At This Montana BBQ Spot, the Potato Salad Almost Steals the Show—While Honoring a Lost Family Member’s Legacy

Jesse Pepper's Smoke Shack, a BBQ-slinging family collaboration, was built on a mother's promise to her late son

The creamy, protein-heavy potato salad at Jesse Pepper's Smoke Shack in White Sulphur Springs, Mont., almost outshines the brisket. Courtesy of Mel Redding

Potato salad isn’t supposed to be a main event. Its humble job is to support other dishes as a kind of chunky mayonnaise, a creamy and tangy mortar between the important dishes. But the other day while I was enjoying some BBQ, the potato salad next to my epic piece of brisket almost stole the show.

At first, those creamy bites were a refuge—light as the breeze compared to the rich and heavy glory of the succulent meat I was there for. The potato salad was like another flavor of BBQ sauce, as the dill, onion, and pickles gave tangy and aromatic balance to the brisket. When I finally ran out of potato salad, I decided to stop eating and take the meat home.