A sixteen year odyssey across the backroads of America during the ultimate College Football roadtrip.

Tag: BBQ (Page 5 of 9)

Virgie’s Barbecue – Houston we have liftoff…

I had to be in Houston on Friday, and while Houston is nowhere close to Baylor, I naturally stopped in for a couple of Barbecue meals and thought they were deserving of review. Since my reviews thus far have eluded the Houston area, I wanted to include them on the blog should you find yourself in the area with an appetite for some barbecue. This was the first joint I hit.

Among most Texas Barbecue aficionados, the big cities – both Dallas and Houston, are considered black holes for finding proper Texas cue’. The elite barbecue game is traditionally dominated by the small town Texas markets that dot these rural mainstreets. And as it should be. Unlike Dallas, however, Houston has emerged with a handful of places that have met with approval from the more discerning taste buds of Texas chowhounds. Virgie’s Barbecue is one such establishment, so I anxiously waited in the parking lot tormented by plumes of smoke for 15 minutes before the doors opened for an early 11AM lunch.

Virgie’s is a small shanty in the Northwest corner of Houston, and judging by the prevalence of full sized domestic pickup trucks in the lot, a popular lunchtime spot for work crews. Though they don’t have an open smokeroom inside, the entire restaurant is filled with the enticing aroma of smoke, which delightfully, even permeates the restrooms. Orders are placed from a small counter, and despite craning my neck to catch a glimpse of the pits, I couldn’t get a peek. Were they not so busy I may have requested a tour, but instead I ordered up my usual trifecta of ribs, brisket and sausage.

True to its reputation, Virgie’s is a place that does it right. The sausage was a hot link style, which had a nice peppery heat to it without being overwhelming. My only wish is that places with decent sausage wouldn’t pre-slice their links, as it tends to dry out a bit. The ribs, although on the smaller side, were well cooked and infused with smoke. The brisket slices were meaty, with a perfect pink smoke ring and charred black crust. While they may appear a touch on the fatty side, the brisket was so well cooked that the fat peeled easily away leaving tender bites of moist, smoky beef.

The moral of the story is not to shun Houston from the barbecue world, because evidently there are some “city slickers” in town that know how to smoke some meat. If Virgie’s is any indication, there is some quality cue’ to be had in H-Town, and you should give it a shot next time you find yourself there.

http://www.virgiesbbq.com

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Arthur Bryant’s BBQ

Inevitably, my trip to Kansas City was going to include a trip to the stalwart of Kansas City Barbecue; Arthur Bryant’s. Similar to Rendezvous from the week before, Arthur Bryant’s is firmly established as one of the most famous barbecue joints in the country, and has been featured in reams of magazines and television shows celebrating its fame. Fame, accolades and mass appeal don’t buy a lot of credibility with me however, this is barbecue after all, not reality TV. It’s the meat on the plate that counts, so I sauntered in to Arthur Bryant’s to see if there was actual substance behind that reputation.

I arrived early at 10:00am just as they were opening the doors for the day, on a warning from Daniel over at Full Custom Gospel BBQ (who also recommended fantastic LC’s BBQ the day before). If you haven’t read Daniel’s blog before, it’s a remarkable chronicle of a true BBQ fanatic. Judging by his reviews of places I have tried, his taste buds are virtually infallible.

 

http://fcg-bbq.blogspot.com/

 

At this hour, the serpentine lines hadn’t formed yet, so I was able to stroll right up to the counter and promptly place my order. Brisket, ribs and burnt ends were on the docket this morning, and I gathered them back at my table while the ESPN Gameday talking heads chattered away on the big screen in front of me.

The brisket comes thin sliced in sandwich form, and while it was certainly a heavy handed portion, the brisket itself had only a hint of smoke and a consistency on the dry side. The ribs were a bit of an enigma. While having a pleasant color and well smoked flavor, they had a noticeable “gummy” texture and were discernibly chewy. This leads me to believe I may have been served leftovers from the night before. Finally, the burnt ends were rather disappointing especially juxtaposed to the jaw dropping burnt ends from LC’s BBQ the day before. This particular batch lacked the thorough smokiness found in LC’s burnt ends, and had been so thoroughly drown in Arthur Bryant’s pungent sauce (despite my firm request at the ordering window for no sauce) that they ate more like a BBQ stew than burnt ends.


In the end the barbecue at Arthur Bryant’s is average at best, and I had been thoroughly warned and prepared that this would be the case. It’s one of those places that you simply have to visit one time based solely on the virtue of its reputation and status in the barbecue world. However, if you’re a purist looking for some of the best smoked meats in Kansas City, there are far better options to be found.

