Uncle Mike's M Pour E Yum Makes Use of Large Building

Mike and Sue Kinney opened Hudson’s about a year-and-a-half ago after working in the bar and restaurant industry for 20 years.

“When I was managing (bars and restaurants) I said I’d never own one,” Mike  Kinney said. “But, I got hungry and you gotta get something to eat somehow.”

Uncle Mike’s is east of town and located at the former JR Ranch Equipment Sales location and converted it to a large bar and dining room. Mike Kinney said the expansive space brings the establishment unique opportunities – like the ability to host weddings, reunions, benefits and car shows.

“A lot of places you’re restricted by space or location, I don’t have that. I can do what I want out here,” he said.

“Doing what he wants” includes having a screened-in patio, televisions, volleyball courts and live music.

Musicians and bands come from the area to play.

“I like being able to have live music four nights a week,” he said. “It’s better than having a DJ that will play the same 30 songs over and over again. This way you get a variety of music and a variety of people who follow the bands coming into the restaurant.”

Themed parties and events each month fill in the spaces between the car shows and fundraisers. A popular one last year, which is coming back in just a few weeks, is the barbeque cook off.

“It was a lot of fun last year,” the owner said.

But even with all the action, one of the best things about Uncle Mikes, Mike Kinney said, is what he claimed is, the state’s largest indoor wood-firing grill which produces the best menu item – flame broiled steaks.

“By far our steaks are the best thing we’ve got,” he said. The black angus beef is cut by restaurant staff, which “eliminates all the middle men that could touch it and we make it fresh.”

The menu style of “bar food” includes specials with Italian food, fish, ribs, spare ribs and steaks. For those salivating for big beef the menu is expanding this week with new “monster burgers” which are very large burgers served with a side of a pound of fries. Diners weighed in on names for the six new burgers on June 16.

Born and raised in Hudson, Mike Kinney said he loves working here and serving the people of Hudson.

“It’s a great place to be. You are close enough to the cities to have all the benefits of the cities, but also far enough away from the cities to not have to deal with everything that goes with them,” he said.