Fikscue - Halal Texas style BBQ and Indonesian dishes
This place has gotten a bunch of buzz (Eater deemed it one of the best new restaurants in the US; NY Times said one of best 50 restaurants right now, etc.) and they are only open two days a week, so people line up before they open at noon. I got in line at 11:00 and there were about 20 people ahead of me (30 or so once their friends showed up). It was 12:30 when I ordered, so not too bad. The people at the front of the line had chairs and had been there since 10:00 (Franklin BBQ style), but nothing was sold out when I ordered, and the line wasn’t crazy when I drove by at 1:00, so I don’t see any reason to get there super early. They bring around samples of brisket to the line which is a nice touch.
The meats are world class, the brisket has a nice bark, the fat is rendered and you can cut it with a fork. There are two ribs, the Dino Rib which is dry rubbed and at least 1.5 lbs per rib, and the cheaper beef back ribs, which are about .5 lb each and had a glaze on them. They are both decadently rich, but I actually preferred the cheaper beef back ribs. The jalapeño beef sausage had a nice snap and real spicy kick from chilis and jalapeños. The nasa goreng rice dish was fine. The rujak slaw was an excellent combination of crunchy cabbage, carrots, cucumbers and pineapple in a sweet tangy peanut sauce. Kind of amazing that between this place and Horn BBQ you can now get two world class level Texas BBQ in Oakland/Alameda. They are opening a branch at the Chase Center soon in “Thrive City” (god what a stupid name. The beef rendang I saw go by looked really good as well.
So no line to speak of at 2:40 on a Sunday and the only thing out was the Dino ribs. Beef rendang plate had various items that I wasn’t really familiar with, but all good.
I got it line at 12:30 pm and in total it was just about a 2 hour wait. When I got in line it was a little before the front door of Alameda Brewing. So, while the line wasn’t that long, it doesn’t move that quickly. When I was at the door of Fikscue they announced they had sold out of the back ribs and chicken legs were running pretty low. So, I think you can come later, say around 2pm, for a shorter wait, but certain things might run out. It seems like they have a pretty good amount of brisket and sausages; so, you’d have a pretty good chance at those later in the day.
Specials were flat iron and a brisket sandwich. I didn’t get either. I got brisket, sausages, chicken leg and slaw. All were very good. I liked the sausage, but, maybe, would have liked the jalapeño and onions in the sausage cooked down a little more. Note that the slaw has cilantro sprinkled on top, but they were very nice to not put it on for me.
I was glad I got to try it, enjoyed it, but probably wouldn’t go again soon at that wait time. An hour is about my personal limit to wait for any food.
The news is that they will be opening on Wednesdays with an abbreviated menu. They mentioned, I think, that they’ll have the back ribs and a brisket burger.
Yeah, I won’t wait in a line for food…or do food truck gatherings which seem to be super slow for no apparent reason. But good for them to have the business. I’m sure it’s excellent but I don’t need more food.
My guesses. Everything is sliced to order as to be expected. There’s only one person weighing, slicing, packaging the meats. Most people order a lot and across all the different offerings. I wouldn’t say the line was short. It just wasn’t down the block long.
