Diners leave 3 Stacks Smoke and Tap House in Frisco. (Photo ©Chris Wilkins/Texas BBQ Posse)

It's a pretty well-known fact among meat lovers that Collin County has historically been a barbecue wasteland. There are numerous places, but mostly gasser joints cooking unmemorable fare. Nothing remotely approaching the level of Pecan Lodge, MeShack's or Lockhart Smokehouse, all located south in Dallas County.

The folks who just opened 3 Stacks Smoke and Tap House in Frisco hope to change the BBQ landscape in the land of strip malls and restaurant chains. As a resident of Plano, I have high hopes after eating there on Friday.

3 Stacks is located on the east side of Preston Road past Stonebriar Mall in Frisco, nestled behind a Hooters restaurant. It's an impressive facility, with plenty of room and a great bar. You can tell a lot of money and thought went into opening this restaurant.

Pitmaster Trace Arnold, aka: The Rib Whisperer. (Photo ©Chris Wilkins/Texas BBQ Posse)

As usual, we gravitated toward the pits before entering. They are running two big Oyler wood burners and a Southern Pride smoker. Each smoker has a large smokestack attached, thus the name of the restaurant, 3 Stacks Smoke and Tap House.

We met pitmaster Trace Arnold, also known as the “Rib Whisperer.” He held court with us at the front counter for 10 minutes or so, talking BBQ cooking techniques and explaining the approach at 3 Stacks. Arnold puts different meats in each smoker, burning a different wood combination depending on the meat.

For pork ribs and sausage, it's mesquite. Chicken and turkey are cooked with pecan. Briskets with a combination of mesquite and pecan. If you have the luxury of having three smokers, it's an interesting way to cook and makes sense because different meats can react differently to the same type of wood.

 Our lunch combo of ribs, brisket and sausage. (Photo ©Chris Wilkins/Texas BBQ Posse)

As usual, we ordered the three standard Texas BBQ meats - brisket, ribs and sausage, which are all displayed in a warmed glass case at the front of the line. Meats are sold by the half-pound, most for $7.99, putting them in the same price range as Pecan Lodge and Lockhart Smokehouse. They also sell sandwiches with your choice of side for $7.99.

The ribs were the highlight for us, perfectly cooked with a nice glaze, no sauce needed. The brisket looked great and had a good smoke, though it might have benefited from a little more time in the smoker. Nevertheless, you could tell it was close to being a top-tier brisket. The sausage was good as well, with a slightly sweet taste.

The Posse is usually known for avoiding sides while testing the various meats at a new place, but we broke down and tried the mac and cheese, green bean casserole, baked beans and cheesy corn bake, which was a huge hit with our group of three. All their sides are made from fresh ingredients and you can tell from the first bite.

The service is really good too. You can tell this staff, at all levels, is on a mission to make you feel welcome while working hard to make 3 Stacks a success. We wish them well, as Collin County can really use a great BBQ joint......

3 Stacks Smoke and Tap House, 4226 Preston Rd, Frisco, 469-287-9035. Open Sun-Mon 11am-10pm, Tues-Thurs 11am-11pm, Fri-Sat 11am-12am.

 The Warm Apple Crumble was hard to resist as well. (Photo ©Chris Wilkins/Texas BBQ Posse)

 

For beer connoisseurs, 3 Stacks has 36 choices on tap.  (Photo ©Chris Wilkins/Texas BBQ Posse)

 

Woodpiles of pecan and mesquite in the smoker area.  (Photo ©Chris Wilkins/Texas BBQ Posse)

