Dallas | BBQ

[C-Man 27,229]

Cattleack is my favorite though I haven't tried to go since they were named the #3 place in the state. Pecan Lodge is very, very good as well and if you know the trick to jumping the line as a single, it's even better!!!! Peggy Sue's has really upped their food game since stealing a pit-master from Justin at PL.

[C-Man 27,229]

Ate at Ferris Wheelers for the second time last Fri night. Took the kids and rode the ferris wheel. That damn thing is higher than it looks from the ground. The food is above average but not on par with the best in town -- yet. Service outside on the patio on Friday night was an unmitigated disaster.

[George 492]

Any love for Hutchins in McKinney/Frisco?  I love the all you can eat for $22.

[bigcigar 1,164]

Cattleack seems to get better every time I go. I was skeptical they could handle the growth, but they’re killing it. By this point, I’d expect the owners to have turned the line work over...says something that they still do the work themselves.

[Landomatic 3,813]

Anyone know if Cattleack is open today?  First Saturday of the month right?

[Landomatic 3,813]

Tried to go to Cattleack today.  Plan was to show up late-ish and make due with whatever they had left but avoid too much of a line.  Got there at 1:20 and there was a sign out front that said sorry were sold out.  Well fuck.

So, now I’m craving BBQ and decide I’ll just settle for Pecan Lodge.  It’s cold today in Dallas plus by the time I get there, it’ll be about 2:00 so doubtful the line is that bad. Pull up and it’s around the fucking building.  Well, shit...okay looks like I’m doing the 5 lb minimum line.

Head to my go-to parking lot next door and it’s closed for paving or some shit.  Fine I’ll figure something else out.  Drive around a little.  Parking sucks.  And what the fuck are all these people doing down here in 35 degree weather?  Come upon a bunch of tents and some live music.  Oh nice, they’re having some kind of hipster festival in Deep Ellum today.  Explains everything.

Finally find a parking spot forever from PL and freeze my ass off walking there.  Spend way too much for way too much food and everything was just on the average side of things.  Pretty sure the later it gets, the less consistent their meat is.  The times it’s been good to great, it’s been early in the day.  Anytime I’ve been there after 2:00 or so, it’s been pretty average.

tl;dr - The BBQ gods were against me today.

[Knoxtnhorn 5,976]

23 hours ago, George said:

Any love for Hutchins in McKinney/Frisco?  I love the all you can eat for $22.

Been to the one in McKinney 3 times since moving here over the summer.  Love it.  Granted, I haven't been to Cattleack or Pecan Lodge so the other posters on here know far more than I do.

[In10se 175]

19 hours ago, Landomatic said:

Tried to go to Cattleack today.  Plan was to show up late-ish and make due with whatever they had left but avoid too much of a line.  Got there at 1:20 and there was a sign out front that said sorry were sold out.  Well fuck.

So, now I’m craving BBQ and decide I’ll just settle for Pecan Lodge.  It’s cold today in Dallas plus by the time I get there, it’ll be about 2:00 so doubtful the line is that bad. Pull up and it’s around the fucking building.  Well, shit...okay looks like I’m doing the 5 lb minimum line.

Head to my go-to parking lot next door and it’s closed for paving or some shit.  Fine I’ll figure something else out.  Drive around a little.  Parking sucks.  And what the fuck are all these people doing down here in 35 degree weather?  Come upon a bunch of tents and some live music.  Oh nice, they’re having some kind of hipster festival in Deep Ellum today.  Explains everything.

Finally find a parking spot forever from PL and freeze my ass off walking there.  Spend way too much for way too much food and everything was just on the average side of things.  Pretty sure the later it gets, the less consistent their meat is.  The times it’s been good to great, it’s been early in the day.  Anytime I’ve been there after 2:00 or so, it’s been pretty average.

tl;dr - The BBQ gods were against me today.

