Houston Food Blog

​There was a cloud of smoke rising from the parking lot of Buffalo Fred's Ice house on Shepherd last Sunday morning. I turned my car into the parking lot to see what was going on and found a retired truck driver named Jesse Gamino smoking chickens on an oversize barbecue trailer. His rig had an outline of Texas cut from steel sticking up from the top of the smoking chamber. Jesse was wearing an apron that looked like it was made out of a Texas flag.

​For some reason, Luling City Market (4726 Richmond Ave) is constantly balls-to-the-walls packed with suits at lunchtime. It also sucks beyond compare. Never have we had pork ribs so horrendously rubbery -- Buc-ee's jerky is more tender than this garbage. Less than average potato salad failed to garner more than one lousy bite. Garlic-jalapeño-beef-pork sausage should have been called bland-fail-tough-fail-boring-fail sausage. The watered down Luling City Market Bar-Q-Que sauce was just bad.

Photos by J.C. Reid

​The West Alabama Ice House recently hosted the final round of the "Win Texas Land" promotion sponsored by Lone Star Beer. The premise is simple: Pass various tests which prove your true Texan-ness and win some Texas land. Three finalists participated: Corey Lossing of Ingleside, Laurence Dodd III of Leander and Paul Ortiz of San Antonio.

The competition included the following activities: a washers toss (similar to horseshoes), a cooler-filling contest (a race to pack a cooler with beer and ice), a barbecue challenge (a piece of Texas beef must be grilled to order), and a Texas trivia/geography challenge.

I was particularly interested in the barbecue challenge, as I was one of the judges.

Just like any good Louisianan knows how to make a roux, any good Texan should know how to barbecue. And Lone Star Beer -- the official beer of Texas despite being owned by Pabst Brewing in Milwaukee -- is putting that to the test this Thursday evening at the West Alabama Ice House.

Photo by Robb Walsh

​Bar-B-Que Blues, a new barbecue joint located in the Harry Green's old place on Almeda, is the subject of this week's Café review. The ribs I sampled there were outstanding, but the brisket could have used a little more smoke. When I asked pit boss Neil Wilkins what kind of smoker he was using, he hemmed and hawed.

So after I was finished with lunch, I drove around back and to see if the smoker was visible. I was shocked to encounter a little barrel-type smoker somewhat smaller than the one I have at home. Maybe there's a bigger commercial unit tucked away out of sight somewhere, but it sure looks like Neil Wilkins is trying to run a restaurant out of backyard barbecue smoker.

Anybody got one they can loan him?

Photos by Robb Walsh

​Sampling the goods at shade-tree barbecue stands is one of my favorite pursuits. So when I saw a smoking barbecue trailer with a crowd around it in a parking lot on Fry Road just north of the Katy Freeway last Saturday, I pulled over and checked it out. The sign advertised smoked meat and homemade sides, so I ordered a plate to go. It was kind of pricey at $15. When the proprietor opened a roasting pan to get my brisket, my heart sank. The piece of meat didn't have any fat on it, and there wasn't any liquid in the pot either. If I had to guess, I'd say this guy smoked a trimmed brisket without a fat cap. I asked him where he was from.

Photos by J.C. Reid

BBQ sampling at Louie Mueller in Taylor, Texas

​The proposition is simple. Eat at every one of Texas Monthly's top five Texas barbecue joints -- all in one day. Easier said than done, right? A typical visit to one barbecue joint usually results in a stuffed belly and a food coma. Is it possible -- even practical -- to visit the five holy shrines of Texas barbecue in one 12-hour period?

Yes, it is. I know because I recently completed a "Texas Barbecue Day Trip" with a group of friends. We set out from Houston one Saturday morning and returned that same evening, visiting all five joints and a couple in between. Yes, we were stuffed. Yes, it was an epic journey and unforgettable experience. And along the way we learned a few tips and tricks that may help pave the way for future barbecue adventurers. Below you will find a "how-to guide" for Texas Barbecue Day Tripping.

Before we get started, there is one question that you may be asking: Why do it all in one day when you could spend a leisurely weekend making the barbecue rounds? There are, of course, the usual budget and schedule constraints. Doing it this way is faster and cheaper. But for a true barbecue lover, the real reason is the experience of sampling Texas's best barbecue all in one day, one right after another, comparing and contrasting the whole way. Well, that and just being able to say you did it.

Photos by Robb Walsh

Highway 59 slows to a crawl as it meanders through the small town of Timpson. At a traffic light I glanced to my left and noticed a barbecue smoker set up in an abandoned Texaco Station. A hand-lettered wooden sign said "Coming Soon: Ribs & More" in red paint. And then over top of that were two small white signs advertising sliced and chopped beef sandwiches. We were on our way to Arkansas and running behind, so I didn't stop.

But my decision nagged at me as I drove. Sometimes the food at the occasional restaurants we call shade-tree barbecue stands in Texas is terrible. But more often, these dedicated amateurs turn out truly exceptional barbecue. You never know when you're going to see one of these places. And when you do, you never know if it will be there next time you drive by. After about five miles, I turned the car around and drove back to Timpson, much to the chagrin of my traveling companions. I just had to check it out.

Photos by Mike Giglio

It started with 24 ounces of Icehouse.

Texas Traveler was headed to Austin Friday morning with a couple of friends. We'd already stopped at the overflowing Buc-ee's along the way, and managed to secure some fudge samples -- peanut butter, rocky road and cookies and cream, all equally great -- to hold us over. Next up was Salt Lick, the famed BBQ haven in Driftwood with the option for all-you-can-eat brisket, sausage and ribs. And at Salt Lick, you can bring your own beer.

