Chris Wilkins

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The Barbecue Chronicles: Fort Worth area has good barbecue, but it's wise to space the tastings

On barbecue tours, it's better to plan a break for the middle rather than the end. We learned that valuable lesson on a recent Saturday during a 100-mile, nine-hour excursion to four places in and around Fort Worth. Since the stops were close, all the eating was stuffed into five hours. Even our biggest eater, Gary Barber, couldn't keep pace. Barber (a multimedia editor at The Dallas Morning News) ate a half-pound of sausage, a quarter-pound of brisket and two ribs at the first stop, Off the Bone in Forest Hill, at 11 a.m. By our last stop, Smokey's Barbeque…

Roadtrips - 05/08/2010

Franklin BBQ: The little trailer that could

Dallas Morning News colleague Michael Ainsworth was recently on assignment in Austin when he asked advice on which barbeque joint to visit on his way back to Dallas. I directed him to Franklin BBQ, a little place in Austin that's been generating big buzz lately on the Texas BBQ trail. Michael arrived at the auqa blue and white trailer located in a parking lot beside I-35 around 2pm on a Wednesday. They were about to close but still had brisket left. Franklins is a "til the meat runs" out place when it comes to a closing time. He messaged me…

Joints - 05/04/2010

Posse favorites: Stanley's Brother-in-Law sandwich

One of the great discoveries on our recent East Texas BBQ Tour was the brother-in-law sandwich at Stanley’s Famous Pit Bar-B-Q in Tyler, the first stop on our four-joint tour. Several of us went directly for the 4-meat sampler, no sides, as a way to quickly judge the long-time barbeque joint. Fortunately, a couple of our posse members ordered and loved the brother-in-law sandwich, not your everyday BBQ sandwich. Author David Gelin writes a great description of the infamous sandwich in his book, "BBQ Joints: Stories and Secret Recipes from the Barbeque Belt." "STANLEY'S FAMOUS BROTHER-IN-LAW HOT LINK, BUTTERFLIED. Grill…

Joints - 04/30/2010

Pat Gee's: BBQ palace in the piney woods of East Texas

Pat Gee's Barbecue is a few miles east of Tyler, nestled under towering pine trees near the small community of Chapel Hill. Dallas Morning News writer and Texas BBQ Posse founding member Gary Jacobson set the stage for the joint perfectly in his story, "The barbecue chronicles: One day, four pit stops in East Texas." Gary writes, "The small, wood-frame building sits on a small lot notched between pine trees and pasture. An outhouse is out back. Inside the main room, near the front door, is a fridge. Once, it was white. Four fly swatters hang from the counter, under…

Joints - 04/29/2010

The BBQ Queen critiques the Ft. Worth Tour

Posse member Ahna Hubnik doesn't beat around the bush when if comes to barbeque. A country girl from Snook, Texas, she was brought up on ribs, brisket and sausage. Here's the uncensored view of the Ft. Worth BBQ Tour by our Texas BBQ Posse Queen, pictured at below right with husband Gary. "Sadly I wasn’t very impressed with the beef at any of the stops. It’s “cowtown” for crying out loud. I guess everyone stopped trying when they perfected the ribeye. Now the pork ribs, I can see they are giving a full effort. None were dry or overcooked. I…

People - 04/25/2010

Posse favorites: Frito Pie at Mac's Bar-B-Que

Between our weekly trips to the Baby Back Shak, the Texas BBQ Posse has been heading just east of Deep Ellum to Mac's Bar-B-Que, 3933 Main St. in Dallas. For some strange reason, really good barbeque isn't always easy to find in Big D, but Mac's delivers consistently well-cooked meats and good sides from their lunch menu. Speaking of sides, the french fries cooked in soybean oil have to be among the best in DFW. Several of us have become addicted to Mac's Frito Pie, a dish not offered at most BBQ joints. They start with a layer of ranch-style…

Joints - 04/24/2010

View from a BBQ Posse newcomer

Suzi Woo, wife of Texas BBQ Posse wheelman David Woo, accompanied us on the first stop on our recent Ft. Worth BBQ Tour. She brought a unique perspective to the tour and shared it with our resident writer Gary Jacobson. Read below to see Suzi's thoughts on her first trip to Off the Bone BBQ. She's pictured above, center, as the posse interviews pitmaster and owner Eddie Brown during our tour stop. "David has asked me to send my comments on my maiden voyage with the BBQ Posse. While I am unable to make much of a comparison with earlier…

People - 04/19/2010

Longoria's BBQ: It's like family

Longoria's BBQ was ranked number three on D Magazine's Best BBQ in DFW list. The Texas BBQ Posse pulled into the gravel lot in Everman and headed to the back of the building to check out the smoker area, of course. Pitmaster David Longoria invited us in to check out the place, not even knowing we were on tour. Have to say I took an immediate liking to this place. David showed us the finer points of his family's cooking techniques, then gave us a VIP tour of his dad's "James Dean Room" before heading to the small but comfortable…

Joints - 04/17/2010

Ft. Worth tour begins at Off the Bone

Number one on D Magazine's Best of DFW BBQ list. Quite a target for the Texas BBQ Posse. We peaked early and pulled in the parking lot at 10:30am. They opened at 11am, so we gravitated toward the smoker for some BBQ 101. We were greeted by pitmaster and owner Eddie Brown and peppered him with questions as he loaded racks of ribs into the smoker. Our BBQ posse was 21-strong when we ordered at Off the Bone, which is housed in an old Dairy Queen. The service was pretty good, around 10-15 minutes between ordering and eating. This was…

Joints - 04/15/2010

Kreuz Market - The Real Deal.....

