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posted 02 October 2012 14:37 Hide Post
I had to make a long day's drive to Austin and back home last weekend so, not to have it be a complete waste, I left a little early so I could stop by the town of Taylor (declared by Texas Legislature as "Barbecue Capitol of the World") on the way and sample some Q. I arrived about 11:30 and went to the oldest Q joint in town.......

49) Taylor Cafe, 101 N. Main St., Taylor Texas (Texas Monthly Rating 4.0) My Overall Rating B

This is the oldest Q joint in Taylor, started by the current owner Vencil Mares (now 88 years young and sitting at the bar watching business everyday) not long after he returned from serving in WWII.

Originally it was a hotel/brothel around turn of century and then the top floor burned down so it is a one storied remnant of where they went to come. It is located just across from the railroad tracks and is the quintessential Texas Q joint, in short it looks like it is one very small step from being condemned. Just my kind of place.....long U shaped bar with stools, tables on each side and a pool table at end. Outside looks like a one storied red barn in later stages of decay, inside coordinates with original impression well. Wink

I went in, ordered a Dos Equis and some Q, a pound of brisket, ribs, and beef sausage. Brisket was a distant second to sausage, and ribs were third. Both brisket and ribs had decent rub, but ribs were a bit tough and, while being solid products, both were really ordinary at best. OTOH, the beef sausage, which, as I've mentioned before, is not my favorite Q products, was really exceptionally good. Solid, not dripping with grease as most are, with a decent amount of spice. I'd have liked it hotter but it was still a wonderful experience. They also make turkey sausage which I didn't try since it was not Thanksgiving.

Sauce was not all that good, tomato based, having that slightly bitter flavor of some unidentified spice that I don't find appealing at all.

I'd like to give it a higher grade because it is really an experience that brings back my childhood and younger bar hopping days that should be visited by other similar rapscallions, but since I don't grade sausage or atmosphere, I am forced to give it a decent but not exceptional grade of B. Since it is only 3 blocks from Louie Muellers, it is worth going by and having a beer and sausage, maybe while playing a game of 8 ball, if you can still move after eating at Mueller's.

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Originally posted by Ghubert:
Spare a thought for those separated from Mother Texas and her BBQ joints, you guys are killing me here...

In the nicest possible way of course!

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RESTAURANTS & BARS

At Smokestak, a brash evolution of barbecue in London
By J.C. ReidMarch 3, 2017 Updated: March 4, 2017 7:21pm

If Ridley Scott, famed director of "Alien" and "Blade Runner," were to design a barbecue joint, it might look something like Smokestak in London - its ambience combines a brooding, monochromatic industrial aura with slick attention to detail and elegant interiors.

Hardly a typical description of a barbecue joint, which often involves linoleum floors and checkered tablecloths. But there's nothing typical about this newly opened barbecue restaurant in the city's trendy Shoreditch neighborhood.

Smokestak is a fascinating example of how the techniques and culture of Texas barbecue continue to metamorphose in surprising and delicious ways around the world.

Like his restaurant, proprietor David Carter is an atypical pitmaster. He grew up on the island of Barbados and attended the Hospitality and Tourism Management program at Ryerson University in Toronto. In 2005, he was recruited by Four Seasons Hotels to work at one of the company's properties in Los Angeles.

In 2008, Carter went to New York for a job interview at a restaurant owned by celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay. Instead, he was offered a position at a Ramsay restaurant at Claridge's hotel in London, which he accepted. Carter would also work at Ramsay's Savoy Grill, and later at Roka, one of London's most celebrated Japanese restaurants.

smokestak.co.uk

Carter always wanted to own his own restaurant. In 2012, he took notice of the Texas barbecue phenomenon sweeping into the United Kingdom. Inspired to make the best barbecue with the best equipment, he flew to Houston to meet with pit maker David Klose, from whom he purchased his first real barbecue pit. Klose took him to Gatlin's BBQ for lunch, where Carter got his first taste of real Texas barbecue.

"This type of cooking is very natural to me," Carter says. "I grew up with barbecue in Barbados, essentially the carbonization of fat and sugars to create flavor."

It is this stripping-down of barbecue to its essence - the "carbonization of fat and sugars," among other techniques - that makes Carter's vision at Smokestak so unique.

Of course there is Texas-style brisket on his menu, some of the best I've tasted outside the Lone Star State. Carter imports Creekstone-brand beef from the U.S. - the same product used at celebrated Texas joints such as Franklin Barbecue and Killen's Barbecue. He and assistant pitmaster Roberto Rebollar cook the brisket in a colossal Ole Hickory wood-burning smoker that is the centerpiece of the restaurant.

