4 days, 3 good joints!

We've enjoyed some good BBQ in the days leading up to Labor Day.  On August 29th we met some friends at Hutchin's McKinney location.  My Mrs had a sandwich and I had the all you can eat for $25.  I wouldn't say I hurt 'em, but I did get my money's worth.  I had a small side of mac and cheese along with brisket, spare ribs, and jalapeno sausage.  All was Texas Monthly top 50 worthy.  The brisket was moist, tender, and had good smoke flavor.  The ribs were perfectly cooked and the best I have had in awhile.  Excellent ribs.  The sausage suffered a bit from a chewy casing and I would have liked a bit more spice, but they were still tasty,  The server brought my meat refills right to our table and it was all consistently excellent.

Saturday the 31st of August we spent the whole day at the 11th annual Blues and BBQ Festival in Bedford, Texas.  They had over 100 teams competing in KCBS, IBCA,and People's Choice competitions.  I judged that event several times for KCBS but I've decided I'd rather know where my BBQ is from rather than go through double blind judging.  That way I know where to go get more!  They have several BBQ food trucks at the fest and I knew Green's would be there.  That was my go-to. We had several orders of pork belly bites and brisket biscuits.  I sent several folks over to their truck and they all came back with rave reviews.  On Sunday Green's competed in the Battle of the BBQ event, where fest goers sample all the BBQ food trucks and pick their favorite.  Green's won for the 4th year straight.  If he will just get his brisket down a little better,  I think that little one day a week food truck has a shot at the Texas Monthly top 50 next time around.

On Sunday, September 1st my Mrs had some friends coming through town and we had lunch at Heim BBQ in Fort Worth.  I was especially eager to compare Heim's bacon burnt ends with Green's pork belly bites which I had on Saturday.  My opinion remains unchanged.  Both are excellent but Green's is more tender and downright melt in your mouth.  I added some of their excellent jalapeno cheese sausage and it had a much better kick than Hutchin's.  Again, the casing was a bit tough, but the flavor more than made up for it.  My Mrs had their excellent Big Cat sandwich and folks ooh-ed and ah-ed as we brought it to the table.  She may get 3 meals out of that one sandwich.