Perched on Highway 54A just south of Penn Yan, The BBQ Shack doubles as both a destination barbecue spot and one of the most capable catering operations in the Finger Lakes. Winning Gold for both Best Catering and Best Plates in 2025 is a rare double that speaks to the range of this operation — they can feed a wedding of two hundred with the same quality they bring to a plate served across the counter.

The catering menu is built around the fundamentals of proper barbecue: slow-cooked brisket, pulled pork, and housemade sauces that vary in heat and sweetness to cover every preference. The Plates award is worth noting separately because it suggests the individual servings — the brisket plate, the rib plate, the combo plate that lets you try a bit of everything — are as impressive as the large-format catering spreads. In barbecue, scaling up often means quality drops; The BBQ Shack appears to have solved that problem.

Keuka Lake's western shore has become a surprising pocket of quality dining, and The BBQ Shack holds down the smokehouse end of that spectrum. For anyone planning an event in the Finger Lakes who wants something more memorable than the standard hotel catering package, The BBQ Shack offers the kind of food that guests actually talk about afterward. And if you are just passing through on the wine trail and smell smoke drifting across 54A, do yourself a favor and pull over.