Hard 8 BBQ, Coppell

sampled 4/29/16 about 7:30 pm

One of our musician friends had a gig here so the Mrs and I decided to come out to support him and check out Hard 8's cue again.  They were doing a booming business.  Parking was tough to come by and their double line set-up was almost out the door.  It took about 20 minutes to snake our way through to the warming pit.

Our favorite item on our last visit was their brush poppers.  Those are chicken and jalapeno around cream cheese and wrapped in bacon.  We got 10 of those, a couple of ribs, and a short chunk of jalapeno sausage.  I watched the pit guy slicing brisket and it was crumbling apart as he sliced it, so we passed.

The sausage was an excellent fine grind with good heat and decent snap to the casing.  The ribs had good moisture and tenderness but were a bit loose on the bone.  Good taste, though.  The poppers were excellent but there was not a hint of smoke in anything we sampled.  There was plenty of smoke outside the restaurant, in the pit room, inside the restaurant, but somehow it never made it into the meat.  Their complimentary beans were excellent, as they were last time, and we went back for seconds.  Good food and some great music made for a fun date night in Coppell.

On the way out, I noticed not one, not two, but FIVE Hard 8 catering vans sitting outside the joint.  Clearly the lack of smoke in their food is not hurting their business one bit.