You didn't hear it from me, but Smokey John's Bar-B-Que in Dallas is launching a secret menu on July 1.
"I think it's just fun," says Brent Reaves, co-owner of Smokey John's Bar-B-Que, the restaurant located near Love Field Airport that reopened in early 2019 after a fire. Brent and his brother Juan Reaves co-operate Smokey John's, created by and named after their dad, John "Smokey" Reaves.
The brothers created the secret menu "to see how [our fans] will run with it," Brent says. "It'll be fun to see how much interest we can create out of it."
The most surprising item is the Food Coma Baked Potato (pictured above), priced at $22.95. It's a baked potato piled with baked beans, sausage, hot links, brisket and ribs. Yeah, ribs in a baked potato.
"I've never seen anyone finish it," Brent says.
The Food Coma was created after a patron came into the restaurant and told the crew "'I want everything on my potato. No no no, I mean everything,'" Brent recalls him saying. Fans in-the-know have asked for it, and it became the genesis for the secret menu.
Another dish that's close to their hearts is the Steve White, a $16.95 plate of two ribs, two catfish filets and two sides — a rarer choice at a place where patrons sometimes favor the Texas classic: beef. It's named for a proud Smokey John's regular named Steve White who used to bring coworkers from Japan to the restaurant for true-Texan food.
"He'd bring all these guys in from Japan and make them get fried catfish and ribs," Brent says. "And he wouldn't let them put barbecue sauce on it."
As most of the stories at Smokey John's go, White became "friends of the family," Brent says.
White died three years ago, and his family hosted his memorial at the restaurant. Odd choice? Not really: The restaurant has also hosted a wedding. Brent is hopeful that the restaurant's regulars will enjoy the exclusivity of the secret menu.
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The other secret menu items are Cowboy Tacos, $8 for two: Texas toast folded like a taco with brisket, green onions, shredded cheddar and barbecue sauce inside; a Wrap Around, $3.95: Texas toast wrapped around a piece of sausage or a hot link; and a Poultry Po'Boy, $8.50: turkey, chicken and shredded cheddar cheese on buttered, toasted Texas toast.
Customers who want secret menu items will need to ask for them by name; they won't be listed on menus inside the restaurant.
Brent says he's been pleased by the support his fans have showed the restaurant since its reopening in January. "It's been crazy," he says. "We're probably 20 percent up from where we were before we closed."
