Dallas Deli

• 3660 Byron Center Ave SW
• Wyoming, MI 49519
• (616) 530-3399
• No Known Website
• Menu

A few weeks ago I was driving down Byron Center Avenue on my way to work and I drove by a little BBQ place just south of 36th Street.  I didn’t catch the name or even if it was even open, but I saw a smoker out front with a stack of wood.  I didn’t have time to stop, but I knew I had to go back.

When I did finally get a break long enough at work that I could venture back out to Wyoming, I took advantage of it.  The problem was, I couldn’t remember if the shop was on Clyde Park or Byron Center, so I first drove down Clyde Park.  When I got to 52nd Street, I knew I was on the wrong road, so I headed east to Byron Center and headed back north until I found what I was looking for.

Dallas Deli is a really small BBQ joint just to the south of the intersection of Byron Center Avenue and 36th Street.  The building and parking lot is shared with beauty shop.  Dallas Deli is primarily a take out restaurant as the public portion of the building is only big enough for four tables and they are crammed in to that little space.

There’s a counter that juts out from the kitchen and there are menus available right next to the cash register.  There’s also one on the wall behind the cashier.  I spotted that one when I walked in and immediately saw they had a pulled pork sandwich.  I knew a sandwich wasn’t going to be enough alone, so I made it a dinner and added a side of macaroni and cheese and corn on the cob. 

The cashier told me it would be a few minutes and she disappeared into the kitchen to get my meal together.  I took a seat at one of the tables to wait and I was quickly joined by a regular customer who came in and, after some pleasantries, told me the brisket is the best brisket in town.  As much as I like pulled pork, I quickly wished I would have read some reviews before placing my order.  There are over 20 reviews on Google and most of them rave about the brisket.  They do call themselves Texas style BBQ, so that would make sense.

Less than five minutes after going in to the kitchen, the cashier came back out and rang up my meal.  The total was just over eight bucks, but that didn’t include a drink.  Since I was on my lunch break and it was way to warm in the building to actually sit there and eat, I grabbed my bag of food and headed back to work.

As I was walking in to the building, I realized the Styrofoam container was pretty heavy.  There turned out to be quite a bit of food in the box.  The sandwich was was juicy, tender hand pulled pork on an onion bun with just a light touch of the sweet and tangy sauce. The meat was served exactly the way I like it.  The meat was the star, but the sauce was so delicious.  I love sweet sauces and this particular sauce was quite sweet.  The pork was pulled in big chunks yet it was fall apart in your mouth tender.

The mac ‘n cheese has the cheesy texture you can only get from homemade mac ‘n cheese.  It had a pretty strong cheddar sauce that coated the perfectly al dente pasta.  I was surprised at how much was packed into the little portion of the Styrofoam.  It was a very dense mac ‘n cheese that was held together by a thick sauce.

The corn on the cob was the only other thing on the sides menu that really appealed to me.  As much as I love southern BBQ, I’m not a huge sides fan.  I usually just order fries, but fries weren’t an option.  The corn on the cob was the middle third of the cob and was also very tender.  It came with two pats of butter that melted from the steam before I every got them open.  Not being a huge corn fan, I cleaned the cob leaving very little for the dumpster.

Dallas Deli was a pretty good find.  I don’t think I ever would have found it had I not driven down Byron Center Avenue.  I had done searches for BBQ in Grand Rapids before, but it never came up for some reason.  They do BBQ the way I like and they have a really sweet tangy sauce, so it’s a place I will go back to next time I get that BBQ craving.

Pulled Pork, Homemade Mac 'n Cheese, Corn on the Cob

Pulled Pork w/Sweet and Tangy Sauce

Homemade Mac 'n Cheese

Corn on the Cob