Last Tuesday Little Ceasars gave away a free lunch pizza combo that usually costs $5 because the 16 beat a 1 in march madness. Drove by a little cesars at 11:40 and the line was 50 deep out the door. For little cesars. $5

People are always in a big hurry and complain about everything but will waste an hour waiting in line for fucking anything. 

[Landomatic 3,813]

Yep everyone loves a free handout.  Well...about half of everyone, anyway.

Edited April 8, 2018 by Landomatic

[mdleast 8,295]

Wife brought me home leftovers from Smoky Rose yesterday. Gotta say it was much better than what I recall when I went there when they first opened (which wasn’t bad but also not worth the final bill). Brisket and pork ribs were pretty tasty, 2 different sausages were good. The pulled pork was just kinda bland but maybe it didn’t travel. Recall on the old thread that they had revamped their smokers. Based on this one sample I’d say that was a good move.

[Hagbard Celine 10,864]

the admiral's all-brisket-bias rankings in alpha order

6 stars: aaron, cattleack, snow, mueller, blacks, pecan

5 stars: hutchins, gatlins, fargo

i've had cattleack 3 times and it does keep getting better.  only issue is their prices are now approaching pecan levels of premium.  hutchins for the $ is a damn good deal.  met up with the idoit a few months ago on a tuesday at 130 and had no line.  weekends are tough but it is accessible if you are north of LBJ at the right time of day.

the market is insatiable given the lunch crowds at hard8 and ten50.

i was extremely unimpressed with lockhart in downtown plano.  way overpriced for the quality, very poor pitmaster skillz.

in the sausage category all of the above have their own special recipes and it's difficult to rate them, but i would add Virgie's on Gessner in NW houston.  His sausage is fucking fantastic.

[bigcigar 1,164]

On 4/8/2018 at 1:38 PM, Hagbard Celine said:

the market is insatiable given the lunch crowds at hard8 and ten50.

i was extremely unimpressed with lockhart in downtown plano.  way overpriced for the quality, very poor pitmaster skillz.

I’m amazed at the number of people I’ve run into that say hard8 is the best.

Completely agree on Lockhart Plano. The bishop arts location is generally solid but I’ve had the inedible brisket at the Plano location a couple times.

[mdmost 43,001]

Hard8 gets points for ambiance. The big pits where you order, the picnic table seating, free jalapeno soaked pinto beans, cooler when it was out in the middle of nowhere. 

[Knoxtnhorn 5,976]

Looks like Hard8 will be next for us.  Thanks for the info.

[T’Boo Ted Marshall 2,732]

Any visitors to Intrinsic in downtown Garland? Not bad. Solid B.

[BigDHornfan 6,548]

Hard8's brisket fucking sucks.   Sausage is good but their ribs are the best thing they do there.

[Frank The Tank 1,497]

On 4/6/2018 at 11:33 PM, George said:

Any love for Hutchins in McKinney/Frisco?  I love the all you can eat for $22.

Been going there for years since I've been working in Mckinney.  It's down home BBQ and really good.  

 

On the total other end of the spectrum is 18th and Vine on Maple Ave. in Dallas.  It's a little fancier for BBQ, but a nice diner place and great bar as well.  The food is worth trying for a slight upscale BBQ joint.

[Landomatic 3,813]

24 minutes ago, Frank The Tank said:

Been going there for years since I've been working in Mckinney.  It's down home BBQ and really good.  

 

On the total other end of the spectrum is 18th and Vine on Maple Ave. in Dallas.  It's a little fancier for BBQ, but a nice diner place and great bar as well.  The food is worth trying for a slight upscale BBQ joint.

Dude, are you just trolling?  18th and Vine is ass my dude.

[Hagbard Celine 10,864]

On 4/10/2018 at 3:34 AM, T’Boo Ted Marshall said:

Any visitors to Intrinsic in downtown Garland? Not bad. Solid B.

speaking of garland, anyone had meshack recently?  with the advent of pecan and cattleack and hutchins upping their game i wonder if the zealots are no longer making the pilgrimage?  190 helps for collinites but it's just as easy to get to hutchins or cattleack....

