Fourth Stop, 10 Days of BBQ, Zavala's Barbecue, Grand Prairie

 

https://www.zavalasbarbecue.com/

sampled 7/11/25 about 11 am

Conveniently located between Brisket Lane and Sloppy Juan Way, Zavala's is always a great stop and this is my favorite meal, so far, out of the first 4 days.  Patti, Scott, and David, joined me to start the line.  Ribs and brisket were great but the sausage was outstanding.  Many, many places offer jalapeno cheese sausage, but few bring the real jalapeno flavor and heat like Zavala's.  They chop their jalapenos fresh for their sausage and that makes the difference.  The poppers were excellent, too.  They usually sell those as a soft taco, but I convinced them to just serve me the individual pieces.  Good eatin' either way.

Third Stop, 10 Days of BBQ, Panther City Barbecue, Fort Worth

https://www.panthercitybbq.com/

Sampled 7/10/25 about 11 am

Scott and I were first in line at Panther City today and even got to visit with El Jefe a bit while we waited.  Another day and another of my favorite DFW BBQ joints.  Sadly, their excellent twinkies are only available on weekends, but I made due with pork belly poppers.  

    

Second Stop, 10 days of BBQ, Hurtado Barbecue, Arlington

 

https://hurtadobbq.com/

Another great stop today with Scott and Patti.  It's a great thing when you can't decide what the best thing on your plate is, because it's all great.  It might have been the pork belly burnt ends, but maybe not.  My to-go box had a belt around it.

First stop, 10 days of BBQ, Meat U Anywhere BBQ, Grapevine

 

https://www.meatuanywhere.com/

First stop on our celebration was Meat U Anywhere in Grapevine.  We rolled up about 11 am and found no line inside.  Scott and Jack joined me.  I got the Texas Trinity and everything was excellent.  The brisket was moist, tender and had plenty of smoke flavor.  The ribs were so good I went back and got 3 more.  The sausage had lots of gooey cheese and a nice jalapeno bite.  

More  meat tomorrow!

20 years of BBQ!

Hard to believe, but it has almost been 20 years since I started this little BBQ blog.  This all started when my friend Scott, who was raised in New York City, said he always wanted to drive around Texas and try different BBQ joints.  That sounded fun to me, so we just started doing it.  We made our first stop on July 24, 2005 and there have been many, many plates of smoked meat since.

We had two inspirations for our BBQ mania.  The first was the Texas Monthly Top 50 list.  Scott originally wanted to hit all their top joints and he continues to seek them out.  I was more interested in discovery.  Checking out every little joint we came across while traveling between the top Texas Monthly spots.  

Our second inspiration was Tex Smith's original BBQ blog.  Tex was a volunteer at the same community radio station where Scott and I volunteered.  I think he had the original web address TexasBBQ.com, or something close to that.  Tex seemed to always be eating BBQ and he had some great suggestions of places and methods while running around trying to find the best spots.  I'm sure there were probably other BBQ bloggers around back then, but Tex was our main inspiration.  He had to give it up when his BBQ diet started to seriously affect his health.  Fortunately, we have avoided such complications.  At least, so far.

Originally, I started blogging our adventures on Yahoo 360.  I figured that would be the best way to not have to answer the same questions over and over, plus it would help us remember where we had been.  After a few years, Yahoo ended their blogging app and I moved everything over to Google.  At first we used a numbered grading system, following what Tex had been doing.  That quickly went away and we have just been winging it ever since.

We have eaten BBQ all over Texas and a few in other states.  We have attended all the major BBQ Festivals, some, many times.  I've even learned to smoke some pretty good meat in my own back yard.  We have met many nice people and had lots of adventures along the way.

When I realized we were so close to the 20 year mark, I figured we needed to celebrate.  Scott is travelling on the actual anniversary date, so we moved the celebration up a couple of weeks.  Starting today, we'll be visiting 10 of our favorite DFW BBQ joints in 10 days.  That alone shows how much the BBQ world has changed in 20 years.  Back in 2005, I doubt there was any true craft BBQ in north Texas.  Today there are at least a dozen quality joints that can compare with any of the top joints on the Texas Monthly list.  One of my favorite joints is just 2 miles from my house.  Scott's favorite is only about 3 miles from his house.  Life is good.

Three days, two briskets

 

sampled June 26 and 29.

My wife's nephew has an industrial sized freezer and is kind enough to keep the bargain briskets my Mrs. snaps up when they go on sale.  Once or twice a year, we will double up and smoke one brisket for us and one for him.  Since we only have a small barrel smoker, that means 2 separate smokes.  We cranked out the first one on June 26.  Even though this brisket has been sitting in the freezer for almost a year, it came out perfectly tender, juicy, and with nice smoke flavor.

We did the second one on June 26 and Russ came over to get a lesson on brisket trimming.  I just do what Aaron Franklin does on his videos, only not as well, as I have done a lot fewer than he has!  We trimmed the fat cap down to about 1/4 of an inch, cut off any sharp edges, and smoothed out the overall form to make it as aerodynamic as possible.  The only seasoning I use is Don Green's "All 'N 1".  We have an extra step of cutting our briskets in half to fit in our little smoker.

I put the fatty end on the top grate (more heat) and the flat on the lower grate above a water pan.  I smoke it hard for 6 hours, then into a big cooking bag in the oven to finish it off.  It cooks for about an hour a pound until the internal temperature reaches around 202 degrees.  Then it goes into a towel lined cooler for at least an hour, sometimes overnight (the Vencil Mares method).  The results are buttery smooth, tender, and juicy.

We sent the Thursday brisket home with Russ and kept the Saturday brisket for our fridge.  It warms up great in the microwave and makes our kitchen smell like smoke every time.

The Original Roy Hutchin's BBQ, Trophy Club, 6/5/25

 

https://www.royhutchinsbbq.com/

sampled 6/5/25 about 7:45 pm

Our buddy John was back in town this weekend and he had a hankering for some of Roy's ribs, so off we went.  When we arrived the line was just up to the door and it took us about 20 minutes to get our food.

Everything was excellent, as always, though there was not a hint of smoke flavor in anything.  The pork belly burnt ends were tender and juicy, the ribs were excellent, and the Texas twinkies were as good as ever.  This place did not even get an honorable mention in the new Texas Monthly Top 50, but that does not seem to be hurting their business at all.  The fact that they are open 7 days a week until 9 pm will mean we will be back often.  They are set to open their second location in Arlington later this year.