From tender ribs to homemade meatloaves, Cowboy Up Country Cookin’ has been a staple for all things barbecue.
The operation, which has been serving food to Flathead Valley residents for over a decade, is located on owners Rudy and Gena Mendez’s property in Somers.
The barbecue restaurant — its logo a cowboy spurring a grizzly bear — takes pride in the flavors, hospitality and a Montana-minded atmosphere, Rudy said.
Originally from Hawaii, Rudy moved back home in 1988 after serving in the Army. He worked various jobs from car sales to farming, but quickly got tired of Hawaii’s growth and political trajectory.
Gena grew up in Polson, so when the two were ready to relocate, the Flathead Valley was an easy choice. They moved back to Northwest Montana in 2004 and to their current location in Somers in 2005.
In his mid-50s at the time, Rudy wanted to find something he could do that would be good for longevity, he said, while also making ends meet. He thought about what people needed: water, shelter and food. Water, he said, was abundant here and shelter was not in his wheelhouse, so he was left with food.
“I had no experience at all,” Rudy laughed.
For two years, he crafted recipes in his kitchen, making a range of everything under the sun, from jambalaya to lo mein to lobster. But when he bought his first smoker, things started to make sense.
“I started developing more ways to make it better,” he said. “There are a thousand ways to do barbecue, so I took it all in and made my own way.”
When people ask Gena, who is responsible for service, making the side dishes and the front of the house operations, what style of barbecue it is, she just says it’s Rudy’s way.
After years of trial and error, the Mendezes purchased a food trailer and started selling ribs and chicken-fried steak out of their front yard in 2013. When deciding on a name for the restaurant, Rudy looked down at the belt buckle he was wearing, one he had bought decades prior.
“Cowboy up,” it read. Done deal, Rudy said, and within a few weeks they were ready for service.
“It was a good, slow start,” Gena said, referencing the carry-out meals served early on. “We noticed people were hanging around to eat, so we put some picnic benches in the yard.”
Little did they know they would eventually turn their home space into a sort of sit-down restaurant on Somers Road north of Flathead Lake, not far off Montana 82.
Though Rudy still cooks out of the original trailer with a dining room, gazebo and bathroom added on the property in 2020. It’s a well-decorated, clean space that, especially in the summertime, is consistently busy.
“But it’s funny, because we’ve been in business nearly 14 years and there are still people who don’t know we’re here,” Gena said.
As the restaurant started to grow and get more orders, Rudy decided to let the chicken-fried steak go and focus more on barbecue and meatloaf. The menu features beef ribs, pork ribs, pulled pork and brisket and a bison and elk meatloaf.
The meat from the pork ribs falls right off the bone, each bite sparking a hint of sweetness amid the smokiness from the time in the Traeger smoker. The pulled pork is juicy, and the beef ribs are rich in flavor and coated in aromatic seasonings, creating a salty, tangy, juicy bite.
“We don’t cut our quality, ever,” Rudy said.
Gena makes the mashed potatoes, baked beans, bread pudding and salad dressings to serve alongside the meat.
Notably, the mashed potatoes and gravy are incredible. The texture of the mashed potatoes is light, yet still filling, and the potato-to-gravy ratio is perfect to get enough gravy in each bite. The gravy itself is delectable with rich, buttery and salty flavors, packing a punch of flavor with each spoonful.
One of the best menu items, Rudy said, is the smoked pork belly. The strips of meat, which are essentially uncured bacon, are seasoned with smoky, sweet flavors and then smoked for 14 hours. Each bite genuinely melts in the mouth.
Rudy smokes all the meats with hickory wood and the appetizers are the only items on the menu not made in-house.
“I like to think of our customers not as our customers, but as guests coming to eat in our home,” Gena said.
Being able to create and maintain a community space like Cowboy Up Country Cookin’ for over a decade has been incredible, the Mendezes say.
The outdoor eating area closes in the winter, but the inside dining area remains open, and the restaurant offers carry-out.
Cowboy Up Country Cookin’ will be closed for the month of October while the Mendezes take some time to travel.
To learn more, visit cowboyupcountrycookin.com.