[Zepol87 9,186]

Damn I haven't been to meshack in 2 years. Need to get back

 

[DDD Dad 14,339]

I never understood the love for meshack.  For me it was very meh and definitely not worth the hour wait in the parking lot.

[Washpark 176]

Line at 10:45 on a Thursday


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[Zepol87 9,186]

Damnit I was about to leave the office since it is close by.  Fuck 10am meetings

[Washpark 176]

Owner let me try the wagyu burnt ends which was amazing.

Shown is beef rib, spicy Texas and hatch chili sausage, brisket, and PBR (pork belly rib)




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Edited April 12, 2018 by Washpark

[C-Man 27,229]

2 hours ago, Washpark said:

Owner let me try the wagyu burnt ends which was amazing.

Shown is beef rib, spicy Texas and hatch chili sausage, brisket, and PBR (pork belly rib)




Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[C-Man 27,229]

20 hours ago, Landomatic said:

Dude, are you just trolling?  18th and Vine is ass my dude.

This. I like the place. I really do. Neat building, cool setup. But the two or three times I've been I was served bone-fucking dry BBQ. It was embarrassing. It was like the turkey scene in Christmas Vacation The non-BBQ was pretty fucking good, though.

Edited April 12, 2018 by C-Man

[DDD Dad 14,339]

3 hours ago, Washpark said:

Owner let me try the wagyu burnt ends which was amazing.

Shown is beef rib, spicy Texas and hatch chili sausage, brisket, and PBR (pork belly rib)




Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Looks DAF.

[Twizzler 161]

Any recs for central metroplex?  Live in flower mound and hard 8 has been the best I've found.  Very inconsistent brisket. From pretty damn good to over smoked and dry.

 

[C-Man 27,229]

I keep seeing plugs for Meat U Anywhere BBQ for that area of town on my Texas/North Texas BBQ FB groups. Hard Eight is pretty meh.

[Skipper 6,135]

Just catching up on thread, but Lando, I was shocked at the Line at Cattleack last Saturday considering the shitty weather.   They moved the line inside and I got there a 10AM before opening and barely made it indoors.   I got food around 11:15 and when I left the line was down the street.  Not surprised at all they sold out early.

[Landomatic 3,813]

29 minutes ago, Skipper said:

Just catching up on thread, but Lando, I was shocked at the Line at Cattleack last Saturday considering the shitty weather.   They moved the line inside and I got there a 10AM before opening and barely made it indoors.   I got food around 11:15 and when I left the line was down the street.  Not surprised at all they sold out early.

Yeah was hoping that freezing ass weather would keep people away.  No dice.

[Both Tacos 1,806]

Cattleack, Pecan Lodge and Hutchins are all solid. If you want to take a Sat or Sun drive out east of Dallas, go to Smoke Sessions BBQ on Hwy. 66 just outside of Fate. He is located in a trailer in the parking lot of a local feed store. Owner is putting out some great que and if he was in a brick and mortar in Dallas I know he would be listed with those mentioned above.

[Saint Austin 745]

Went to One90 over the weekend and wasn't very impressed. The brisket was solid, definitely better than most places around town, but not better than Pecan Lodge. (I still haven't been to Cattleack). The sides were very spare, the meat was expensive for what it was, and I wasn't impressed by their space. Had high hopes since it's near me, but I don't plan on going back anytime soon.

[C-Man 27,229]

On 4/19/2018 at 12:42 PM, Saint Austin said:

Went to One90 over the weekend and wasn't very impressed. The brisket was solid, definitely better than most places around town, but not better than Pecan Lodge. (I still haven't been to Cattleack). The sides were very spare, the meat was expensive for what it was, and I wasn't impressed by their space. Had high hopes since it's near me, but I don't plan on going back anytime soon.

Only time I went the brisket sandwich was really good. They do think highly of their meats, especially the stuff that is smoked and cryo-sealed that you can get at Royal Blue Grocery.

