The August 2014 Fort Worth and Westward BBQ jaunt

Sampled August 2, 2014

Another short but merry trip is in the books.  We hit 5 BBQ joints, a malt shop, and a liquor store on a beautiful Saturday afternoon.  What's not to love?  We focused on Texas Monthly Top 50 joints for Scott but still managed to sample a brand new spot that had just opened.  Travelogue and lots of photos follow below.  As usual, you can click on the photos for a larger view.

We just had a few bites at each joint as a sample and brought along plastic bags for the rest.  Some got thrown out, some we took along, and at one spot I had to order more to go.  I think we will have to make further forays into Fort Worth and westward looking for good Que because I am sure there is more to find.

Tommy Boy Sausage Company, Weatherford, Texas, 8/2/14

Sampled about 4 pm

This is a new joint we passed heading west on 180 towards Mineral Wells and we made a mental note to check it out on the way back.  This joint is on the west side of Weatherford between Weatherford and Cool.  We were a bit taken aback by the sign offering linguine and clams, something we had never seen at any BBQ joint before, and probably never will again.  After our laughter subsided, we moseyed inside for our 5th BBQ meal of the day.  I was surprised not to see ribs on the board inside but I went ahead with sliced brisket and sausage with some garlic mashed potatoes.  Scott ordered a sliced beef sandwich.

After a short wait our food arrived and I got my second surprise of this visit.  The brisket had been sliced with the grain instead of against it, looking for all the world like roast beef.  That made a pull apart test impossible, but I think if it had been carved against the grain it would not have done too bad.  There was a bit of fat left and it was pretty well rendered but just a bit on the stiff side.  There was no smoke flavor.  The jalapeno cheese sausage tasted of neither and just tasted like regular sausage.  The garlic mashed potatoes were smooth and creamy with plenty of garlic flavor and were the highlight of the meal.  They had some interesting bourbon BBQ sauce and you could really taste the hint of bourbon.  Interesting, but not for me.

I made a pit stop and Scott let slip I had a BBQ blog.  That's something I hate because I want to experience every single meal as an average customer, with no special treatment.  We came to an understanding on that later!  However it did help produce the best meat of the stop when the boss man brought us a rib to sample.  It was tender and moist with excellent smoke flavor, the best meat we sampled there today.  As we checked out they brought us a few more ribs to go, gratis, which I left with Scott.  They told us they had only been open a little over a month and were still putting the finishing touches on their operation, so we may need to re-investigate later.  Scott said his sandwich was fine and he bagged it up for later consumption along with the extra ribs.  I would suggest they might want to take a trip up to Peadenville. 

 

Hashknife on the Chisolm, Peadenville, Texas, 8/2/14

sampled about 2:30 pm

http://hashknifebbq.com/ 

Yet another Texas Monthly Top 50 joint.  Originally this was on our "maybe" list as it was out west of Fort Worth and north of Mineral Wells.  However finding one of our other targets closed we decided to head a little farther west than originally planned.  We were glad we did.  This was the highlight of the day.

After ordering at the counter we retired to a corner table where our meals quickly arrived.  All of the meat was steaming hot.

The thick rind of fat on the brisket was still intact and untrimmed and that can either be a good thing or a bad thing.  In this case it was a great thing.  The fat on the brisket was perfectly rendered and turned to molten flavor that blended smoothly with the meat.  Smoke flavor was abundant and delicious.  The pull apart test was textbook.  Easily the best brisket we had all day.  Ribs were similarly excellent, moist and tender.  The sausage was the only average meat item on my plate.  Even though I could see flecks of jalapeno in my sausage the flavor was just not there.  It just came across as average sausage, especially when compared with the great spicy kick I got at Cousin's earlier.  I had seen raves on their french fries online but they were nothing special to my palate.  The brisket was so excellent I went up and ordered another 2 pounds to go.  Click on the photo below and note that the slice on the bottom is so tender that the carver's fork mark remains in the meat.  Now that's tender brisket!

This place required a little extra driving but in this case it was well worth it.  Put this one on your destination BBQ lists.  Oh, and where the hell is Peadenville?  Just go to Mineral Wells and go north 8 miles on 281.

Cousin's BBQ, Fort Worth, Texas, 8/2/14

Sampled about 12:15

http://www.cousinsbbq.com/ 

This was another Texas Monthly Top 50 joint Scott had never sampled, though I have had them several times at Texas Monthly and other BBQ fests. This is your usual cafeteria style BBQ joint where you cue up for que and go down the line adding sides etc.  I grabbed my usual 3 meat plate of sliced brisket, ribs, and jalapeno cheese sausage and added some mac and cheese and broccoli rice. 

Both the brisket and ribs were tender and moist but had no smoke flavor.  The sausage had a great kick, the spiciest I had all day, and was a definite highlight.  It would have killed Scott.  Sides were average.

The Longoria's BBQ, Fort Worth, Texas, 8/2/14

sampled about 11:30 am

 http://www.longoriasbbq.com/

Another Texas Monthly Top 50 joint on Scott's hit list he can now scratch off the list.  On ordering I noticed they had an ingenious way of sending their food orders to the back room for preparation.  They have little plastic coated cards with all their food items on them and they simply circle with a dry erase marker and hand them back.  Easy peasy.  After waiting a few minutes and admiring the cool reproductions of Republic of Texas currency embedded in the table, a nice lady brought our food and the eating began.

Straight away we noticed the brisket was undercooked.  It failed a pull-apart test and was definitely springy and tough.  No smoke flavor, either.  The ribs were much better with nice smoke flavor, tender, moist, and with a nice bite mark.  The sausage had nice flavor but was a bit dry.  I had french fries as a side and they came out nice and hot with a coating of seasoned salt with a bit of sugar added.  Interesting!  I think I will experiment with that at home.  The ribs were the winner here but the brisket was a disappointment.

It was interesting to note this was the first BBQ joint where we had seen James Dean on the wall.  Usually it's John Wayne, Gary Cooper, or Hank Williams.

Off the Bone BBQ, Fort Worth, Texas, 8/2/14

sampled 8/2/14 at 11 am

http://www.offthebonebbq.com/ 

This is one several spots Scott had been wanting to try.   It is not related to the Off the Bone BBQ in Dallas.  We arrived a bit early and found the crew inside were hardcore about keeping the doors locked until exactly 11 am.  After making our way inside at the official opening time, we ordered our usual, mine being brisket, ribs, and a hot link.  After a short wait a nice lady delivered our plates and we were off and running on our latest adventure.  The brisket here was particularly nice.  It was tender and moist with good smoke flavor and well rendered fat, though there was not a lot of fat on my brisket.  Ribs were a mixed bag, with Scott calling his excellent while mine were chewy and tough.  My ribs had good flavor and lite smoke but they were definitely undercooked.  The hot link was neither hot or spicy and just tasted like bland sausage.  The brisket was a winner here but that was about it.

Headed to Fort Worth tomorrow

Scott and I are headed to the town of the cow tomorrow to hit several Texas Monthly Top 50 joints and whatever else we stumble across.  Scott doesn't get to Fort Worth much so we just decided to make a mini trip out of it.  We are planning to hit 5 to 7 joints which is still just the tip of the iceberg in that great BBQ town.