Jim Rossman

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First Look: Uptown Bar-B-Q in Dallas

Three meat plate of brisket, ribs and jalapeno sausage with pinto beans and potato salad at Uptown Bar-B-Q in Dallas. (Photo ©Jim Rossman, Texas BBQ Posse) Editors note: Good news, we got an email that Uptown Bar-B-Q is open again under the ownership of Al Heidari. I ate lunch at a new barbecue joint this week called Uptown Bar-B-Q, which is aptly named, as it shares space with venerable uptown Dallas restaurant The Old Warsaw. Uptown Bar-B-Q shares space with the legendary Old Warsaw restaurant. (Photo ©Jim Rossman, Texas BBQ Posse) Robert Austin, who had the Baker’s Ribs franchise in Grapevine until late…

Joints - 11/13/2018

Don't miss Smoke Sessions Barbecue -- new joint east of DFW

Pitmaster/owner Chad Sessions at Smoke Sessions Barbecue. (Photo ©Jim Rossman/Texas BBQ Posse) A new BBQ joint flashed up on my Facebook feed last week. My nephew’s mother-in-law tagged her daughter to mention Smoke Sessions Barbecue, a new trailer on State Highway 66 between Rockwall and Royse City in the small town of Fate. I was free for lunch the next day, so I drove the half hour east on I-30 and found Chad and Jessica Sessions manning a very sharp-looking smoker/trailer parked in front of a feed store. The right half of the trailer houses the offset pit and a…

Joints - 09/08/2017

4-T's Bar-B-Q, a sweet spot in Forney

Lunch plate of ribs, brisket & sausage were perfectly cooked and seasoned at 4-T's Bar-B-Q & Catering in Forney. I had a great lunch at 4-T’s Bar-B-Q and Catering in Forney, a half-hour or so East of Dallas. Newly-named to the Texas Monthly Top 50 list, it was my first trip out to Forney and it sure won’t be my last. Pitmaster Mike Thomas has been smoking meat in Forney for almost seven years and he’s really got things dialed in. I ordered the two meat plate ($11.49) with moist brisket and sausage and I added two ribs ($2 each). All three meats…

Joints - 05/31/2017

ThermoWorks Smoke performs flawlessly

The ThermoWorks Smoke dual-channel thermometer comes with two probes, one for meat and one for air. I’ll admit, I’m the Posse rookie when it comes to smoking meat. I bought a Weber Smokey Mountain cooker about two months ago and I’ve used it half a dozen times, mostly with success. I’m also a technology writer and gadget reviewer, so every time I take on a new hobby, like smoking meat, I take the opportunity to immerse myself in whatever new and exciting gadgets go along with it. I know temperature is important, so I jumped into my first cook using…

Equipment - 05/24/2017

At Cattleack BBQ, we go behind TV action

Cattleack BBQ owner and pitmaster Todd David points out the menu items to customers. You might have seen a news story that Cattleack BBQ is going to be featured on a new Food Network show called Incredible Edible America with the Dunhams, starring comedian/ventriloquist Jeff Dunham and his wife Audrey, a food blogger. Each show is centered around one city and the one of the shows is about Dallas. The series premieres June 5, but we don’t know yet exactly when the Dallas episode is scheduled to air. I was asked by Cattleack owners Todd and Misty David to attend…

Joints - 05/06/2017

Behold the Fried Rib from Pecan Lodge -- You need to try one

The fried rib from Pecan Lodge in Dallas. (Photo by Jim Rossman/Texas BBQ Posse) It’s not often that I’m surprised by the menu at a BBQ joint. I’ve been to more than a few dozen places and didn’t think there was much else you could do to a pork rib, but I was wrong. One day last month I was eating at Pecan Lodge in Dallas when I spied a new entry on their menu board. It was a fried pork rib and I had to have one. The rib was a very large and meaty. It was lightly battered…

Joints - 09/18/2014

Ten 50 BBQ in Richardson shows promise in first week, but Franklin, it's not...

