Dallas BBQ Joints

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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

More evidence of the Texas BBQ hipster pitmaster, and this one's smoking turkey

Lockhart Smokehouse pitmaster Will Fleischman. (Photo ©Chris WIlkins/Texas BBQ Posse) While we were at Lockhart Smokehouse in Dallas the other day, pitmaster Will Fleischman stopped by our table to explain his recent experiments cooking turkey breast. He didn't have high hopes, he admitted, but the final product turned out well and will soon be added to the regular menu. We tried some and it was excellent. As Fleischman talked, it occurred to us that here was another example of the phenomenon we wrote about recently, the young hipster pitmaster who is changing Texas barbecue. Last year Fleischman was named one…

People - 04/15/2013

Can you keep a secret? Clyde Biggins looks to expand his underground BBQ operation in West Dallas

Pitmaster Clyde Biggins of Clyde's Rolling Bar-B-Que. (Photo ©Chris Wilkins/Texas BBQ Posse) At Clyde's Rolling Bar-B-Que -- a trailer on Westmoreland Road in West Dallas open two days a week and soon to be three -- there's as much nostalgia on the menu as smoked meat. "Is that Clyde?" an elderly man said as he stopped his big pickup truck beside Clyde Biggins' barbecue pit last Saturday afternoon. "It's Clyde," Clyde said. "Do you know me?" the man in the pickup said. They talked for several minutes, recalling when, two decades ago, Clyde ran a popular barbecue joint a couple…

People - 04/09/2013

Catching up with pitmaster Travis Mayes at Meshack's Bar-Be-Que Shack in Garland

The Tuesday lunch crowd at MeShack's Bar-Be-Que Shack in Garland. (Photo ©Chris Wilkins/Texas BBQ Posse) It had been too long, so I went out to visit old BBQ friends in Garland on Tuesday. Travis and Donna Mayes opened the now legendary Meshack's Bar-Be-Que Shack in May 2009. They led the way to a renaissance of Dallas barbecue that has been exhilarating, including the opening of Pecan Lodge and Lockhart Smokehouse. New joints continue to open in the D/FW area almost monthly now, some good, some bad. BBQ snob Daniel Vaughn put MeShack's on the map in late 2009, giving them…

Joints - 04/03/2013

Two little known facts about Slow Bone BBQ, the newest joint in Dallas

One of these places sells BBQ & one doesn't. Can you guess which is which? (Photo ©Chris Wilkins) Every couple of weeks I've been cruising by the new location of Slow Bone BBQ, checking for signs of life. This is the joint started up by Maple & Motor owner Jack Perkins, located on the corner of Wycliff and Irving Blvd. When word of the opening came out via CultureMap's Teresa Gubbins on January 1st, the Dallas food blogosphere lit up. After his highly successful run at the celebrated burger restaurant, Perkins was ready to take on the steadily improving Dallas…

Joints - 03/28/2013

Pecan Lodge of Dallas wins best ribs in the Posse's Best of Texas BBQ Tour

Order of award-winning ribs at Pecan Lodge in the Dallas Farmer's Market. (Tom Fox/DMN) While we wait for the full results of the Posse's recent Best of Texas barbecue tour to be published in The Dallas Morning News this weekend, we can reveal one more detail: Pecan Lodge in Dallas won the pork rib category. Five of our six judges rated pitmaster Justin Fourton's ribs a perfect 10. The sixth judge scored a 9. We reported earlier here that Snow's BBQ in Lexington had the highest scoring brisket. It received a 10 from every judge, the only meat to achieve…

Joints - 03/06/2013

Lines, lines, everywhere we go there are BBQ lines

Long lines at Franklin BBQ in Austin, top, and Pecan Lodge in Dallas. (Photos © Daniel Goncalves) Aaron Franklin has made it cool to stand in a long line for barbecue. That has been the norm at his joint in Austin going back to its trailer days in 2009. Now, the phenomenon appears to be spreading, as we discovered on our recent Best of Texas BBQ Tour. When we left Stanley's Famous Pit Bar-B-Que in Tyler about noon last Friday, three dozen people were in line and more appeared to be walking down the sidewalk to join the queue. This…

Joints - 02/13/2013

Big BBQ beef ribs coming soon to Pecan Lodge in Dallas

Posse veteran Jim Rossman and I went to lunch at the Pecan Lodge on Thursday. For us, it was our first time to eat at the popular Dallas Farmers Market barbecue location since it was featured on the TV show Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives at the end of May. The lines have just been too long. But when we arrived just before the 11 a.m. opening, only 15 or so people were ahead of us and it took only about 10 minutes to work our way to the cash register where we ordered. We both got 3-meat platters. And neither…

Joints - 09/14/2012

Posse members react to Clyde Biggins' BBQ

There is no shortage of opinions on the Texas BBQ Posse. Often we differ among ourselves. That wasn't the case when we ate lunch last week at Clyde Biggins' house. We all agreed that the former Dallas BBQ King, trying to make a comeback after nearly 17 years in prison, can still cook. Here are comments from Posse members there: Michael Ainsworth: Took me back to a different time, when it was just a bunch of friends getting together for food and fun. It's not re-creatable. It just is. Chris Wilkins: What a great setting for a Friday afternoon BBQ…

