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.
