Bubba's Barbecue

Quick Take: Bubba's Barbecue, Jackson

One address stands out for late-night barbecue in Jackson, Wyoming: 100 Flat Creek Dr, where Bubba's Barbecue has been feeding locals and visitors long after the white-tablecloth spots have called last orders. If you want smoke and meat without a reservation scramble, this is where you go.

The Venue

Bubba's Barbecue occupies a position in Jackson's dining scene that few restaurants hold: a reliable, low-barrier option that runs later than most and asks nothing complicated of you. There are no tasting menus, no dress codes, and no booking apps to wrestle with. You show up, you eat barbecue. For food and travel enthusiasts who spend their days at Grand Teton or the National Elk Refuge and want something direct and filling at the end of it, that simplicity is the point.

Jackson skews heavily toward the $$$–$$$$ range. Dinner at Elvie's or a tasting menu at Atelier Ortega demands planning, spend, and energy. Bubba's demands none of those things, which makes it genuinely useful as a late-night fallback or a low-key first night in town option. That utility is a real credential in a mountain resort town where the alternative is often a $28 burger at a hotel bar.

The visual cue here is the room itself: the kind of barbecue joint where the décor is secondary to the smoke, the portions are generous, and the crowd is a cross-section of Jackson rather than a curated dining audience. For the explorer who wants to eat where locals eat, that atmosphere carries its own value. Compare it to the ambiance at The Manship Wood Fired Kitchen in Jackson, which trends more polished, and you get a sense of where Bubba's sits on the spectrum.

As a late-night option specifically, Bubba's is worth knowing about before you need it. Jackson's dining scene compresses early — many kitchens close by 9 or 10 PM — and having a fallback that serves real food past standard dinner hours is more valuable than it sounds when you've just come off a full day outdoors.

Booking & Logistics

Booking difficulty at Bubba's is rated Easy. No advance reservation is required under normal circumstances, which puts it in a different category from nearly every other sit-down option in Jackson. Walk-in friendly, lower price point, and later hours make this the lowest-friction dinner in town. For context, getting a table at Elvie's or Blind Pig BBQ during peak season requires more planning. Bubba's does not.

How It Compares

See the full comparison section below.

Pearl Picks: If You're Exploring Jackson's Food Scene

Bubba's works as your low-stakes anchor, but Jackson has genuine depth if you're willing to plan ahead. Elvie's is the most ambitious kitchen in town at the $$$ French tier. Atelier Ortega offers a more chef-driven experience for explorers who want narrative with their meal. Big Apple Inn and Mayflower Cafe round out the casual end of the spectrum. For a complete picture of what's worth booking in Jackson, see our full Jackson restaurants guide, and pair it with our Jackson bars guide if you're planning a full evening. Hotels, wineries, and experiences guides are also available if you're building out a longer trip.

For reference points further afield: the gap between a walk-in barbecue spot in Jackson and the tasting-menu tier is significant. Le Bernardin in New York, The French Laundry in Napa, or Smyth in Chicago represent what the upper tier of American dining looks like. Bubba's doesn't compete there, nor does it try to. It competes on availability, accessibility, and the specific utility of being open when you need food and don't want a production.