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LC’s Barbecue – Burnt to Perfection

With my feet barely on the ground from the plane ride in, I dashed for the rental car counter and peeled out of the parking lot like Bo Duke in the General Lee (substitute grey Hyundai Accent for 69’ Dodge Charger). Such was my enthusiasm for my first trip to Kansas City, a town synonymous with great barbecue. The place high on my list was LC’s Barbecue, which was slightly off the beaten path from the “big two” in Kansas City; Gates and Arthur Bryant’s. While those establishments may be more famous, LC’s I was assured, had the better cue’.

After some deliberation on the menu (KC joints seem averse to the concept of a variety plate), I ordered up the usual brisket and ribs, and tossed a newcomer into the mix: Burnt Ends. Burnt Ends, as I learned, are an order of the charred crusty end pieces of brisket, prized by some and shunned by others.

 

 

As I quickly learned, the brisket in Kansas City is served thin sliced, sandwich style and slathered in sauce.After observing the pitmaster heavily ladling the sauce onto my brisket, I quickly stopped him before he garnished my ribs and burnt ends with the obfuscating liquid.This drew a raised eyebrow from the woman behind the register, an expression which bordered on both puzzled and offended.Regardless, my ribs and burnt ends were spared from the murky crimson depths, and I could give the quality of the meat a proper evaluation.

The brisket was pretty standard fare, though the thin slicing makes it chew close to deli roast beef for my taste. The strong KC style sauce also rendered it difficult to taste the meat. The ribs on the other hand, were delightful. They were quite meaty, had a beautiful pinkish smoke ring and a deep smokiness throughout the meat that pulled nicely off the bone without falling apart. These were lovingly cooked ribs.

Then there were the Burnt Ends.Oh my, Burnt Ends where have you been all my life?Subconsciously, my favorite part of the brisket has always been the end pieces that have a thick ring of charred crust, and I find myself squirreling them away for the last few bites of my meal.The fusion of smoke, beef, salty rendered fat and a chewy crunch is the pinnacle of BBQ, and why prized brisket is such a rare indulgence.Now imagine an entire order of those magnificent nuggets from heaven, every morsel bursting with the charred flavor of a smoky punch to the face, and you have an order of burnt ends from LC’s Barbecue.Each bite is heroin for the tongue.


I plowed through my brisket and ribs in fairly short order, but I savored every bite of the burnt ends and they were one of the best Barbecue dishes I have ever had. If you ever find yourself in KCK, skip the lines and hoopla of the barbecue factories and head into LC’s for some burnt end nirvana.

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A rendezvous with Rendezvous BBQ…

If you’re inclined to take a gander at a map, you would notice that Google’s preferred route from Dallas to Oxford routes you on I-40 through Memphis, Tennessee. Memphis is famous, of course, for Johnny Cash and Elvis. Evidently, they also make some ribs there once in a while.

 

 

More to the point, Charlie Vergos’ Rendezvous Barbecue is internationally renown for being one of the most famous rib joints in the country. You have probably seen this place on scores of different television shows, magazine articles and “best of” lists. It’s a landmark in Memphis, and, apparently, I’m the only person on the planet to have circled the block three times in search of the place because it’s discreetly tucked away in an alley.

Judging by the throngs of hungry patrons waiting outside on a Friday night, Ol Charlie runs a pretty robust business. But since I had a hot date with a catfish sling in Oxford, I bypassed the line for an open bar stool, and hurriedly ordered up a two meat combo of brisket and their famous ribs. This would be a quick affair, so I admittedly did not get a chance to soak in the entire experience.

Memphis BBQ is noted for their emphasis on the “dry rub” style of ribs, which are heavily dusted before and after cooking with a mixture of seasonings. If you’re a regular reader, you already know that I much prefer a dry style of ribs and the well seasoned Rendezvous ribs had a pleasant spicy “bite” to them. I was a bit put off by it at first, but slowly I kept reaching for one rib after another, until I found my platter empty. They were oddly addicting, and got better with each successive bite. There are two downsides I would note. The first was that their charcoal cooking method leaves the rib meat a bit on the dry side for my taste. You have to work a bit to tug the meat from the bone, and I found myself reaching for the water glass more often than I would like. Second, was that the ribs didn’t have a very strong smoke profile to them, and I couldn’t really detect it in the meat. While it may have been intentional from their cooking methods, it left me wanting more.

To answer everyone’s lingering question; in a head to head battle I would still opt for Texas style ribs. I can think of a handful of places in Texas where I have had better ribs than Rendezvous, and, as a matter of personal taste, I prefer the simpler, heavily smoked profile of Texas ribs. But make no mistake, Rendezvous is still excellent by any measure.

 

 

The brisket was solid, albeit a bit on the dry side because it had been heavily trimmed prior to cooking. Still, it was better brisket than I expected to find in Memphis, though completely average by Texas standards.

Regardless, Rendezvous still serves up some excellent Barbecue and is considered the crowning jewel of a city that prides itself on great cue’. It’s notoriety makes it worth the visit alone, and I hope to return there someday to take in the entire experience with a handful of friends.

 

 

http://www.hogsfly.com/

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