People - 06/26/2012

Clyde is back, cooking some of the best BBQ in Dallas, but you can't buy it

Sometimes, the only place to start is at the beginning. In early January 2010, a large manilla envelope came to me in the mail from the federal prison in Fort Worth. A reader commented on a story I had written for The Dallas Morning News about the Posse's very first barbecue tour, to the Central Texas BBQ heartland. "It's all good," the reader wrote. "'But' have you really tasted the best barbecue in Texas?" The reader said his name was Clyde Biggins and that he once owned "Clyde's Old Fashion Hickory Smoked Barbecue" on Westmoreland Road in Dallas. "'Note,'" Biggins…

People - 06/25/2012

Katy Trail Ice House: The new kid on the BBQ block

We had the pleasure of checking out the latest serious BBQ player in Dallas on Friday. The Katy Trail Ice House, located on the trail near Reverchon Park, has been cooking BBQ on a huge custom-built smoker for the past two months. The results are quite impressive, especially given the short time they've been smoking meats. Alerted by a recent blog post on written by Stephen Doyle on cravedfw, we rounded up a group and headed there for lunch. BBQ Snob Daniel Vaughn also rounded up a posse of five from nearby Good Fulton & Farrell, the architecture firm where…

Joints - 05/05/2012

Lockhart Smokehouse shrugs off review, smokes 3,000 pounds of meat a week

Lockhart Smokehouse owner Jeff Bergus was working the front of the house during the Posse's visit to his Oak Cliff joint Saturday afternoon. When new customers arrived, he asked if they had ever been to his place before. If no, he immediately escorted them to the meat-ordering counter in the back. After a while, he sat down at the Posse's table and chatted. We asked how business has been since his place received a one-star food review from The Dallas Morning News a few weeks ago. A framed copy of the review hangs on one wall, along with copies of…

Joints - 06/14/2011

Dallas is raising its BBQ game

We've commented in the past about the lack of great Texas style -- real wood-fired -- barbecue in Dallas. But during the Posse's "Impromptu Best of Dallas BBQ Mini-Tour" Saturday, one conclusion was clear: Big D is raising its game. Over a period of about four hours, we ate at three joints. Each smokes with a different kind of wood. The Pecan Lodge at the Dallas Farmers' Market uses mesquite. Meshack's Bar-B-Que (OK, it's in Garland but we're counting it as Dallas) uses pecan. And Lockhart Smokehouse in Oak Cliff uses post oak. Admittedly, these three places were already our…

Joints - 06/13/2011

See the photos: Celebrating the return of BBQ today at Pecan Lodge

After a couple of months absence, barbecue is back at Pecan Lodge. Eight members of the Posse gathered at Farmers Market shed no. 2 this morning to test samples hot off the pit. BBQ Snob Daniel Vaughan and his family joined in the action as well. This was the first stop of what we called the "Impromptu Best of Dallas BBQ Mini-Tour." Stops followed at Meshack's Bar-B-Que in Garland and then back down to Lockhart Smokehouse in Dallas. Pecan Lodge owners Dianne and Justin Fourton have added several new menu items, including pulled pork, homemade sausage and fried chicken. More…

Joints - 06/11/2011

Meshack's Bar-B-Que in Garland named as one of the best in the country

The honors continue for one of the Possse's favorite BBQ joints in the state. Meshack's Bar-B-Que Shack in Garland has been named in the list of Top 21 BBQ Sandwiches in this month's Garden & Gun magazine. The slick looking national magazine describes itself as, "A Southern lifestyle magazine that's all about the magic of the new South - sporting culture, food, music, art, literature, people, and ideas." Meshack's owners Donna and Travis Mayes got a visit yesterday from the city of Garland, who will be honoring them with a proclamation at the next Garland City Council meeting. Congrats to…

Joints - 06/09/2011

Posse favorites: Beef ribs at Lockhart Smokehouse

Beefed Up Wednesday is something you're going to want to check out at Lockhart Smokehouse in Oak Cliff. Posse member Jim Rossman came back after a recent lunch raving about the beef ribs, a menu item available only on Wednesdays. And Jim eats there one or two times a week. Not a lot of joints serve beef ribs, though I've tried them at several places including Louie Mueller BBQ, Gonzales Food Market and Smoke in Dallas. The ribs from Louie Mueller have been amazing every time I tried them and Gonzales was really good as well. I probably won't order…

Joints - 05/17/2011

A grim indictment of the lack of BBQ choices in Dallas

I just bought a copy of the Barbecue Lover's Guide to Austin, by Gloria Corral. Daniel Vaughn, the BBQ Snob, reviewed it a couple weeks ago and he's right. The 174-page paperback is skinny on critical guidance. But if you live in Dallas, like some of us in the Posse, it's also evidence of our lack of barbecue choices. Corral has write-ups on nearly 60 places within the city of Austin. Subtract the chains (anything with more than one outlet, which knocks out County Line, Bill Miller, Cartwright's and PoK-e-Jo's, among others) and there are still about 35 joints,…

Joints - 05/05/2011

Is Pecan Lodge in the same league as Franklin?

