Park Avenue BBQ and Grill

An order of corn fritters at any one of the Park Avenue BBQ and Grill locations costs just $3.49 and nets you six fried balls of dough along with three condiments to decorate them with. This two-to-one condiment-to-food ratio is a recipe for fun, and the way you play with them greatly impacts the outcome. Adding honey from a squeeze bottle recalls both carnival food and something vaguely Asian. The combo of powdered sugar and maple syrup suggests French toast. Cut the maple syrup from that equation and you get something shockingly close to a beignet or zeppole - the dough warm, cakey, and light, the sugar turning sticky as it clings to the pastry's greasy exterior. Park Avenue also serves barbecue, or something like it. The ribs and brisket taste as though they summered in a pressure cooker. At least portions are substantial, and cheap and all-you-can-eat nights abound (fried catfish consists of fillets of crisp-crusted bliss and is served by the trough-load on Saturdays). But those corn fritters and their cadre of sugars are reason enough to go.

• Cuisine(s): Barbecue, Southern

  Hours: Daily 11am-10pm

• Attire: Casual

  Features: Takeout, Private Party, Catering, Banquet Facilities, Wheelchair Accessible, Kid Friendly