Watch Out For One Menu Red Flag When Dining At A BBQ Joint

Judging a restaurant's menu to see what it says about its overall quality can be difficult, but it isn't entirely impossible. At steakhouses, a lack of sources for the beef on their menus can be a red flag, but at BBQ restaurants, overselling the cut of meat is similarly alarming, albeit for different reasons. We discussed this phenomenon with Brandon Hurtado, the BBQ chef and author of "Barbacoa: The Heart of Tex-Mex Barbecue," who said that one term in particular is almost always a red flag. "I feel like seeing Wagyu on a barbecue menu can oftentimes be overhyped," Hurtado explained. "It seems like places that use Wagyu beef in barbecue are typically overpriced, and aren't using actual Wagyu."

Wagyu beef is a high-quality type of beef that comes from four breeds of Japanese cattle, so authentic servings of it can be hard to get your hands on and come at a high price. Furthermore, since some restaurants and butcher shops are prone to selling fake versions of the beef, Wagyu dishes at BBQ restaurants are simply not worth their cost. Hurtado does note that some BBQ joints have true Wagyu beef, saying, "Cattleack Barbecue in Dallas [is] one of the few who truly do an incredible job with wagyu beef from Heartbrand."

Beyond just Wagyu being overpriced and potentially illegitimate, Hurtado also notes that BBQ is at its best when it's using less appreciated cuts of meat. "Barbecue originated from folks making some of the toughest, unwanted cuts of meat into something special," he explained. The perfect example of this is the brisket, which is naturally very tough (and is a cut of beef that shouldn't be grilled) but thrives when it's made with all the spices, rubs, and sauces that the best BBQ restaurants use.

Nevertheless, even if you do see Wagyu on a BBQ joint's menu, we don't recommend you walk out of the restaurant outright; instead, give other, potentially more unconventional dishes a try and find something you enjoy. For Hurtado, this means trying as much of the menu as possible to see what the restaurant can do. "Barbecue in general is relatively easy to mess up," the chef admitted, "there are so many variables when cooking, so I say try everything you can when sampling a new restaurant." He also noted, above all else, that if a BBQ restaurant makes its own sausage, go out of your way to give it a shot. "I believe house-made sausages are the ultimate canvas for creativity in barbecue," Hurtado concluded.