Looking good bruce! Any clue what wood was used?
This is from Willowâs.
When you get your plate to go, they wrap all the components up and box them and tape the box shut. It is very white.
A 2 meat plate comes with 2 sides. i got the collards with pulled pork and Creole potato salad. I didnât care for the collards; pulled pork doesnât work very well as a substitute for ham hock, IMO. The potato salad was very good, much better than the institutional product at Pappas.
Daniel Vaughn of the TMBBQ blog recommends the lean brisket because the shorter smoke time this pitmaster uses doesnât render the fat completely; they use prime brisket and the wood is post oak. The brisket was very moist and flavorful; it was fall apart tender, maybe because it had been in the warming tray for a long time (I was there about 3 pm) or because it was wrapped up for a 45 minute trip home. The ribs werenât exactly falling off the bone but they had very little resistance; I was surprised at how tender they were, they looked like they were going to be tough. Some critics might downgrade this because the meats were so tender.
The pickled onions, carrots, jalapenos and cucumbers are made âin-house.â They were good; you are asked if you want them but thereâs no extra charge. The sauce was very tangy and had minced onions or shallots; it was okay but not necessary as both meats were so juicy. I thought it went better with the brisket than the ribs.
Willowâs This is a very narrow stretch of 19th that has seen little of the gentrification in other parts of the Heights; there isnât much parking and the shoulders have some serious potholes.
Iâve had better barbecue in the last year or so from Truth, The Pit Room, and Gatlinâs but this is worth a visit. I want to try the recommended cfream style corn with jalapenos.
Daniel Vaughnâs report just a week ago.
Scott Sandlinâs report in February on Houston Food Finder.
75% hickory, 25% mesquite.
Looks good and I like how they leave it in chunks instead of mincing it like they do in Carolina. Nothing drives the Wifeacita and I crazy like a beautiful piece of pork pulled and then chopped into oblivion.
I think the slaw thing is done in both Carolina and Memphis something we both think sounds strange being used to minimalist Texas BBQ.
https://roadfood.com/restaurants/lexington-barbecue-1/
https://www.corkysbbq.com/shop-online/pork
Link two is from Memphis.
brucesw I did a couple of edits the last from Memphis showing chunks not minced with slaw.
Nice! I love hickory and lot of woods team really when cut with mesquite. OK I think these pics may have just inspired me to go grab some bbq for dinner!
Doesnât sound too appetizing; I guess thatâs a couple of pics of what youâre talking about on the Lexington link. I donât think Iâve ever encountered that.
I know they put cole slaw on hot dogs over that-a-way, didnât know it went on barbecue, too. My preference is for a very creamy slaw which turns the sandwich into a drippy, sloppy mess = over the top, IMO. Slaw on dogs is good too; itâs just un-pickled kraut .
Thatâs how they do it. They take a couple of meat cleavers and chop the beautiful pork into mush, such a waste.
Interesting, Just watching again an episode about Carolina BBQ on âState Plateâ (INSP 202 Xfinity) in which they say itâs eastern NC that takes two cleavers to its pork to thoroughly mix the various texture of whole suckling pig. I actually like that idea since I have had trouble swallowing dryer meats most of my life that I recall and will mostly get the chopped beef in Texas.
Lambsy Iâm glad that works for you but the Wifeacita and I watch in horror when the pork and beautiful skin is chopped to bits.
I like a good chopped beef sandwich but surprisingly, or not, they can be hard to find.
Where are some of youâre favorite chopped beefs?
I really donât eat that much BBQ, but when I do itâs for convenience so it will be Goode Co or Hickory Hollow on Washington. My fav BBQ is Swinging Door, since I grew up in Ft. Bend Co., I was raised on Swinging Door Q and have many many fond memories there as a youth and beyond. Friday and Saturday nights in the back dance hall used to be a thing.
I work 1/2 mile or so from Pizzitolaâs but have only been twice, that place has not served me a good Q despite their reputation and plethora of signage.
When heading north, I like the BBQ at the sometimes recognized Floridaâs Kitchen and have had the BBQ at the nearby Hitch N Post also mentioned in this 2016 Houston Press Article. Geez Louise, the chopped BBQ sandwich at Floridaâs is massive, like 4 meals in one.
Iâm definitely not a BBQ afficionado though.
Update on Buckâs
Now doinâ it on the near East Side. Looks very close to where Pappa Charlieâs gave up the ghost recently.
Has anyone been to Lufkin BBQ by chance? It was mentioned on the 110th episode recap of The Daytripper and Iâve stored the info away for my next trip through there.
https://www.texasmonthly.com/bbq/stringers-lufkin-bar-b-que-2016/
When I first moved into this neighborhood, there was a Gabbyâs right up the road on Gessner and I went often. It was only there for a year or two before shuttering and I switched over to Pappas out on BIssonnet. I knew nothing of Kreuz, Louis Mueller or City Market in Luling back then.
I am shocked to learn thereâs still a Gabbyâs around, up on Shepherd, just north of the North Loop. As a reviewer on Yelp said, bbq in Houston has changed a lot in the last 25 years and my tastes have changed a lot, too.
I took a look at some of the pictures and Iâm not tempted.
But there is this:
http://www.gabbysbbq.com/texas-pie/
You can get it in the restaurant for $10 a portion.
Hmmmmmmm. Should I?
If you do let us know.
Did we already talk about the return of Ottoâs?
Thereâs one out here in Stafford, just off 59/69. I think also one in the tunnels downtown.
I went once, not long after I moved here so maybe close to 25 years ago? I had a burger, which used to be pretty good old fashioned burgers at the Memorial Drive original. I concluded the patty had been cooked at the Memorial Drive location and trucked over. i never went back. I was pretty sure, just walking in, the cue wasnât being cooked on premise, but with the Memorial Drive location now long gone, I donât know.
I actually have been musing about going recently. They have a CFS as I recall.
Iâve been kind of concentrating on places around me in recent months, just to see if thereâs anything Iâve missed.
Iâve been to the one dowtown in the Park Shops food court. Just awful. Definitely not made onsite. I didnât know there was one in Stafford, seems odd. Maybe this new one will resemble Memorial Drive location. But I used to go there too and I donât recall it being near the best.
I went to Ottoâs/Memorial many moons ago but donât remember what I had.
The new place does look intriguing.
If a smokehouse is built alongside, it will definitely be disastrous for the long time Pizzitolaâs just a few blocks away. Itâs always packed at lunch, but when Iâve gone it seems like the BBQ is not freshly made and dry.
The new location is a block south of Washington on Durham, closest competition will be the forthcoming Truth bbq I guess (Câmon!, Câmon!, Câmon!, Open!). The original had horizontal pits visible just inside the door; probably a similar set-up is foreseen? Will be interesting. I used to frequent the original location in the 70s, when I worked on San Felipe just off 610. Never went that often after I changed jobs.
I think Iâve only been to Pizzitolaâs once, at least to eat on premises. I was offended (Harrumph! Snort!) by the table service. Waiters and Waitresses - I donât remember a hostess showing me to my seat - at a bbq joint??? Horrors . The ribs are supposed to be their best item, some claim theyâre the best in town. I also liked their sausage, from V and V in lovely Cistern, Texas (just up the road from Flatonia, donât you know). Iâve had the ribs at parties, too. Theyâre pretty good but I donât know if even then I would have considered them the best in town. They use direct cooking over embers rather than the indirect smoke method most places employ, what Robb Walsh called Cowboy Style in his book, I think. I think it necessarily results in a drier product.