Bruce Tomaso

Sorted by Date

Zavalas-BBQ_031

Zavala’s Barbecue in Grand Prairie is moving down Main Street

Our lunch at Zavala's Barbecue in Grand Prairie, this is what Texican BBQ perfection looks like. (Photo ©David Woo/Texas BBQ Posse) Barbecue lovers: You have two more Saturdays to head to Grand Prairie for some of the best food, served by some of friendliest people, the Texas BBQ Posse has come across in some time. After that, you’ll have to wait a few months to see why Posse co-founder Chris Wilkins declared, after his first visit to Zavala’s Barbecue, “A star is born.” (That was back in May, so, no, Chris wasn’t pilfering from the sensational new movie starring Bradley…
 - 10/10/2018
Smokin’-Joe’s-Rib-Ranch_04

The Posse heads to Oklahoma's Chickasaw Country

Joe Wells, right, and his son Coby pose in the dining room of Smokin’ Joe’s Rib Ranch in Davis, Oklahoma. (Photo ©Chris Wilkins/Texas BBQ Posse) Barbecue is like the weather: Once in a while, it’s glorious. Once in a while, it’s awful. And Oklahoma isn’t where you go to find the best of it. Earlier this month, the Texas BBQ Posse accepted an invitation from the Chickasaw Nation to visit three of south central Oklahoma’s more popular barbecue joints: • Smokin’ Joe's Rib Ranch in Davis. • Jake’s Rib in Chickasha. • Pigskins BBQ in Ada. To be honest, our…
 - 05/10/2018
Greenberg-turkey-02

Talking turkey -- smoked! -- with Sam Greenberg

A simple sign displaying a turkey marks Greenberg Smoked Turkey offices in Tyler. (Photo ©Chris Wilkins/Texas BBQ Posse) TYLER, Texas – As a Greenberg Smoked Turkey rolls off the production line – hickory-cured to its distinctive mahogany hue, sealed in plastic, then packed into its distinctive white box with red and black lettering – it passes beneath a small mechanical press. The press drives two copper-colored staples into the box, to seal it. That stapler is the first and only machine you’ll find on Greenberg’s production line. Up to that point, every step in creating this world-famous delicacy – “The…
 - 12/20/2017
Louie-Mueller-BBQ

When it comes to BBQ, a picture is not worth a thousand bites -- or even one

Posse member Tom Fox photographs a tray of BBQ at Louie Mueller in Taylor. A barbecue blogger last week weighed in on his role in assembling the latest Texas Monthly list of the Top 50 Barbecue Joints in Texas. Actually, the blogger, Jimmy Ho, didn’t weigh in. “I did help contribute to the list,” he wrote, but he added, “I am not going to write about any of the places I visited on my blog.” (I’m guessing that maybe his arrangement with Texas Monthly prohibited him from using his work for the magazine on his own blog, but that’s just…
 - 06/01/2017
justin

Mayor Rawlings said he wants Pecan Lodge to stay … in Dallas

  Pitmaster Justin Fourton holds the infamous Slim Pickins sign given to the last person in line at Pecan Lodge. (Photo@Daniel Goncalves/Fotobia.com) There's a follow-up to our earlier item on the strange behavior of the new owners of the Dallas Farmers Market as they try, supposedly, to work out a deal to keep Pecan Lodge at the market. Robert Wilonsky of The Dallas Morning News reports that on Friday – the day our item appeared – Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings stopped by Pecan Lodge for lunch and a chat with owner/pitmaster Justin Fourton. Afterward, Rawlings made his position clear: While…
 - 08/18/2013
justin-1

Meet the new boss, same as the old boss?

  Pitmaster Justin Fourton works the pit during the early days of Pecan Lodge. (Photo ©Chris Wilkins/Texas BBQ Posse) Will Pecan Lodge stay at Dallas Farmers Market? I have no idea. And neither does anyone else writing on the subject. My guess is there are two people on Earth who know the answer: Justin and Diane Fourton, Pecan Lodge’s owners. Even they might not be sure. As we’ve written before, the Fourtons have kept their cards close to their butchers’ aprons as they weigh their options. They say they’d like to stay at the downtown Dallas market where, in just…
 - 08/16/2013
parade

Famed writer John T. Edge pens an ode to barbecue in Parade magazine

In Sunday’s Parade magazine, John T. Edge, the noted Southern food writer, weighs in on the nationwide barbecue renaissance. (By the way, if you haven’t seen Parade in a while, you might be stunned to see it today. It’s a deathly shadow of its former self, with a much smaller format and far fewer pages – more like a pamphlet than a magazine.) Edge writes that Americans have “adopted barbecue as our national folk food. … The new question is, how high can barbecue go?” It will come as no surprise to anyone who’s read one of these rebirth-of-barbecue articles…
 - 07/22/2013
NT_18BBQcrew2

Confessions of another BBQ Snob*

Bruce Tomaso, right, joins fellow members of the Texas BBQ Posse on our 2013 Best of Texas Tour. (Photo by Tom Fox/DMN) By Bruce Tomaso A few weeks ago, while on a BBQ tour with the Posse, I had an epiphany. It wasn’t a magnificent epiphany. I’m not Archimedes. But it was enough to permanently change the way I approach this quest of ours for “the greatest smoked meats in the greatest state in the Union.” I realized that I’ve become a BBQ snob. I’m not particularly proud of this, but I don’t apologize, either. I’ve simply reached a stage…
 - 07/15/2013
brisket_up2

Pit Talk: To dunk or not to dunk, that is the question

Lately, the Posse has observed that at a few joints, including some stellar ones, meats are stored (or dipped) in a broth or juice before they’re served. Posse pitmaster Marshall Cooper says the practice, known as dunking, isn’t new. It’s something that many cooks, including those who take part in professional barbecue cookoffs, have used for years as a way to keep meats moist and juicy. But it’s no substitute for proper smoking techniques – all the dunking in the world won’t rescue a poorly cooked piece of meat. And it’s probably not something that your dietitian or cardiologist would…
 - 02/05/2012
wilk

If we're the posse, he's the sheriff

The tough part about always being the guy behind the camera is that you're never* in the photo. Chris Wilkins, the driving force behind the Texas BBQ Posse, is a professional photographer. So are a lot of posse members. But Chris is the guy who's always ready with his lenses and flash when we pull up to a new joint. He's the guy who's always walking in with at least two cameras around his neck. He's the guy who's always in perfect position to record the moment when a pitmaster agrees to take us around back and show us where…
 - 04/23/2011
hard2

More on Texas Monthly’s taking the gas

I don’t mean to pour charcoal lighter on the fire, but Gary is indisputably correct about gas versus wood: No one who cooks with gas belongs on a list of Texas’ best barbecue joints, any more than grape Nehi belongs on a wine list. (And the offense isn't pardoned just because the gas cook throws on, as Marshall Cooper puts it, "a couple of sticks of wood for perfume.") Texas Monthly, more than most, ought to realize this. Indeed, in the introduction to the magazine’s last Top 50 issue (published in June 2008), the editors described their vaunted list thusly:Our…
 - 04/19/2011

Copyright 2023 © All Rights Reserved