We arrived at Kreuz Market with some preconceptions, none of which were good. We heard along the BBQ trail that Kreuz was "overrated," they were the Wal-Mart of BBQ due to their huge restaurant that resembled a honky tonk not unlike Billy Bob's in Ft. Worth. As we walked through the swinging screen door with a cow and a pig on them, I gathered the Texas BBQ Posse team and pleaded with them to keep an open mind. "Let the meat speak for itself, it doesn't matter what we heard earlier today." We walked back to the smokers and it…

Joints - 04/08/2010

Clark's Outpost BBQ - A trip into horse country

Editor's note: This joint is now closed. We loaded up the truck and headed north to Clark's Outpost BBQ in Tioga on Saturday. We'd heard a lot about Clark's and wanted to investigate, they've been featured in both Bon Appetit and Gourmet magazines. In the past I've been known to say, "The words barbeque and gourmet should never be used in the same sentence," so I was a little suspicious. The drive from Plano took almost an hour, a little longer than we expected. The distance was almost 50 miles door-to-door. We rolled through beautiful rolling horse country and the…

Joints - 04/03/2010

Support your local Shak: Part Deux

D Magazine is soliciting readers for their Best of Big D Readers’ Choice Poll, which will be published in the August 2010 issue. From their website: "Every August, D Magazine publishes its Best of Big D issue in which the editors name their favorites in food and drink, nightlife, shopping, goods and services, and culture and media. This year, we’re giving our readers a chance to vote for their favorites in each of the above categories." Needless to say, the Baby Back Shak is among the favorites for best BBQ in Dallas. After all, it's the unofficial headquarters of the…

Joints - 03/30/2010

Historic Smitty's Market

We arrived in downtown Lockhart and stumbled out of the car for an afternoon snack, meat drunk but ready for more BBQ. This was our third stop on the Central Texas BBQ Tour. We entered the screen door with a sign proclaiming "BARBEQUE" over it and walked down the long corridor into something out of the1890's. Smitty's Market was established in 1999 by Nina Schmidt Sells in the building that housed her father's Kreuz Market for more than 50 years. The market sits in the same location where barbecue has been sold in Lockhart since the turn of the last…

Joints - 03/25/2010

Unexpected stop on the East Texas BBQ Tour

We spotted the smoke while cruising eastward down Hwy. 31 toward the Country Tavern in Kilgore. Since we were in no particular hurry, the BBQ posse hooked a u-turn and headed back to Hickory Hill BBQ. It turned out to be a great stop on the journey. Like Pat Gee’s, they are open Friday through Sunday, closing when the meat runs out. Husband and wife team Kelly and Kerry Shaw opened the joint seven months ago, after years of preparation by Kerry. “I’ve been cooking BBQ all my life,” he said. We ordered up some ribs for the crew and…

Joints - 03/20/2010

Road trip to Louie Mueller Barbecue

Shortly after 11am, we pulled into the Louie Mueller Barbecue parking lot in Taylor, a storefront in an old downtown that had seen better days. The smoke clung to the walls and windows like paint. It was immediately apparent this place was like a Hollywood set for the classic Texas BBQ joint. The line was almost to the door already, giving us time to soak in our surroundings. Unlike Snow's, where the pits were outside under a steel awning, these folks were smoking meat inside the restaurant. The smells and the memories they evoked were unforgettable. Twenty minutes later we…

Joints - 03/18/2010

The Barbecue Chronicles: One day, four pit stops in East Texas

The wheelman on a barbecue tour needs thick skin and quick reflexes. During a 240-mile trip from Dallas through East Texas on a recent Saturday, our driver had both. Moments after getting needled for poking along at 50 in a 70 mph zone, David Woo quickly had his car at the speed limit. Then we spotted smoke coming from a portable smoker in front of a low building. We were headed east on State Highway 31, between Tyler and Kilgore, about 115 miles from Dallas. "That looks interesting," one posse member said. "Let's go back." Woo, a photographer at The…

Roadtrips - 03/13/2010

Attending church can be good for your soul

A quick post from our friend and fellow posse member Gary "G" Barber, who's on the road today. He just made a lunch stop at the New Zion Missionary Baptist Church Barbeque in Huntsville and felt compelled to send us a short email and a great iPhone photo of his plate. We were all surprised last month when Daniel Vaughn, aka the BBQ Snob, wrote his review about a disappointing trip to New Zion, giving them a 2-star rating (out of a possible 6). Click here to see the review of his journey to the church. He wrote, "After all…