Is Pecan Lodge in the same league as Franklin? That was the case this week, according to Posse pit master Marshall Cooper, who eats barbecue – his own and other’s – several times a week. Marshall is hard to please. But after his lunch Sunday at Pecan Lodge in the Dallas Farmers Market he was raving. “In terms of quality, in my opinion, the brisket and ribs today hands down beats any BBQ in DFW,” he reported. “The ribs were better than any ribs I’ve eaten out. Today, the brisket was so damned good, it makes me re-think Franklin for…

Joints - 03/24/2011

Luckie's Smokehouse: Last of the OC's three new BBQ joints opens for business

Editors note: This BBQ joint s now closed. UPDATE 2/28: Click here to see our friend Daniel Vaughn's review of Luckie's Smokehouse on his Full Custom Gospel BBQ blog. Daniel also points out Oak Cliff Barbeque, yet another new BBQ joint in the OC. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- After months of preparation, Luckie's Smokehouse is open for business at the corner of Davis St. and Clinton Ave. in Oak Cliff. Luckie's is the third BBQ barbecue joint to open in the OC in the past month. They were formerly located at I-30 and Cockrell Road. The Posse watched the early stages of their…

Joints - 02/25/2011

See the photos: First trip (of many) to Lockhart Smokehouse

After waiting several months for Lockhart Smokehouse's opening day, the Posse made its way across the ice-packed Houston Street viaduct today for lunch in the OC. We were not disappointed. Posse pitmaster Marshall Cooper, his son Mark & I sampled the meat spread shown above. We ordered brisket, shoulder clod, a pork chop and Kreuz jalapeno sausage. Jim Rossman and Gary Barber joined in on the meatfest as well. There was nothing left but grease-soaked butcher paper when we were done. It was their second day of business, unfortunately we were too jammed at work to get away on opening…

Joints - 02/04/2011

Papa Joe's Backyard BBQ: It's a family affair

Editors note: This BBQ joint s now closed. The first of Oak Cliff's three new BBQ joints, Papa Joe's Backyard BBQ, opened today with an 11am ribbon cutting. Friends and family were on hand to see Lee and Beverly Alvarez's two-year labor of love come to life. Lockhart Smokehouse, located in the Bishop Arts district, will open next Wednesday. Luckie's Smokehouse BBQ, located at 1300 W. Davis across from the Kessler Theater, is also opening very soon. Papa Joe's is located in Oak Cliff's Elmwood neighborhood, near Edgefield and Illinois Aves. and also close to the Alvarez's home. The restaurant…

Joints - 01/29/2011

Lockhart Smokehouse: See the photos of Oak Cliff's new BBQ hotspot

More on our blog post earlier today on the long-awaited opening of Lockhart Smokehouse in Oak Cliff. Thanks to an impromptu tour today by owner Jeff Bergus and pitmaster Tim McLaughlin, Posse member Tom Fox and I got to see the closest thing to Lockhart without driving 200 or so miles south to the BBQ capital of America. For those of you familiar with the routine at Lockhart's Kreuz Market, Tim says you should feel right at home. First of all, you order your meat at a counter located in front of the smoker. You order by the pound and…

Joints - 01/27/2011

Lockhart Smokehouse to open next Wednesday, Feb. 2nd

Great news for BBQ fans across North Texas and beyond. Lockhart Smokehouse will open on Wednesday, Feb. 2. It's likely been one of the most anticipated BBQ joint openings in DFW history. We dropped by today and met owner Jeff Bergus and pitmaster Tim McLaughlin as they get ready for the opening a week from tomorrow. We got a tour of the place and got a peek at their amazing custom-made Bewley smoker. Lockhart Smokehouse is located at the corner of Bishop and Davis, in the Bishop Arts District of Oak Cliff. In the photo above, Tim, left, and Jeff…

Joints - 01/27/2011

Birth of a BBQ Joint - Mama Faye's in Deep Ellum

We had the rare opportunity to try a new BBQ joint on its second day of operation today. Plans were set into motion when Texas BBQ Posse member Gary Barber spotted a big smoker at the corner of Commerce and Walton Streets while at lunch in Deep Ellum the day before. Ernest and Francine Williams opened Mama Faye's BBQ at 2933 Commerce on Thursday. The joint is named after Francine's mother Faye, who supplied the sauce recipe, a family secret that dates back to the 1900s. They are already known in Deep Ellum for their mobile operation, selling sandwiches in…

Joints - 12/18/2010

Baby Back Shak - Is the "Rossman Platter" the best BBQ sampler deal in Dallas?

If you go to the Baby Back Shak and ask for the "Rossman Platter, it's very likely they'll look at you with blank stare and say "excuse me, what did you ask for?" To members of the Texas BBQ Posse, the Rossman Platter may be the closest thing to BBQ greatness that Dallas has to offer. To backtrack, Jim Rossman, shown above on a recent trip to the Taylor Cafe, is a member of the posse who also happens to the the Dallas Morning News tech guru. This man knows his Mac computers and iPhone stuff, but he also knows…

Joints - 12/06/2010

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