Scanning the horizon for barbecue-joint signs is second nature while I’m out on the road. Cigar shops with “Smoke” in the name often get my hopes up for a brief moment, but restaurants usually make themselves pretty obvious. Not so in the case of Smokey Black’s BBQ, across from Fair Park, in Dallas. Kamayua Black opened the place three years ago, and though it’s just a fifteen-minute drive from my home, I’d never heard of it until recently. When I pulled up to the address, I found a small shopping center and a sign in all caps that read “DIGITAL CAFE.” I thought I was in the wrong place until I noticed a lit Open sign in the window with the name “Smokey Black’s” blinking in red.
Black handed me a business card to explain the Digital Cafe name. On the back were QR codes to order from Smokey Black’s and his two other businesses that run out of the same kitchen: The Taco Den serves quesadillas, nachos, and tacos, and Triple D Deli sticks to sandwiches. You have to order online from the other two, but the full barbecue menu is available for dining in. You order on an iPad mounted to the wall, which makes the experience a bit impersonal, but Black has a small staff and spends most of his time tending the offset smoker out back or preparing orders in the kitchen.
“People aren’t always gonna want barbecue,” Black told me when I asked about the three restaurants using one tiny kitchen. He’s also adept at multitasking. In addition to running the restaurants, he does remodeling work as a contractor. “I built this place out,” he said. He also coaches youth football. On the sidelines after the games was where he started selling his barbecue. “I would coach, and I’d have my trailer out there,” he said.
A native of Denver, Black moved to the Dallas area when he was five and grew up in Pleasant Grove and Mesquite. His family grilled but didn’t smoke meat. He started teaching himself how to cook ribs on a small grill. “When I got a smoker, it was a game changer,” he said. Since he started smoking, fifteen years ago, he’s noticed the rise of backyard smokers. “It’s like a wave hit,” he said. Black upgraded to a larger smoker to open his business, and he has an even bigger model being crafted down the street, at A. N. Bewley Fabricators.
Black’s barbecue doesn’t always strike the right chord with customers in the neighborhood. “Some of the guys around, they say they don’t want professional barbecue,” Black said. “They’re used to side-of-the-road barbecue.” The barbecue the neighborhood is used to is more rustic and imperfect, and it hearkens back to when “everybody used to grill it,” he said. “This is fairly new, the smoking.”
I stopped in for a chopped brisket sandwich, which Black said he can usually serve on Texas toast or a bun, but he was out of the toast at the time. The Prime-grade meat was cut into large, smoky chunks. The bun was nicely toasted, and with some pickles, onions, and Head Country barbecue sauce (Black doesn’t have his own recipe yet), it was an excellent sandwich. Black said the chopped brisket is just as popular on his loaded baked potato, nachos, and the Mac Attack bowl, featuring beans and mac and cheese.
The sides that come with almost every barbecue plate are pinto beans and mac and cheese. The canned Ranch Style beans are doctored up with onions, peppers, and ground beef. I noticed a few specks of beige in my mac and cheese and realized it was from cream of mushroom soup. Black adds it to his cheese sauce as a thickener, but also because he prefers a creamier sauce with less overt cheesiness. I came around to it eventually and really enjoyed it, though I would never use a can of Campbell’s to make my own at home.
Brisket, ribs, and mac and cheese from Smokey Black’s BBQ.Photograph by Daniel Vaughn
The bestseller at Smokey Black’s is the pork ribs. Black lays on a rub that’s light in black pepper before smoking and then finishes the ribs in foil with some brown sugar. The fat and juices from the rack mix with the melting sugar to create a glaze-like finish. The meat was perfectly tender and just about to fall off the bone. I loved the mixture of sweet and savory flavors and the great bark, which had a light smokiness. Black said he prefers the flavor of pecan wood over oak. “I like the nuttiness it gives you, and the candy-red color it gives the meat.”
You’ll also find bright colors in the cooler next to the counter, where Black keeps his state-fair-style lemonade. It comes in flavors such as green apple, prickly pear, kiwi-strawberry, mango-peach, and huckleberry. I liked the prickly pear, though it was incredibly sweet, so get a bottle of water if you want something to actually quench your thirst. And if you want something smoky without the wait, try the house-made smoked chicken salad. The chicken is finely chopped, lightly dressed, and well seasoned. It’s perfect for being scooped up with crackers that come alongside.
The term “hidden gem” is overused in food media. Too often, it means something is new to a particular content creator, regardless of how long it’s been around or how beloved it is in its own community. As someone whose job is to know about various barbecue joints around the state, I can confidently say that Smokey Black’s BBQ is a true hidden gem. Get past the confusing sign and you’ll enter a tiny but mighty restaurant serving up some great barbecue in a neighborhood without a whole lot of it.
Smokey Black’s BBQ
4248 S. Fitzhugh Avenue, Dallas
Hours: Thusday–Sunday noon–midnight
Phone: 214-463-1901
Pitmaster: Kamayua Black
Method: Pecan in an offset smoker
Year opened: 2023
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