[TankedBevo 2,482]

On 4/19/2018 at 12:42 PM, Saint Austin said:

Went to One90 over the weekend and wasn't very impressed. The brisket was solid, definitely better than most places around town, but not better than Pecan Lodge. (I still haven't been to Cattleack). The sides were very spare, the meat was expensive for what it was, and I wasn't impressed by their space. Had high hopes since it's near me, but I don't plan on going back anytime soon.

I live like five seconds from one90 and have been a few times. The sandwiches and sides are very good but I judge a BBQ joint's worth off brisket alone, no sides, sauce, nothin and they fall flat. There wasn't nearly enough bark on the brisket for me every time I went. 

[Saint Austin 745]

On 4/11/2018 at 7:55 PM, Hagbard Celine said:

speaking of garland, anyone had meshack recently?  with the advent of pecan and cattleack and hutchins upping their game i wonder if the zealots are no longer making the pilgrimage?  190 helps for collinites but it's just as easy to get to hutchins or cattleack....

I went to Meshack's last week. Despite being in a neighboring town, it's a tremendous pain in the ass to get from one end of Garland to another, but when I found myself near its downtown for work, I checked it out. "Me-shack" definitely isn't a clever name; from the outside it looks like a real shithole. The BBQ was pretty solid though. I thought it was odd how the brisket had sauce added when they handed it to me, but it was still really good, as was the sausage .(I didn't order ribs this time.) If I'm in the neighborhood again, I'd return.

[Hagbard Celine 10,864]

meshack used to be the only thing in north texas comparable to snowmuelleraaronblacks.

[Tyrone Krivacs 50]

On 4/12/2018 at 7:24 PM, Twizzler said:

Any recs for central metroplex?  Live in flower mound and hard 8 has been the best I've found.  Very inconsistent brisket. From pretty damn good to over smoked and dry.

 

407BBQ.  Located at 35W and 407. BYOB.

Edited May 2, 2018 by Jim Krivacs

[Knoxtnhorn 5,976]

Lulz.

Since moving back to the area after 20 years in TN, I'm still getting acclimated.  I didn't realize Meshack was located about 3 mins from where I teach.  Sweet.  I'm all over that and will report back.

[bigup2dahorns 3,343]

Been to Meshack twice but it’s been awhile. I remember it being solid and worth going to but it definitely is a hole in the wall type joint with a crappy parking lot and nowhere to eat the food. 

[threesheets 1,673]

Really looking forward to Savor Dallas' Opening Night:

 

OPENING NIGHT: 'CUE IT UP Thursday, May 17 at Dallas Farmer's Market Indulge your craving for smoked goodness with pit masters and purveyors of fired-up flavors.   Host Chef Tim Byres of Smoke | Smoked 44 Farms beef shank, white beans, leeks, and Calabrian chili sauce Host Chef Todd David of Cattleack BBQ | Akaushi beef pastrami burnt ends + brisket que-t-pies  Boulevardier | Smoked beef with pickled mushrooms, roasted peanuts, and mala vinaigrette  Dude, Sweet Chocolate + Woodford Reserve | Preservation Hall truffle + Loco for Coco bars Harlowe MXM | Thai sticky ribs Ocean Prime | Smoked salmon rillettes Peasant Food Works + Chef Justin Box | Smoked lobster sausage with smoked root mayo Pop Star Handcrafted Popsicles Trompo | Elotes + apache (beef tartare)  PLUS: Straight-up, down-home ’cue from 18th& Vine, Hutchins BBQ, Smoky Rose, Texas Bleu Steakhouse, and more Build-your-own-cupcake bar with The Birthday Party Project

[Both Tacos 1,806]

Cattleack continues to knock it out of the park. Got there at 10:30 and was about the 10th person out the door. Probably a 30 minute line. When I left the line was past the sidewalk and out into the parking lot.

