Smokin’ BBQ

Driving by here a few weeks ago I noticed the sign for this restaurant and bookmarked it for a future visit. Well, I finally got by here for lunch yesterday and here is my report.
This BBQ restaurant is located in a strip center about ½ mile west of I 45 on FM 1960 on the north side of the road. The interior is rather basic with just some booths and tables and the ordering counter. After looking at the menu and talking to the owner/​manager I decided on the 2 meat plate with sliced brisket and ¼ chicken along with baked beans and Beulah’s Potato Salad (as advertised on the menu).
My meal came out in about 10 minutes in a styrofoam container on a tray (see pic). I opened the containers containing the sides and sampled each. First, the beans were very good. Flavorful and well seasoned I really liked them (4). Their consistency was just a little drier than I prefer however I am giving them a 4 so that should tell you how I felt about them. The potato salad? Beulah makes some very good potato salad! Mustard based and served cold it was also very good (4). In other words both sides passed my litmus test as being worthy. The brisket that I was served was a little dry. Even with the limited BBQ sauce put on them I was slightly disappointed (2.5). Perhaps I just got a bad serving. More sauce would have helped with making them easier to go down. The ¼ chicken leg was big and juicy. It had sauce on it too. I liked the chicken and gave it a 4. While eating both meats I noticed that I could not taste much flavor from their sauce. In other words it tasted bland on the meat. Not bad just lacking the flavor I would hope for. Then when I finished the meats there was some excess sauce left at the bottom of the tray. I took a spoon and scooped some of it and tasted it again. In that form the taste improved dramatically with a nice pepper bite. I really liked the sauce however I need to taste that taste on the meat too.
My plate cost $ 13.50 which is a fair price. They also have other items at lower cost. Overall I give my meal a 3.5 but will round up for Unilocal purposes to a 4. I would come back to try another meat or maybe a brisket sandwich to see if my experience with the brisket was a fluke or not. If I came back and the brisket disappoints I will lower the overall score to a 3. Counter service with the owner was very friendly and helpful. I hope this place makes it.

Finally a local non franchise bbq spot. This restaurant has only been open for 3 months and today they’ve earned a ³⁄₅ for reasons as follow; you can’t run out of the items used to make the «special» of the day, other menu items were not available, no lids for the cups and the wait was over 30 minutes for a to go order. Now for the quality of the food, it was good. It was what I expected. I’ll try them again in another 3 months to see if things have smoothed out being I understand it’s a new restaurant and things like quantity and demand to be determined. No ambiance at this point but I didn’t go for that. Try em out for yourself. I always like to support locally owned businesses.

It’s great to see new businesses sprouting up along FM 1960. For such a long time we’ve seen a decline in the area and now we seem to be back on the upswing. I ducked into the restaurant close to closing time, so I wasn’t really sure what they would have available.
The owners suggested brisket and who am I to argue. I love brisket. I thought it ended there, but the owner asked me what was my other meat, so I said «sausage I guess» and he asked «What kind?» Wait a minute, there’s different kinds of sausage? I was a bit indecisive so they chose for me.
I wasn’t dining in, so had it packaged To Go. I left with a two-​meat plate with a side of baked beans and potato salad.
The sausages were slice diagonally, and had a nice char from being warmed on the grill. I wasn’t a huge fan of the beef sausage, I guess because I’m used to pork sausage, but the chicken sausage was really good. The brisket was nicely chopped, and a little fatty, but if you’ve read my other reviews you know that is a good thing. The meat had a good smokey taste and a good char from being heated on the grill. Also if you don’t like barbecue sauce placed on your meat, ask them to put it on the side.
The potato salad and beans were excellent, I just wish there was more of them. However, the portions were actually really good and it was enough for two people (my greedy behind just ate the whole thing in one sitting – Don’t judge me).
The owners are really nice, warm, friendly and they are running a quality establishment, so if you are in the area, looking for something other than burgers, fries and Tex-​Mex, then please check them out for lunch or dinner.