Apocalypse BBQ

A rundown caddie shack in the middle of Kendall’s Killian Greens golf course is the last place you’d expect to find some of Miami’s best barbecue. But that's just what Apocalypse is making. 

There are ribs massaged with a smokey coffee rub and finished with a colada barbecue sauce so strong and sweet they should serve it in those plastic thimble-sized cups. Juicy chicken wings are smoked, fried, and tossed in that same sauce until they glisten like a stage full of oiled bodybuilders. Then there’s the boss burger—one of our favorite burgers in Miami—and skull-shaped pieces of cornbread drizzled in honey and finished with coarse salt. It’s as delicious as it is silly, which is also a great way to describe this place.

photo credit: Cleveland Jennings

photo credit: Cleveland Jennings

photo credit: Cleveland Jennings

photo credit: Cleveland Jennings

Apocalypse (the name comes from the pandemic, which is when it started as a pop-up) has the spirit of a Kendall house party—if everyone invited drove a family SUV and knew the difference between a Roth IRA and 401k. Loud rock songs blare over clumps of golfers dressed in polo shirts and nurses on lunch break. It’s an unpredictable mix of Kendall cliques trying to blow off steam. 

They’re all waiting for a table. And you will probably have to wait too if you don’t get there early. The kitchen might run out of a few items even if you do, but the menu is full of winners regardless. If you’re lucky, they’ll whip out a cooler full of free High Life to give to those who’re waiting, which really makes this place feel like a house party thrown by that one guy who’s a genius on the grill. If you don’t feel like waiting, you can also stalk the bar that’s first-come-first-served. And on Wednesdays, they just give those beers away for free even if there is no wait—just ask your server. 

We’re glad this Covid pop-up got a second chance at life in the middle of a Kendall golf course. There, it serves as a tasty reminder that life is too short to take too seriously, the best tasting beer is free beer, and remarkable things are sometimes found in the most unexpected of places.

Food Rundown

photo credit: Cleveland Jennings

Corn Bread

We want to hold this skull-shaped cornbread up in the air, deliver a Hamlet-esque soliloquy about the impermanence of life, and seize the day by taking a bite out of its spongy forehead. You can see kernels of corn where its brain should be.

photo credit: Cleveland Jennings

Boss Burger

There are other amazing burgers on the menu, like the wild boar burger with brisket bacon and candied jalapeños. But if you’re a cheeseburger purist like us, order the boss burger. It’s a brisket patty with gooey cheese and “boss sauce” between two steamed potato buns. It is absolutely worth the broken windshield you might get from a rogue golf ball.

photo credit: Cleveland Jennings

Half Rack Ribs

If pigs drank coladas and rolled around in coffee grinds instead of mud, this is what they’d taste like. You get a double shot of espresso here, with the cafecito rub and coffee barbecue sauce on every nanometer of these tender pork ribs.

photo credit: Cleveland Jennings

Smokafried Wings

If it works, why change it? These juicy wings are slathered and rubbed with the same ingredients as the ribs. And we’re not mad about it.