Large pallets of wood wait their turn in the smoker (Photos by Jim Rossman) After an extensive remodel of a K&G Men's Wear on north Central Expressway in Richardson, Ten 50 BBQ, owned by Chili's founder Larry Lavine, finally opened this week to long lines and daily sellouts around 2:30p.m. each day. I watched a few accounts of Monday's opening day, including a good writeup by Kellie Reynolds in the Dallas Observer. It was a quote in her story that caught my attention. "Franklin's in Austin is the gold standard and we think we've matched that," Levine told Reynolds. "We've…

Joints - 08/21/2014

Take a number -- A different approach to BBQ lines

Posse members Jim Rossman & Gary Jacobson head up the line at Killen's BBQ. (Photo ©Daniel Goncalves/fotobia.com) In our recent travels to Houston, part of the scheduling involved knowing that two joints – Killen’s and CorkScrew – were places that would require a wait in a pretty lengthy line. We hit CorkScrew BBQ in Friday for lunch and did the same Saturday at Killen’s. Each place opens at 11am. I volunteered to be the line sitter each morning, arriving at 8:30 a.m. each day to secure the first spot in line. Note to our fellow line-waiters – I was alone…

Joints - 07/01/2014

Killens' BBQ in Pearland is going to crash everyone's top 10 list.

Killen's BBQ in Pearland. (All photos by Jim Rossman) I had lunch at Killen’s BBQ in Pearland today and the meats were spectacular. I have no doubt Killen’s is the best BBQ in Pearland, and likely the best BBQ in the Houston-area. The Posse will double-check my thoughts as we head down to Houston for a BBQ tour at the end of June and Killen’s is a highly-anticipated stop. I figured Mother’s Day would be a light day at a BBQ joint, but then I remembered this is Texas. Killen’s opens at 11 a.m., and at 10:05 a.m. I was…

Joints - 05/12/2014

Baby Back Shak has a new look, same great food

Posse photo by Jim Rossman Posse member Irwin Thompson alerted us to a remodel at the Baby Back Shak, a longtime Posse favorite joint. We've always loved the ribs and boudin, along with the turkey and even the Shak beans, but the building, which was totally void of windows, was always very dark and the decor was mid-70s with faded sports photos on the walls. The way a place looks has never stopped us from enjoying Clarence Cohens great food, but I have to say, the changes -- especially the new front door and wall of windows -- makes a…

Joints - 02/21/2014

YABBQL: Yet Another BBQ line -- Cattleack BBQ tweaks their operation to address the long lines.

From left: Todd David, David Mills, Misty David and Lauren Parajon (photo by Jim Rossman) On the heels of Pecan Lodge making some tweaks to their ordering process, relative newcomer Cattleack BBQ is making some changes to their Friday-only lunch service to address it's growing lines. Our BBQ Take-Out service on Fridays has become such a hit, we now have a line out the door! While this is a measure of success for us, we don’t want it to be an inconvenience to our BBQ-loving customers. We have two new processes in place to help those who have limited time…

Joints - 08/26/2013

Slow Bone Update: Less smoke is a good thing

Brisket, ribs and cilantro sausage from The Slow Bone. (Photo by Jim Rossman) I stopped by The Slow Bone for lunch today and I was really happy with what I found on my tray. I started out with a two meat plate of moist brisket and ribs, but owner Jack Perkins told me he's been tweaking the recipe and grind of the cilantro sausage, so I adjusted to a three meat plate. I have to say my first bite of brisket made me close my eyes, stop chewing and savor. The texture was right on and the fat was perfectly…

Joints - 07/22/2013

Updated: Some thoughts on Pecan Lodge and a potential new location

The lunch line queues up at Pecan Lodge in the Dallas Farmers Market. (Photo ©Daniel Goncalves/Fotobia.com) UPDATE: we received a Tweet from Pecan Lodge: @texasbbqposse @jimrossman: Thx for your thoughts. Adding 2nd cash register in next few wks. Already hv 2 cutters in kitchen. Doing our best. So the BBQ blogosphere seems to be full up on stories about Pecan Lodge and whether or not it'll remain at the Dallas Farmer's Market. The City of Dallas sold the property and there are plans to redo Shed 2, which apparently include tearing it up while a new sewer line is installed. Not…

Joints - 06/20/2013

Bartley's BBQ popular with the locals, not so much with the Posse.

