Dallas has a habit of chasing the newest restaurant in town. Meanwhile, some of the best cooking in the city happens year after year in places that rarely make the hot lists. This column is for those restaurants.
We are starting with Off the Bone Barbeque, a family-run Dallas barbecue joint in the Cedars that has been smoking ribs out of an old gas station since 2008.
Off the Bone belongs to Dwight Harvey, who spent 38 years with Frito-Lay and PepsiCo, mostly in finance. His wife, Rose Harvey, had a long career at PepsiCo, too. Barbecue started as Dwight’s backyard hobby on weekends.
The hobby grew into a catering business, and over the years Dwight built a client list that kept asking when he would open a restaurant. In 2008, Dwight and his son, Steven, opened the restaurant in a renovated gas station at 1734 S. Lamar St., on the stretch now called Botham Jean Boulevard.
It is still a family operation. On a busy afternoon, you will probably find Dwight working the small dining room himself, stopping at tables to make sure everybody got what they came for.
Every meat at Off the Bone is smoked over pecan wood on Oyler rotisserie pits. Pecan burns sweeter and gentler than mesquite, so the smoke settles into the meat without bullying it.
The Smoked Pecan Baby Back Ribs are the house signature, and Dwight did his homework before settling on them. He tasted his way through ribs around town, including the ones at Houston’s and Jasper’s, then went with the recipe his family had always loved. They come off the pit sauced and lacquered, and they are the one order here where you should surrender to the mess and grab extra napkins.
The brisket has long spent the night in the pecan smoker, going in around 5 p.m. and coming out around 7 the next morning. Order it chopped with sauce mixed through, the way Off the Bone has served it from the start, or sliced with sauce on the side if you are a purist. Family platters come with the kitchen’s honey wheat rolls, which are perfect for building your own sandwich at the table.
The sausage is all beef with a firm snap to the casing. For something with a little Louisiana in it, the Cajun spiced pork sausage and rice brings smoky links over seasoned rice, and the rib tips plate comes with Cajun spiced fries that are worth ordering on their own.
Dwight has also been putting smoked meat in tortillas since at least 2010, when he introduced a boneless baby back rib taco. Today you can build a smoked meat taco with whatever meat you like best.
Every side is made in house, and the side list is where Off the Bone quietly separates itself. The honey spiced baked beans get their sweetness from honey and brown sugar, balanced with a hit of southwestern spice. The spicy three meat charro beans go the other direction, loaded with smoked meats and jalapeños.
The con queso mac ’n cheese is classic macaroni folded into the kitchen’s spicy queso. The tri-color pasta salad is a cool, tangy break from all that richness, with pasta curls in a sun-dried tomato vinaigrette, bell peppers, cherry tomatoes, onion, Parmesan Reggiano and parsley. For something green, the braised green beans are cooked down in chicken broth with red potatoes, the way somebody’s grandmother made them on Sunday.
Then there are the desserts, and those belong to Rose. Dwight runs the pits, but his wife is the one behind the sweets, which makes Off the Bone a true husband-and-wife act from the first rib to the last bite. Ask what she has made that day and order accordingly.
Off the Bone Barbeque is closed on Sundays, so plan your visit for the rest of the week. CraveDFW first wrote about it in 2024, and it has only become easier to recommend since.