[In10se 175]

Tried Winners BBQ on 14th street in Plano for lunch other day. They have a great deal of a 5 meat giant baked potato for $20 that came with about 2+ lbs of meat on it that you can get on side. Problem was they served chopped instead of sliced brisket and they dont specify that on menu. 

Other than that it was decent. Heavily seasoned meats and sausage/ribs/pulled pork were pretty good. 

 

Honestly, I'm pretty much over these boutique BBQ places that charge premium steakhouse prices for BBQ. I almost always just hit Rudys whenever I have a bbq craving and it suits it just fine. 

[Landomatic 3,813]

51 minutes ago, In10se said:

Honestly, I'm pretty much over these boutique BBQ places that charge premium steakhouse prices for BBQ. I almost always just hit Rudys whenever I have a bbq craving and it suits it just fine. 

Good...shorter lines for the rest of us.

[threesheets 1,673]

PSA:

 

[C-Man 27,229]

I guess I don't understand really. There's going to be a separate line if I'm not planning on eating my BBQ there? Is this only for those that pre-order, which is a 20-pound minimum and has to be done 14 days in advance?

[C-Man 27,229]

Birthright BBQ Fest on Father's Day: http://birthrightbbqfest.com/

Edited May 16, 2018 by C-Man

[TornACL 7,698]

On ‎5‎/‎13‎/‎2018 at 3:22 PM, In10se said:

Tried Winners BBQ on 14th street in Plano for lunch other day. They have a great deal of a 5 meat giant baked potato for $20 that came with about 2+ lbs of meat on it that you can get on side. Problem was they served chopped instead of sliced brisket and they dont specify that on menu. 

Other than that it was decent. Heavily seasoned meats and sausage/ribs/pulled pork were pretty good. 

 

Honestly, I'm pretty much over these boutique BBQ places that charge premium steakhouse prices for BBQ. I almost always just hit Rudys whenever I have a bbq craving and it suits it just fine. 

Rudy's is $17 per lb for brisket. It's not like it's some super cheap option compared to $20-$24 per lb. I'm not an anti Rudy's guy by any means but the additional quality at the top places is certainly worth the extra few bucks.

[In10se 175]

6 minutes ago, TornACL said:

Rudy's is $17 per lb for brisket. It's not like it's some super cheap option compared to $20-$24 per lb. I'm not an anti Rudy's guy by any means but the additional quality at the top places is certainly worth the extra few bucks.

Don't think you quite get the maths. It's 5 different meats about 1/2 lbs or so each of brisket/ribs/pulled pork/smoked chicken/smoked sausage. Plus a giant potato. If you say thr average for those at rudys prices wpukd be about $16 a lbs that's $40 in meat alone. Next time I'll ask for sliced brisket

[TornACL 7,698]

11 minutes ago, In10se said:

Don't think you quite get the maths. It's 5 different meats about 1/2 lbs or so each of brisket/ribs/pulled pork/smoked chicken/smoked sausage. Plus a giant potato. If you say thr average for those at rudys prices wpukd be about $16 a lbs that's $40 in meat alone. Next time I'll ask for sliced brisket

Actually I was responding to your comparison of Rudy's to "boutique BBQ places that charge premium steakhouse prices for BBQ".

That Winner's thing sounds like an unbelievably awesome deal, so long as they're fresh chopping that shit in front of you and not spooning out of a hotel tray of yesterday's chopped up leftovers. However, I'm highly skeptical of the claim that they're actually giving you 2.5 lbs of meat. Don't think you quite get eyeballing weights.

But whatever, like what you like. It's good that BBQ joints, like many other types of places, have segmentation of price and quality. I certainly have days where I am not willing to go fucking wait in a 90 minute line and pay $30+ for a BBQ lunch, when I can run into Rudy's and eat for ~$20-$25 and be back at the office in 45 minutes. I'd just argue that really the biggest difference between the "plain ol BBQ places" and the "boutique" is frequently more about time commitment than price.

Edited May 16, 2018 by TornACL