This boxlike restaurant, located in a small roadside strip mall belies all expectations. The food here is plentiful, tasty, and prepared with a superlative southern flair, in large part because of the in-house natural wood-smoking techniques that see pork ribs spending hours in the smoker. Southerners themselves have high praise for the Cookshack's spicy Gumbo, fresh-baked cornbread, braised... more

In an unassuming strip mall with traintrack views, hunker down on dinosaur-sized beef and pork ribs ($18-20), or pulled pork and beef brisket ($15.50), slow-smoked and lashed with a robust house barbecue sauce. There’s also gumbo ($9), seafood jambalaya ($17.25), and cornmeal-crusted oysters ($9.25) and chicken wings ($8). Sides include buttermilk ranch cole slaw, barbecue beans, and organic... more