Bartley's BBQ is located in a strip mall on E. Northwest Hwy. in Grapevine. (Photo©Chris Wilkins/Texas BBQ Posse) Friday brought the Texas BBQ Posse to Grapevine to eat at Bartley’s BBQ, a joint that none of us had heard of before it made the 2013 Texas Monthly Top 50 list. After one visit, we’re wondering how they made the list. It was crowded and the line remained a steady 15-20 during the lunch hour. Service is cafeteria line-style with self-serve sides that were mostly very good. As for the meat, we sampled the brisket, pork loin, pork ribs, turkey, hot…

Joints - 06/07/2013

Lockhart Smokehouse renews our faith in DFWs Top 7 Tour

Assistant pitmaster Damien Avila takes lunch orders at Lockhart Smokehouse (Photo©Daniel Goncalves/Fotobia.com) After Tuesday's debacle in Garland we set our sights on Lockhart Smokehouse for lunch Wednesday and we're proud to say the meat did not disappoint (save for one spare rib that was a bit tough). The Posse rolled into Oak Cliff on the third of seven stops on our weeklong tour of Texas Monthly's 7 DFW joints that made the 2013 Top 50 list. While the joint was not quite as full as we saw it during our Memorial Day week live chat, it was a steady crowd and…

Joints - 06/06/2013

New Dallas Joint: CattleAck BBQ

From left: Todd David, David Mills, Misty David and Lauren Parajon (all photos by Jim Rossman) In the wake of the Texas Monthly Top 50 list which was released this week, there’s been an abnormal amount of BBQ chatter on Twitter. It was in a Tweet I saw mention of CattleAck BBQ in Dallas. I was intrigued, as I’ve at least heard of most joints in Dallas and this one was under my radar. A jump to their Twitter feed @cattleackbbq led me to their website www.cattleackbbq.com. What I found was a BBQ catering business that four weeks ago started opening…

Joints - 05/17/2013

Corkscrew BBQ: Finally found the best BBQ in Houston...well, Spring, TX.

Corkscrew BBQ in Spring, just north of Houston. (Photos by Jim Rossman) For several months I've been monitoring the buzz around Corkscrew BBQ, a trailer operation in Spring TX, between Conroe and Houston. My parents had forwarded me an article from the Houston Chronicle praising a new classic of Houston BBQ and decided it would be a priority on my next trip to visit my parents. Fast forward and today's the day. I got to Corkscrew just after noon and there were about 15 people in the line that stayed about that long until 1:30 p.m., when Pitmaster Will Buckman…

Joints - 05/03/2013

First Look: The Slow Bone Barbeque in Dallas

All photos by Jim Rossman It's a great day when I get to eat at a new place. Today, Jack Perkins, owner of local burger joint Maple and Motor, opened the doors to The Slow Bone Barbeque, his new barbecue restaurant at 2234 Irving Blvd. at the base of the new Sylvan Ave. bridge near the Design District in Dallas. Jack won the brisket competition at last year's Meat Fight and announced his plans to open Slow Bone late last year. Well, today was the day. I was tenth in line when the doors opened this morning and the line…

Joints - 04/16/2013

Running into the BBQ Snob is a good sign

Daniel Vaughn, aka: The BBQ Snob, at Snow's BBQ in Lexington. (Photo ©Chris Wilkins/Texas BBQ Posse) Running into your “barbecue friends” out in the wild is really a pleasant surprise. Twice this year I’ve run into Daniel Vaughn, a barbecue blogger and author who’s tireless pursuit of great smoked meat has benefitted us all. I’m never surprised to run into Daniel at a restaurant, because if I see him, I know I’m in for some good barbecue. I always look over my shoulder for Daniel when I eat at a new place, like Fargo’s new location in Bryan. I…

People - 02/16/2013

My crash course in smoking with the Knights of Columbus

Tom Rossman loads the pit with pork butts. This weekend I had the pleasure of hanging out with my dad Tom Rossman and the Knights of Columbus Council 6950 in Katy for a full day of smoking meat. Several times each year the Knights sell barbecue as a fund-raiser. They presell briskets, ribs and pork butts, cook on Friday and customers pickup on Saturday. This time they prepared 42 briskets, 75 racks of ribs and 12 pork butts. The preparation of the meat was done Thursday and cooking commenced Friday at 6 a.m. The Knights were using 4 large smokers (three for…

Cooking - 02/03/2013

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