Anonymous

11 years ago

ORDERED A GERAT MEAL TO GO. BRISKET,RIBS AND SAUSAGE. 6 CHEESE MAC AND CHEESE,THE CORN BAKE,B-B-Q RED BEANS. THE BEANS WERE NOT FULLY COOKED AND SEMI HARD. THE REST OF THE MEAL WAS EXCELLENT. I'LL CERTAINLY RETURN AGAIN IN THE FUTURE, BUT I HOPE THE BEANS ARE COOKED BETTER. I WILL GIVE THEM THE BENEFIT OF DOUBT BECAUSE IT WAS JUST AFTER THIER OPENING WEEK-END AND THEY WERE STILL WORKING ON GETTING THE KINKS OUT OF THIER OPERATION. THE STAFF WAS EXCELLENT AND VERY KNOWLEDGEABLE ABOUT THE PRODUCT THEY SERVED,AND CARED VERY MUCH THAT THE SERVICE SEEMED SLOW TO THE MANAGEMENT, BUT WAS ON PAR AS FAR AS I WAS CONCERNED. OVER ALL RATING 4 STARS.....

Anonymous

11 years ago

Can't wait to try this place! Although I don't beleive Collin County is a complete wasteland of good BBQ. Hutchins BBQ in Mckinney has been serving some of the best BBQ around. I've been to Pecan Lodge and Lockharts and Hutchins is on the same level as Pecan Lodge and better than Lockharts in my humble opinion.

Anonymous

11 years ago

Hutchins is better then Dickeys, but really it can't hold a candle to Pecan Lodge.

Jeb Matulich

11 years ago

Looks great. Maybe we finally have some good BBQ in Frisco. Their tap already appears to have the best beer selection in this town too. Love the local stuff.

Anonymous

11 years ago

Visit Scholl's BarBQ in Paris, TX. I am from Memphis, TN and I crave good bar b q. Scholl's can offer a Memphis BBQ junkie like me a great rib and pulled pork fix. My Texas wife loves the brisket, sausage and turkey offerings. The slaw and baked beans (Memphis again) and the Texas style beans are all good.

Russ

11 years ago

Like the guy above said, you guys have mistakenly overlooked Hutchins in McKinney. It is the best bbq I've had in Texas and you can't beat the prices when All-You-Can-Eat is less than $17! I was all to excited to try 3 Stacks and went on opening night. I wasn't impressed at all. I should go back and try again since it was their first night and I'm sure things have changed, but with Hutchnis being fairly close and consistently amazing, and so much of a better value, I just don't see it being worth trying again.

Chris Wilkins

11 years ago

Thanks Russ, will put Hutchins BBQ on the list to visit very soon......

skippytimmy

11 years ago

Russ - Hutchins is indeed great, and has been by far the best BBQ in Collin County, I used to work in McKinney, and we would go there weekly, but if that is the best BBQ you have had in Texas, you need to drive outside of Collin County to eat BBQ. Hutchins doesn't compare to Meshacks or Pecan Lodge or Lockharts, and CERTAINLY doesn't compare to Goode Company, Franklins, or any of the great Hill Country icons.

Anonymous

11 years ago

I've been going to 3Stacks now once a week for 3 weeks. The burnt ends are terrific and so are the ribs. Haven't yet tried the others. Just an FYI, you CAN order 1/4 pound to mix it up..
While there last Saturday, the mgr. said they still have some kinks to work out to be where they want to be.

Bill Hosler

10 years ago

Love their food. Especially their smokehouse pizza. the only issue I have with them is I wish they would just have the waiter take your order and bring you the food instead of going through the turnstiles.
We ordered several meats and sides and spent 5 minutes using our hands to fill our plates with the various meats.
They have waitstaff why not use them more than just getting you drinks?

Mick

10 years ago

Used to be good, if a tad over priced -- new set-up sucks.

Rude hostess, rude waiter, long(ish) wait (both for table and for food), bad vibe all round.

We used to go here about once a week - have been twice since the re-model - and we will not be going again.

Whoever decided the new set up was a good idea ... was very very wrong.

Shame.

Anonymous

10 years ago

The burnt ends were amazing. Nice dark bark on the brisket. Pulled pork was on point.

IWW Sandeep

10 years ago

The ribs were the highlight for us, perfectly cooked with a nice glaze, no sauce needed. The brisket looked great and had a good smoke, though it might have benefited from a little more time in the smoker.




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