Bryan’s Black Mountain Barbecue

Cave Creek, Ariz., is an atmospheric small town just outside Scottsdale that looks like a Wild West theme park dropped from space. Drivers entering the former 1870s gold mining and cavalry town suddenly and dramatically leave behind the golf course communities and luxury resorts of nearbyCarefree and Scottsdale, trading this aesthetic for saloons and wooden sidewalks. The roughly mile-long strip is lined with huge honky tonk bars, rodeos, Western wear shops and art galleries. Cave Creek remains an enclave of cowboy charm that has evolved with changing times. Bryan’s Black Mountain Barbecue shares these same traits, and is a highly evolved take on the most traditional of American cuisines.

The restaurant sits right in the heart of the main drag on East Cave Creek Road, screened behind a stand of the region’s iconic saguaro cacti, the kind out of Road Runner cartoons. It abuts a Western haberdashery, and there is some outdoor seating out front among the cacti. Inside the décor is casual campy, with light fixtures made from wagon wheels, a neon pig sign, and exposed brick walls covered with old Western movie posters and a screen where actual Westerns play non-stop. It’s relaxed but fun, with a register where you line up to order, and along the same side, an open kitchen where you pick your food up from the counter. In late February, the small and often crowded restaurant expanded with an additional and similar dining room and to-go pick up area, Bryan’s Side Door, next door. Everything is served in red plastic baskets or butcher paper and eaten on plain wooden tables, but all the laid-back, homey atmosphere belies the reality that Bryan’s Black Mountain serves some of the most elevated and unique barbecue in the world.

Description Provided by: Larry Olmsted, Special for USA TODAY April 2, 2015

Tags American BBQ Cave Creek Restaurants