Sliced brisket is available, but Carter's creativity is most deliciously expressed in the restaurant's signature "brisket bun." A pillowy brioche bun is painted with butter, topped with a voluptuous pile of fatty brisket and sprinkled with slices of crunchy, pickled chili peppers.

Vegetables get the carbonization treatment, too. Impossibly flavorful carrots are coated in honey, caramelized over the fire of a wood-charcoal grill, and strewn with sprigs of fresh thyme. Even desserts are in on the act - a traditional sticky toffee pudding is topped with a burnt butter ice cream.

Seated for lunch, we watched as Carter directed the performance of his staff from the open kitchen. Neighborhood denizens began to stream in. The dining room, which felt slightly aloof and somber when we sat down, transformed.

The place's black-and-gray industrial design became a backdrop for the colorful flares of food and guests - bright-red chili peppers strewn across our plate of brisket, a shock of ginger hair at the table next to us, a shimmering blue scarf draped across a neighboring chair. The initially quiet dining room became lively with shouts and laughter.

Carter's eyes light up when he explains how interior designer Lou Davies designed the restaurant to resemble the inside of a barbecue smoker.

Stage sets in a Ridley Scott film serve as integral parts of the story as well as backgrounds for the characters and action. Similarly, the design of Smokestak becomes an accompaniment to the barbecue, cleverly reinterpreting a Texas tradition that is as much about sight, sound and feel as it is about the taste of charred meat and the fragrance of burning wood.

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Originally posted by Kensco:
I do NOT volunteer for that job.

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The place has been there for 30+ years. I view it as mainly for locals. I wouldn't drive out of my way to get there, and I would have to drive by Hutchins in McKinney to get to Jordan's, and that's not going to happen.

I will remember those ribs for a long while though.

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Originally posted by Bill/Oregon:
Wow. I dipped back into this great thread because I had forgotten what Gato thought of the Salt Lick, the only Texas Q joint I have been to.
I have Aaron Franklin's book, as well as Meathead Goldwyn's. One o' these days I will screw up my courage and try a brisket on my gasser with smoke tube.
Kensco, you're killing me with all these pit master class listings!

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posted 24 September 2009 12:32 Hide Post
21) Bodacious Bar-B-Q, 2227 S. Mobberly St, Longview, Tx.

This is a loose end I've been wanting to tie up for a while. Duggaboye recommended it some months back and I mistakenly went to another location (N. 6th St) in Longview (see previous review) which is a worthwhile Q joint in it's own right.

This is the original Bodacious location and is still owned by the wife of the founder. Her daughter's boyfriend was the very friendly person who took our order and talked to us a bit. He had just returned from a "fill in" for her daughter's Bodacious in San Angelo, which is a pretty fair piece from Longview.

Cooking is done on electric smokers using mostly Ok Mesquite (!) according to above information source. A purist, which I am to some extent, would prefer open flames, but it is hard to argue with their results.

This stop was kind of an afterthought, my wife and I went down to Kilgore to pick up a shotgun I had purchased and we drove rt by this place on the way back to one of our favorite Mexican restaurants in the area, Posados in Longview, as well. I asked her if we wanted to buy some Q to go for dinner. Sure, so we ordered 2 pounds brisket, 2 pounds ribs, and wound up with 2 pounds of cut pork shoulder (Boston Butt) as well. Normally they only "pull" the shoulder, but the guy was nice enough to say, if you want it cut, I'll cut it. Pork was really exceptional, smoked first and cooked in foil for tenderness. Great flavor and char.
Brisket was good, but not great, probably a bit more moist than the one we had at the other Bodacious but not as well smoked. Ribs were somewhat different than the other Bodacious as well. In spite of my professed preference for unsweet Q, these had a somewhat sweet finish with a bit of pepper and were tender and well smoked. I'd say they were equally as good as the ribs at the other Bodacious but undoubtedly prepared by different pitmasters. Sauce was basically the same as the other Bodacious, tomato based, somewhat sweet, but decent. Considering some of the sauces I've had lately, "decent" is a big improvement. The other Bodacious on 6th may be owned by a different person, I forgot to ask. Quite a few of the Bodacious' are, such as the disaster I reviewed in Mt. Pleasant. I sampled just enough to get an opinion after we ordered and then went on to Posados Restaurant (highly recommended). Opinion was confirmed last night.

Overall grade A---, highly recommended.

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Smoke in Dallas is still going strong, but the restaurant’s second location, which opened in Plano in 2015, has closed its doors.

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I'll leave the grading to Gato if he gets that way. At $10 for two meats, two sides, and two pieces of bread, I'm OK.