Intrinsic Smokehouse Tests Barbecue Boundaries With New Dishes — Including a Meat Sundae

It's been six months since Intrinsic opened their doors in Garland, and by all accounts, things are going great when it comes to craft beer and smoked meats. That doesn't mean there's not room for improvement, and the gang at Intrinsic is brewing new beers and cranking out daily barbecue specials to keep things fresh.

At the taps, there's a new Tree House Brown Ale, a little hoppy but very drinkable, that will please dark beer fans. It also packs 6.1 percent ABV, so consider yourself warned if you're ordering more than one. Also new to the rotation is a Mexican-style lager called Beach Please, which puts the Corona you've been drinking since college to shame. While I sat at the bar on a slow midweek afternoon, the bartender let me try a new beer flavor he was experimenting with, using the Treehouse Brown as a base with coffee and black cherry flavor added. It may need some fine tuning to balance the flavors, but the sample I tried is definitely a good start.

On the food side, there's a new special for each day Intrinsic is open (Mondays are still dark while they brew more beer). Sunday's special, moist smoked turkey, can be added to any meat plate ($12.50 for one meat or $14.50 for two). On Thursdays, Intrinsic is cranking out some amazing brisket tacos ($6.50 for three) on tortillas made in Garland. The chopped brisket is near perfect, and the tacos come ready to be dressed with cilantro, cheese, chopped onion or any of Intrinsic's sauces of varying spiciness. Other specials include a rib sandwich on Tuesdays, a smoked Cajun bologna sandwich on Wednesdays and a pastrami meat plate on Saturdays.

The best of the dailies is the barbecue sundae offered every Friday. Mashed potatoes and a choice of chopped brisket or pork are layered, drizzled with barbecue sauce and topped with a cherry tomato.

"They are so filling and so much fun to make," says pitmaster Tex Morgan, who loved the idea of playing with the food to come up with something fun.