I first heard about this event, almost by accident, just a few weeks ago. I found a site promising 20 of the best BBQ joints in DFW would be there, but no list. 11 days before the event, a list of 12 joints finally showed up and it looked good enough to take a chance on. The $50 ticket price helped. A few days later the list increased to 16 joints and things looked even better.
The day of the party arrived and we made it down to the venue about 15 minutes before opening. It was pouring down rain and the waiting line stretched out under the small cover in front of the Longhorn. A more experienced operator would have been scanning and lining up folks inside the 2500 seat venue. Oh well. This was their first big BBQ event and there were bound to be some glitches. We hung out in our car til the line finally started to move about 10 minutes after 3.
When some space finally opened up under the little porch we grabbed our umbrellas and headed for cover. As the line moved slowly forward, others joined us. The parking lot was full of folks waiting in their cars til the dry space opened up. It took another 10 minutes to make it to the front of the line where we found out what the hold-up was. They were checking names off a list rather than scanning barcodes on tickets. In addition to that, they were selling beer tickets at the entrance, further gumming up the works. More first timer inexperience. In all, we didn't get in until about 20 minutes after opening. For most fests, that would be a problem as there is usually only a "golden hour" before general admission would be let in. This fest was a bit different. The BBQ event was from 3-5 pm, and folks coming for music got in after 5 pm.
This was the first time I had been in the Longhorn Ballroom in many years. I've probably attended 50 shows in there since the 70's and it was nice to see the new owners are fixing the old joint up. They have made major renovations all around and I think it will end up being a major event center once again. Hey, if you are going to have a BBQ fest in Texas in August, it had better be inside in the air conditioning. The Longhorn proved to be a great place to have a BBQ Fest.
Inside there was lots of seating all around with BBQ stations set up around inside the venue. We brought our beer trays and did the usual gathering and gnoshing.
The food was very good overall and for the most part was just brisket. Lakewood Smokehouse brought baby back ribs. A few had beans, corn, potato salad, or mac and cheese as sides. Mike Anderson's brought some very nice brisket stuffed jalapeno poppers and Live Coals presented brisket stuffed grilled cheese sandwiches. Sideways BBQ and Slow Bone had the best brisket to my tastebuds, but honestly it was all pretty good.
Of the 16 BBQ joints listed on their last list, only 12 were actually there. Off the Bone, Panther City BBQ, RHBQ, and Winner's BBQ were not to be found. We made up for that by returning to some of our favorites and having seconds.
This was the first Low and Slow Fest and predictably there were some glitches. They definitely needed some rolls of paper towels on the tables. I love the venue and the idea of an INSIDE BBQ fest in August. Their promotion sucked. Not being able to get a list of joints until 11 days out, then 1/4 of them no-showing, is not the way to do things. However the food was good and if they do it again next year we'll probably be back. I would suggest maybe they attend Smoked Dallas, Red Dirt, or the Houston BBQ Fest to improve their game for next year. I think they have the kernel of a great BBQ Fest but it hasn't quite sprouted yet.
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