Lead Game Day Food:  3 Local Spots + Hosting Tips

There is a specific kind of hunger that shows up around noon on a Sunday in September, about four minutes after kickoff, when someone on your couch asks what there is to eat and you realize the answer is half a bag of chips. In Lead, sitting above five thousand feet with the northern Black Hills spread out below us, the fix almost always involves a short drive. We are not a town with a wing joint on every corner. What we have are a few places run by people who cook like they mean it, and knowing which one to call on a Sunday morning is most of the battle.

The Canyon Grille

If your crowd wants smoke, point the truck toward Boulder Canyon. The Canyon Grille sits at 12281 Stagecoach Trail alongside the eleventh fairway at Boulder Canyon Golf Club, about ten minutes from Deadwood. Owners Marlon and Camille McMakin run authentic Texas style barbecue smoked in house, and the fine print matters here: it is served until it sells out. That is not a marketing line, it is a scheduling instruction. Go early, get your brisket and pulled pork while there is still some in the pit, and grab an order of the Texas Nachos on the way out, piled with shredded brisket or pulled pork, pico, corn, black beans and jalapenos. They are open Wednesday through Sunday, eleven in the morning until nine at night, closed Monday and Tuesday. They also lean hard into football season with games on the TVs and cold beer by the bucket, which makes it a fine place to simply stay put if hosting has lost its appeal.

Gold Mine Pizzeria

Pizza is the great equalizer of game day, and Gold Mine Pizzeria has handled that job at 312 West Main Street in Lead since June of 2018. It is veteran owned and operated, and the whole concept pulls from what makes this town what it is, drawing its name and spirit from the Homestake mine and the Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment humming beneath our feet. Look at their combos and specials first, and be honest with yourself about quantity. Pizza is the one thing nobody complains about eating cold at halftime, so round up rather than down. On a busy Saturday, ordering an hour ahead is the difference between missing the first quarter and watching it from the couch with a slice in hand.

Killian's Food and Drink

For wings, it is worth the twenty minute run down the canyon to Spearfish. Killian's Food and Drink at 539 West Jackson Boulevard does Classic Wings three different ways, and the choice is genuinely interesting instead of just hot or hotter. You can get them buffalo style with gorgonzola crumbles, dusted in a Moroccan spiced dry rub, or tossed Caesar and parmesan, all with ranch or bleu cheese on the side. Get one of each and let the room argue about it. The garlic cheese curds, classic poutine and black bean bison chili travel well too, and they cover anyone who would rather not gnaw a drumette in front of company. The kitchen runs eleven to ten most days and until eleven on Friday and Saturday.

Hosting Without Losing the First Half

The trick to feeding a crowd up here is staging, not cooking. Wings are the most fragile thing you will carry home, so pick them up last and drive straight back. Barbecue is the most forgiving, so it goes into a low oven or a covered roaster and holds beautifully through two quarters. Our fall air does the rest of the work, which means a cooler on the deck in October is a second refrigerator and nobody has to keep opening the real one. Set the food on a table away from the TV so the traffic jam happens somewhere other than in front of the screen. Make exactly one thing yourself, something simple like a dip or a dessert, so the table has your fingerprints on it without costing you the afternoon.

Football season in the Black Hills is short, cold at the edges and absolutely worth planning around. Pick your spot, call ahead, and spend the afternoon watching the game instead of watching the oven.