“This is the best friggin’ cornbread I’ve ever eaten in my life. Seriously.” So said my companion as we tucked into our meals at Diablos BBQ Smokehouse, Montreal’s newest BBQ eatery, which opened last week in the Quartier Latin to rave reviews. 

Meat and booze is this place’s raison d’etre, with mains including pulled pork sandwiches (highly recommended), two kinds of ribs (beef & pork), chilli con carne, and brisket (ranging from $12-$18) with sides such as mac n’ cheese, the aforementioned unreal cornbread, excellent potato salad, jalapeño-cheese cornbread and coleslaw, all washed down with a bourbon cocktail, or beer (Keith’s, Rolling Rock on tap). The only misstep was some pretty mediocre frites, but no bigs – next time I’ll get a double dose of corn bread.

A semi-cheesy country-western theme (saloon doors? c’mon!) is the setting for all this BBQ bliss, but we’ll forgive them since Diablos chef Joe Henry is a real-life Southerner, hailing from Savannah, Georgia and ready with an authentic “Hey y’all!” upon your arrival. The Johnny Cash and rockabilly playing over the speakers doesn’t hurt either.

And Diablos is setting up a terrace out back, so you can enjoy your BBQ and bourbon (and cornbread) under the stars, all summer long…Which is pretty much what I plan on doing!

Diablos BBQ Smokehouse @ 1693a St-Denis (Metro Berri UQAM)
Open daily from 11am till 3am
1 (514) 283-4666

~ Heidi Craig