closure and more as an evolution rooted in community and shared culinary values.
A passing of the barbecue baton
Grossman said the decision to entrust the next phase of the restaurant to the Medinas was shaped by long-standing professional ties and a shared philosophy about hospitality.
“Well, first of all, you know, the talent and the culinary skill that JP brings to the table is is unmatched, she said. “It’s it’s bittersweet. Truly.”
She pointed to the restaurant’s origins — a once-vacant site transformed into a destination dining spot — as part of a larger story about growth in Livingston Manor and the broader Catskills region.
The Smoke Joint, she said, was built on community connection, from local institutions to families who made the restaurant part of their routines.
“Whether it was the folks from the highway department, the library, the school, the bank… without that community, we could not have been as successful as we were,” Grossman said.
A return to Livingston Manor
For the Medinas, the opportunity represents something cyclical: a return to the place where their careers in the region began more than a decade ago.
They previously built a following in Narrowsburg with Smokd at the Big Eddy Brewing Company, and say the Livingston Manor opportunity felt both unexpected and inevitable.
JP Medina described the path forward as rooted in identity and experience, blending influences from his Colombian heritage with regional ingredients and barbecue traditions.
“I would say so it’s it’s it’s somebody who had put it a a beautiful way was it’s it’s our DNA, right?”
He said Smokd Barbecue is built on a mix of inspiration and place.
“Of who we are, what we’re inspired by, beautiful ingredients, delicious food, and more importantly, just that opportunity to share as as a community, as a family, as friends,” he said.
Expanding the concept
Alongside the Livingston Manor restaurant, the Medinas are also preparing another project: Smokd To Go in Callicoon, a concept that will highlight smaller offerings and expand on the influences behind their cooking.
“It’s going to be a combination of Texas barbecue, Colombian street food, and inspired by New York ingredients,” he said.
Room for barbecue — and more
The restaurant is expected to reopen under its new operators in the coming weeks, pending final approvals. The team says an official opening date could be announced within days — or even hours — as inspections are completed.
For Grossman, the handoff is about continuity rather than departure — and trust in what comes next.
“Barbecue is a patient process and it gives us the time that is precious for us all to be together and enjoy one another.”
Image: JP Medina of Smokd Barbeque. (Smokd Catskills)