Kirk’s Ferry Trading Post in Brownsville is the kind of place where a rack of ribs can take up most of the tray and a whole log cabin fits inside the dining room. The Hopla family serves barbecue and wood-fired pizza here on Highway 228, a few miles east of I-5. If you’ve been driving between Eugene and Albany for years without taking the Brownsville exit, here’s a good reason to turn off for dinner.
Kirk’s Ferry at a glance
Where to find it · 217 W. Bishop Way, Brownsville, OR 97327, east of I-5 at Exit 216. Get directions to Kirk’s Ferry.
When to go · The restaurant lists Wednesday through Friday, 4–9 p.m., and Saturday and Sunday, noon–9 p.m. Check Kirk’s Ferry’s posted hours before making the drive.
What to order · Ask what’s on the smoker, split a wood-fired pizza, or check the weekend specials for prime rib.
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The 1847 cabin inside Kirk’s Ferry
As you stroll down Brownsville’s picturesque main street past coffee shops, saloons, and art galleries, you may feel like you’re walking through a movie set, and you wouldn’t be far off from the truth. Brownsville was the filming location for the iconic 1986 movie Stand By Me, dubbed “Castle Rock” in the film. And for those die-hard film buffs, you can visit the town and celebrate Stand By Me Day each July 23rd.
Before it was Brownsville, the settlement was known as Calapooya and later Kirk’s Ferry, after Alexander Kirk’s ferry crossing on the Calapooia River. Alexander and Sarah Kirk’s log cabin dates to about 1847. The restaurant was built around it, so you can walk in for dinner and see the old log walls under the same roof.
The Hopla family has run the trading post since 2012. In April 2025, the family closed the restaurant while chef Dakota Hopla took his barbecue to Renaissance fairs along the West Coast. When the family reopened Kirk’s Ferry on October 3, 2025, diners got a better view of the cabin. The team had taken down walls that once obscured it.
Outside the trading post, you can easily imagine riding your horse up to the front porch, tying it to the hitching post and ambling in for a sarsaparilla and ribeye steak. Now more than 150 years later, you can almost do the same thing except you’ll likely be parking your car out front instead of your trusty steed.
Kirk’s Ferry has an instantly welcoming atmosphere with its rustic wood walls, vaulted ceilings, Americana art on the walls, and a plethora of buck, moose, and elk heads mounted throughout the restaurant. If this is your first visit, set aside enough time to wander the grounds and check out the antiques, much of them donated by Brownsville locals.
Barbecue, wood-fired pizza and weekend prime rib
Dakota Hopla, Greg’s son and the restaurant’s co-owner and executive chef, gives a table of hungry people a couple of good ways to go. Barbecue lovers know Kirk’s Ferry for smoked ribs. If you’re bringing friends who’d sooner share a pizza, the wood-fired oven gives them a reason to come along.
Our original 2023 feature caught the kitchen turning out thick-cut bacon BLTs on brioche and burgers on homemade buns. Burgers, sandwiches and salads made the reopening menu, too. For a weekend lunch, those are worth a look alongside the barbecue.
One pizza on the 2023 menu gives you an idea of the kitchen’s taste. The Steak Supreme piled steak, caramelized onions, blue cheese and crisp onion straws onto one crust, then added bourbon sauce. Pizza carried over to the new menu, though the toppings have changed over the years.
Prime rib is a weekend special that rotates. At the reopening, filet mignon and chicken-fried chicken were also in the weekend lineup. If prime rib or a particular rack of ribs is the whole reason you’re driving over, check what the kitchen’s serving that day.
The rib plate pictured below explains much of the appeal. The rack stretches nearly from one handle of the tray to the other, with a glossy coat of sauce and just enough room around the edges for fries and green beans. Our original feature also called out the mac and cheese and crisp onion rings.
There’s a wooden saloon bar under the same roof. In 2023, the drinks ran from Oregon microbrews and wine to a marionberry mule. The Hoplas also introduced a family dining area at the reopening, where guests could order at the counter and have their food brought to the table.
If the weather’s nice, relax outside for lunch on the veranda beneath the shade of the two giant walnut trees. At night you can belly up to the bar and shoot the breeze with the locals or sit in the dining room that has options of a large communal table hosting events and get togethers. Check the restaurant’s schedule if you’re hoping to catch live music.
Getting to Kirk’s Ferry in Brownsville
Take Exit 216 from I-5 and head east on Highway 228 to 217 W. Bishop Way, Brownsville, OR 97327. There’s enough nearby to make an afternoon of it. On your way into town you’ll pass Living Rock Studios, and Brownsville’s old downtown is a short detour before dinner.
