When You Should Avoid Ordering Dessert At A BBQ Restaurant

Whether you're from an area where barbecue is a way of life or a total novelty, visiting a great BBQ restaurant is always a treat. It's not exactly easy to make perfectly juicy barbecued meat at home, since, unlike grilling, barbecuing requires a type of low-and-slow cooking method that can be tricky to master. And if you're not much of a gourmet home chef, your sides probably won't be anything to write home about either. Fortunately, BBQ restaurants are there to fill the void when you're craving succulent smoked meats paired with rich side dishes.

Even the most celebrated BBQ joints can have some blind spots, however. If you want to make sure that a BBQ restaurant is up to snuff, order the brisket to test their skills, and make sure to avoid any spots that don't have a smoker on site or offer too many disparate regional styles. If all checks out in the meat department, you still have the final dessert course to question. Some BBQ restaurants might put less effort into their dessert menu and stick to frozen shortcuts, since it's not typically what they're known for.

So how can you tell when a dessert is worth ordering? We asked Robbie Shoults, celebrity chef and third-generation owner of Bear Creek Smokehouse, along with Marshall Mercantile and High Horse 1898. According to Shoults, the best thing to do is to keep a watchful eye on what everyone else is getting and make sure the dessert doesn't look too perfect. "If the dessert looks 'cookie-cutter' style, don't order it," he says.

If you are craving something sweet after your fatty meal, the good news is that plenty of barbecue restaurants do offer delicious desserts, and Southern cuisine is full of delectable ones to try. When it comes to ordering at a restaurant, Robbie Shoults advises, "If [a dessert] looks more irregular and homespun, I would give it a try!" At Shoult's restaurants, for instance, their homey desserts are all made from scratch, including the fan favorite cornbread peach cobbler. 

Cobbler (which is actually distinct from crumbles and crisps) is a staple dessert in American cuisine, especially in Southern states, where barbecue reigns supreme and many of the country's peaches are grown. If you see a unique cobbler on the dessert menu for a BBQ joint, chances are you won't regret ordering it. Sweet, tangy, melty, and easy to make with canned peaches if fresh ones are out of season, peach cobbler is the perfect way to top off your indulgent barbecue feast. Bonus points go to the restaurant that serves their cobbler topped with homemade ice cream, too.

Looking for other sweet treats to try? Stick with homemade Southern classics like banana pudding, chess pie, ​​Mississippi mud pie, or pecan pie. Often, the homelier it looks, the more authentic it is. If a BBQ restaurant can whip up one of these like mama makes it, you're in good hands.