Barbecue, Cave Creek Style

Subtitle: Sauce for the Cowboy Barbecue Junkie
By Gerald Calamia
Photography by Eric Fairchild

Nestled at the base of Black Mountain lies the newest creation of Chef Bryan Dooley and his wife, Donna. It’s Bryan’s Black Mountain Barbecue, open just nine months and bringing a “chic” cowboy location to the town of Cave Creek. Bryan’s menu offers great-tasting, heartily constructed sandwiches, plates, and unique combo platters, all accompanied with inspired, creative sides that are also available in bulk size for family-style ordering. Chef Bryan has bottled his magic touch, offering both his original barbecue sauce and spice rub for sale at the restaurant. His menu covers all bases—there are even selections for vegetarians. We spent some time with Chef Bryan, his wife, and their wonderful staff as we tasted our way through the menu and sampled their fresh selections.

We started out with two of his signature sandwiches, the pulled pork and the vegetarian pulled spaghetti squash, served on soft, toasted buns with sides of fresh crisp french fries and Chef Bryan’s unique coleslaw made the traditional way with the addition of kalamata and green olives. Both sandwiches were tender and full of flavor. The pulled pork was soft, juicy, and slathered with sauce. The spaghetti squash balanced the sweet and the tangy, and you don’t miss a beat of the flair if you eat vegetarian but crave barbecue. There’s plenty more of Chef Bryan’s warmed regular and hot-style barbecue sauce on the buffet if you can’t get enough of it. There are salads as well; the Ribs of Romaine is made with full leaves of romaine lettuce with the same signature spice rub that’s used on the ribs, along with a dabble of salt and pepper. Chef Bryan encourages guests to eat the salad with their hands as they would the ribs. The cool, fresh taste of the romaine leaves is a nice break in between the tastes of the barbecue selections.

After sampling these wonderful starters, our server, Adria, brought us out the beef brisket and ribs combo plate and another of Chef Bryan’s unique selections—the Firebird or, as it’s affectionately called, the half-chicken from hell. The “fire” is started by a hot yellow jalapeño glaze with thin slices of jalapeño floating in the tasty aromatic glaze. This dish is not for the faint of heart, but if you love heat, it is an absolute winner. The glaze partners well with the fresh, moist chicken, which gives your mouth a cool sensation and balances well with the heat from the glaze. The ribs were fall-off-the-bone soft, and the beef brisket was flavorful and tender. Chef Bryan’s sides include the Cowboy Six Pack beans— a six-pack of beer added to each batch of sauce and a very unique baked potato salad. Dessert offerings include fantastic homemade ice cream sandwiches, with vanilla or mint chocolate chip enclosed between hard, crunchy cookies and filled with large chocolate chunks. A wonderful way to cool your mouth down after the meal!

Bryan’s Black Mountain Barbecue features acoustic blues on Wednesdays and cowboy western music and storytelling on Thursdays. By the end of the year, they plan to have their outdoor seating patio completed, with the live music and drinks available outdoors. There is an extensive list of draft beers, and beer tastings are planned to introduce the new beers to his patrons. Bryan and Donna Dooley have created a delicious culture of the cowboy. Saddle up for the food, the fun and, of course, the sauce.

Bryan’s Black Mountain Barbecue is located at 6130 E. Cave Creek Rd., #2, Cave Creek, AZ 85331. Call (480) 575-7155 for reservations. Visit bryansbarbecue.com for the menu.