Blu's BBQ, Dallas 5/21/25

 

https://www.blusbarbeque.com/

sampled 5/21/25 about 11:30 am

After recent raves from one of my buddies at KNON, I asked Scott if he'd like to go check them out this week.  Scott said he had sampled them pre-pandemic and they were awful, but he was up for giving them a second chance.  

They open at 11 am and they do not have an indoor dining area.  However they do have a nice covered area with picnic tables by the parking lot.  We pre-ordered our meals online, picked them up at the window, and chowed down at the picnic tables.  Everything came wrapped in butcher paper.

I ordered the Texas trinity, plus half a pound of pork belly burnt ends.  The brisket was overcooked and cut very thick.  The fat was well rendered and the meat was hot and juicy.  Mine did not have a hint of smoke flavor, but Scott said he had plenty in his burnt end.  The fine grind beef sausage had a nice casing snap but none of the spicy heat I like in jalapeno sausage.  The ribs were excellent with a perfect bite mark and a nice sticky peppery glaze, just short of candy rib.

The pork belly burnt ends were large cuts, similar to Roy Hutchens, with good flavor and tenderness. They were better than most.

For whatever reason, their brisket stuffed jalapenos were not on their online menu.  Probably because they only offer them on Wednesday and Saturday.  I went back to order a couple and they only had one left.  I fixed that.  It was excellent and every bit as good as Roy Hutchens.  At just $5, they were a bargain by comparison.  If they'd had more, I would have ordered more to go.

Overall, a good joint that I would visit again.

It's that time again

 The Texas Monthly top 50 will be announced in May.  Will your favorite BBQ joint make the cut?  Will mine?  We shall see!

Oil Field BBQ in the 1930's

The Texas General Land office has all kinds of amazing artifacts from Texas' past.  I get a copy of their newsletter from time to time and the current one had a link to this pictorial map of the East Texas Field.  What immediately struck me was all the Bar-B-Q shacks dotted among the oil derricks.  I guess the oil fields ran on BBQ power!

Here's the link to the article and you can actually purchase a copy of this map from the Land Office.

https://medium.com/save-texas-history/map-of-east-texas-oil-field-16cffdfe8bd0

Here's a link to the map itself.  You can zoom in and out.

https://www.historictexasmaps.com/collection/search-results/93949-map-of-east-texas-oil-field-texana-foundation-collection

The Original Roy Hutchins BBQ, Trophy Club 4/16/25

 

https://www.royhutchinsbbq.com/

sampled 4/16/25 about 7:30 pm

Our buddy John was back in town so off we went to Roy's for some Q.  There was a line out the door when we arrived and we had to park in the overflow parking across the street behind the restaurant.  We weren't in a hurry.  

It took about 20 minutes to make it through the line to the three cutters they had working.  My Mrs got one twinkie and the broccoli salad (which she loves).  I grabbed some brisket, ribs, pork belly burnt ends, and another twinkie.  The downstairs seating was packed so we took the BBQ elevator up to the second floor where we found plenty of seating.  Everything was scrumptious but there was not a hint of smoke flavor in anything.  The pork belly burnt ends were awesome.  I'll be surprised if Roy's doesn't make the next Texas Monthly top 50, but I have been surprised before.  I think they already have all the business they can handle. We'll see!  John was happy.

Terry Black's, Dallas 3/31/25

 

https://terryblacksbbq.com/dallas/

Sampled around 2 pm

I had eaten at Terry's in Austin a couple of times and in Lockhart once, so I figured the Q would be good, but not great.  Yup.  I got a half pound fatty burnt end off a fresh brisket but there was not a hint of smoke flavor to be found.  It was tender and moist, the fat was well rendered, but none of the smoke flavor made it into the meat.  The ribs were well cooked and had a perfect bite mark and the sausage had lots of cheese, but not much jalapeno flavor.  I've got to say that the $21 two meat plate I had at the food truck on Saturday was better.  Our lunch was $101 for two of us.  Even the pudding cup (which looked a bit like Dayne's Chocolate Lasagna) was good, but not up to Dayne's quality.  They were doing a brisk business, even at 2 pm on a Monday.

They have a big dining room, a smaller room off to the side, and a rooftop patio.  They even have their own parking lot, which is a good thing to have in Deep Ellum.  

The Rollin' Smokehouse, Weatherford 3/29/25

 

https://www.facebook.com/people/The-Rollin-Smokehouse/100091467036797/#

sampled about 2 pm

The Mrs wanted to see a band and visit a winery near Weatherford today and there just happened to be a BBQ truck at the gig.  I was not expecting much, but it was surprisingly good.  The brisket was moist and tender with loads of smoke flavor.  The jalapeno cheese sausage was also very good and had good smoke flavor, too.  I wish they'd had some ribs to try, but not today.  The brisket was so good my Mrs went back and got the chopped brisket nachos.  Unfortunately they used Cheeze Whiz instead of real cheese, and that just kills nachos for me.  

Brisket smoke 3/13/25

 

The day after having a Texas Trinity (plus) at Dayne's we put this 12 lb brisket on our little bullet smoker.  As usual, we had to cut it in half to fit with the point on the top rack and the flat on the lower rack.  The only seasoning was our usual Green's All N 1.  After 6 hours of heavy smoking with pecan and oak from the trees in our yard, the two halves went into a big cooking bag and into the oven at 250 for 3 more hours.

The internal temperature was a perfect 202 when we pulled it from the oven and it went onto a cooler lined with towels to rest overnight (the Vencil Mares method).  In the morning it was still warm and perfect for slicing.  

Was it as good as Dayne's?  Maybe.  If not it was darned close.  It was definitely cheaper and I didn't miss the sitting in construction traffic on I-30 part.  Now if I could just perfect that chocolate lasagna recipe...