Joints - 03/13/2010

Breakfast at Snow's

We had a full tank of gas, two big coolers, a set of horseshoes and an big appetite for central Texas BBQ. Our bags were packed with the consummate BBQ tour attire: sandals, extremely comfortable shorts & our favorite Hawaiian shirt. Why two coolers? One for the ice-cold beer, a necessity on any BBQ Tour, and one with the capacity to bring home 20 pounds of smokin meat. We overnighted in Rockdale, north of Lexington, and arrived at a foggy Snow's BBQ in Lexington before 8am, beating the crowd by 15 minutes. They're only open on Saturdays and the meat…

Joints - 03/12/2010

Road trip to Randy's Bar-B-Que in Red Oak

Texas BBQ Posse members loaded up a couple of cars on Tuesday and headed down to Red Oak to check out lunch at Randy’s Bar-B-Que. Daniel Vaughn had named Randy's the number 2 BBQ joint in DFW in his recent D Magazine rankings, so we had to check it out for ourselves. We were wheels up at 11:10 or so from downtown Dallas. Posse member Irwin Thompson warned that we better get there by before noon or risk a long line. We pulled in the lot a little bit after 11:30 and barely beat the crowd. It's a nondescript building…

Joints - 03/11/2010

Flashback at Stanley’s Famous Pit Bar-B-Q

We started our recent East Texas BBQ Tour at Stanley’s Famous Pit Bar-B-Q in Tyler. It's been around since the 1950s, when W.G. Watson owned the joint. J.D. Stanley, a former oil field worker, bought and renamed it in 1960. Nick & Jen Pencis now own Stanley's, with deep respect to a 50-plus years of the history within. I grew up in Tyler and some of my earliest dining memories are from Stanley's. Much to my surprise, the place is almost exactly how I remember it 40 years ago, when Mr. Stanley was taking orders at the counter. I always…

Joints - 03/09/2010

Coming soon: Tales from the East Texas BBQ Tour

A couple of weeks ago, the Texas BBQ Posse headed to east Texas in search of the best BBQ in the area. Posse founding member Gary Jacobson will once again be writing a story on the road trip for The Dallas Morning News, but you can click here for a sneak peek at the slideshow from our journey to the piney woods. We'll let you know when the story is published in two weeks or so. The posse was made up of three of our members from the central Texas tour and five newbies. My dad James Wilkins, a Tyler…

Joints - 03/07/2010

Speaking of BBQ and Shacks

Another great BBQ joint in the Dallas area is Meshack's Bar-B-Que Shack in Garland, some of the best brisket you'll find north of Snow's BBQ in Lexington, Texas. Meshack's opened in May 2009 in a small building east of old downtown Garland. It was discovered by Daniel Vaughn, the BBQ Snob, later in August and the rest is history. Daniel blogged about Meshack's on his Full Custom Gospel BBQ blog, assigning it his first 4-star ranking in the Dallas area, outside of a few in Ft. Worth. He recently ranked DFW BBQ joints for D Magazine, in his story titled…

Joints - 03/07/2010

A shout out to the BBQ Snob

For guidance and inspiration along the BBQ trail, the Texas BBQ Posse has turned many times to Daniel Vaughn, aka the BBQ Snob. Daniel is a local architect. He has a great website, the Full Custom Gospel BBQ blog, reviewing Texas BBQ joints. We had already started following his blog when fellow posse member David Woo and I had a chance to have lunch with Daniel at The Baby Back Shak. The Dallas Morning News was doing a story on the phenomenal success of his blog. David and I ate ribs and talked que with Daniel, then David shot photos…

People - 03/07/2010

Support your local Shak

Despite what you might read in D Magazine, the best BBQ in the city of Dallas is located at 1800 South Akard St. Just a mile south of City Hall, it's worth the trip any time to enjoy pitmaster and owner Clarence Cohen's masterfully prepared ribs and other meats at the Baby Back Shak. The ribs are the best we've had in Dallas, bar none. Clarence also offers great sides, including his green beans (reminds me of my grandma's) and the infamous Shak beans, some of the best BBQ beans you'll ever have. Click here to visit the Shak's website…

Joints - 03/07/2010

The Barbecue Chronicles: Our first journey to Central Texas

In thick fog on a Saturday morning, we missed the turn for Lexington. We quickly doubled back and arrived at Snow's BBQ a little after 8 a.m., relieved to see only a short line. A half-hour earlier, when we left our motel, none of us felt hungry. But the smell of wood smoke changed our minds. We ordered thick slices of tender brisket on white bread. "That's the best breakfast I've ever eaten," said Chris Wilkins. "I could have gone home at that point and the trip would have been worth it," said Gary Barber. Our lightning tour of the…

Roadtrips - 03/07/2010

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