The 501 Smokehouse Whiskey & Music

The 501 is the smokehouse that turned skeptics from TikTok into regulars in one plate. The brisket is smoked to the melting point, and the chef has been known to cut into a fresh one to serve a fat-side end piece on request. The Sonoran Twinkie is stuffed with brisket and pulled pork, plus cream cheese and jalapeño, and people describe it as unlike anything they have had. The sides refuse to be sides, led by brisket-loaded beans and a genuinely fresh slaw. A brisket smashburger covers the burger loyalists. There is a Bloody Mary experience on the menu for the ambitious, and live music seals the evenings. The owners come out and introduce themselves and mean it, and a table of seven walks out surprised by the bill in the right direction. It sits on Calle 13 at Benito Juárez, just over the train tracks, which is exactly the kind of address a good smokehouse should have.