Dunbar's BBQ Restaurant

Ask a south-side Fort Wayne regular where the rib tips are worth the drive, and Dunbar's BBQ Restaurant comes up fast. The rib tips and the turkey tips are the two dishes reviewers keep singling out, and they are the reason to point your car toward 413 W Paulding Rd in the first place.

This is a family-owned barbecue restaurant, not a chain smokehouse dressed up to look like one. It sits on the city's south side, in the Fairfield and Belmont area, the kind of neighborhood spot that earns its reputation one plate at a time rather than through a billboard.

What Comes Off the Smoker

The menu runs through the barbecue lineup you would hope for: ribs and rib tips, turkey tips, chicken, chicken wings, polish sausage, and fish. It is a straightforward roster, which is usually the sign of a kitchen that would rather do a handful of things well than pad a menu.

If you are ordering for the first time, follow the crowd to the rib tips and the turkey tips. Those are the two items reviewers reach for when they describe what makes the place worth remembering. The turkey tips in particular are the kind of dish you do not find on every barbecue menu around town, which is part of what sets Dunbar's apart from the rib-and-chicken standard.

Pick Your Sauce

Dunbar's pours a choice of house barbecue sauces: hot, sweet, and mild. That is a small thing that tells you a lot. A place offering three sauces is a place that expects you to have an opinion, and it lets you tune the plate to whether you want heat, a little brown-sugar edge, or something your whole table can agree on.

Save Room for Dessert

The homemade desserts and cakes are not an afterthought here. Reviewers list them right alongside the rib tips and turkey tips as a reason to come back, which is worth knowing before you fill up on smoked meat and talk yourself out of the last course. If you are the type who orders dessert on principle, this is a place that rewards it.

Who Runs It, and Who It's For

Part of the draw is the person behind it. The owner, whom customers refer to as Mr. Dunbar, is known for personally serving guests and offering samples. That is the texture of a family-owned room, where the man whose name is on the sign is the one handing you a taste and steering you toward what is good that day. You do not get that at a franchise.

Bring an appetite and a willingness to try the tips. This is a spot for barbecue lovers who care more about what is on the plate than about frills, whether you are grabbing a plate for yourself or feeding a table that came hungry.

If You're Working the South-Side BBQ Circuit

Fort Wayne has a real spread of rib and smoke spots worth comparing. If you are building a run of them, take a look at E&J Rib Tips and More for another tip-focused kitchen, Phatboys Chicken Ribs Fish for a similar meat-and-fish lineup, and City Barbeque if you want to see how the bigger operation stacks up. Then start at Dunbar's and judge the rib tips for yourself.