The first mistake had been forgetting a cooler, leading to the grudging purchase of an $8.99 Styrofoam box at a ramshackle gas station along the way. The second was filling that cooler with 18 Keystone Lights for the men and 12 Bud Lights for the lady. And the third was the 24-ouncers we grabbed for the road.

At around 1 p.m., the atmosphere at Salt Lick was more festival that restaurant. People were sitting along the stone walls lining the walkway, and on the benches in the courtyard outside, where a guy with a guitar and tip jar played country music for the crowd. The Salt Lick veterans were easy to tell. They walked inside, got their food to go, and brought it into the air-conditioned and relatively empty comfort of the building just across the way.

We signed up for a table. The wait was more than an hour. Which meant that, by the time we made it inside, we were a lethal combination of hungry, drunk and cocky -- enough to openly worry about the sign on the wall limiting dining time to 90 minutes.

Photos by Katharine Shilcutt

Local eating club Houston Chowhounds held its second annual BBQ Smackdown this past Saturday afternoon at Pearl Bar, where brisket and ribs from six area restaurants competed to determine the best 'cue in town. Last year's competition saw entries from Swinging Door, Pierson's, Goode Co., Burns BBQ, Luling City Market and Kozy Kitchen. Pierson & Co. walked away with the top brisket prize last year, while Luling captured the ribs crown.

This year, the top three barbecue restaurants in both categories came to defend their status. Pierson's, Luling and Burns BBQ went up against Virgie's, Thelma's and Vincek's. Virgie's would have competed last year had it been open when the pick-up was scheduled, but a miscommunication and family emergency meant it was out of the running. Between Virgie's eagerness to defend its honor this go-around and Thelma's efforts to recapture patrons since reopening after a devastating fire, the group of competitors was fiercely driven.

The dozens of people who attended the event served as judges, grabbing score sheets as they came in and evaluating the ribs and brisket in areas like tenderness, smoke, flavor and moistness. In the end, though, only two restaurants reigned supreme.

Photo by Robb Walsh

There's no reason that you have to choose between braising and barbecuing. While working on a new backyard barbecue cookbook, I discovered that the two techniques can be combined with awesome results. Start off by smoking or grilling the meat. Next, prepare a braising liquid in the kitchen and bring it to a boil. Put an oven-proof roasting pan on your grill directly over the hot part of the fire. Carefully add the hot braising liquid to the pan on the grill and return it to a simmer with the heat of the coals. Put the meat in the liquid and continue smoking, turning the meat every half hour or so. Finally, wrap the pan in aluminum foil to finish cooking.

You can use lots of different meats including pork butt, leg of lamb or chicken. Beef short ribs do especially well with this technique. Try it out this weekend -- here's a recipe:

Texas BBQ is a new book of photographs from University of Texas Press by photographer Wyatt McSpadden, a longtime contributor to Texas Monthly and a verifiable barbecue fanatic. McSpadden was on the SXSW barbecue panel with me a couple of months ago, and we signed books afterward and talked for a while about the difference between Texas barbecue culture and the Memphis in May cook-off circus. I have admired McSpadden's work for a long time.

Photos by Robb Walsh

Whenever I drive to San Antonio, I try to stop for barbecue in Luling. There is no better breakfast in the world than juicy brisket and "wet" links with a sleeve of saltines. You don't have to worry about arriving before lunchtime -- City Market, the legendary barbecue joint on Davis Street, opens at 7 a.m.

First you visit a smoky room in the back, where the butchers carve smoked meats and serve them up on red butcher paper. Then you go up to the cashier, where you get your drinks, barbecue sauce, knives and napkins.

Looking for a fun project this weekend? I recommend you go to your nearest Fiesta Supermarket, buy yourself a cow head and make some delicious barbacoa.

You'll need a large barbecue unit--like a barrel smoker, a big aluminum roasting pan, and a whole lot of patience. The complete recipe for "Backyard Barbacoa" will be appearing in my new book "The Tex-Mex Grill" scheduled for release in the Spring of 2010. Meanwhile, here's a video that will give you the broad strokes.

Enjoy!

photo by Robb Walsh

It's not too late to sign up for the most serious barbecue seminar in the state. BBQ 101 is a three-day professional training session sponsored by the National Barbecue Association at the Texas A&M Meat Science Center in College Station. The class will be held next week beginning on the morning of Tuesday May 12 and ending on Thursday May 14th in the afternoon. The class is intended for barbecue pros, but open to anyone.

Participants will spend a lot of time in a meat locker, so bring a sweater if you're coming. The course will feature a overview of animal science and an in-depth look at how to cook various cuts of beef, pork and poultry along with a butchery lesson from the top meat scientists in the nation. Rubs, marinades and barbecue sauces from different regions of the country will be compared and a hands-on tutorial in mixing seasonings will be offered by the pros at Adam's Extracts. Yours truly will be covering the history of barbecue.

photo by Robb Walsh

The brisket in the steam table bin looked hopelessly dried out when I stopped into Barney's BBQ at FM 1960 just east of the Hardy Toll Road around 12:30 in the afternoon. I asked for a sliced brisket and sausage sandwich and requested my meat from the fatty end of the brisket. The guy doing the slicing found a fairly juicy piece of meat. I was pleasantly surprised by the quality of the brisket. I wasn't very impressed by the tiny portion. The sausage was nothing to write home about either. I asked for sauce on the bun and added the onions and pickles myself. Not a bad sandwich, all in all. But don't order from the drive-through, you need to supervise these guys.

This place is five minutes from Intercontinental Airport--it could come in handy if you need a place to buy barbecue to take on a plane.

-Robb Walsh

Photo by Keith Plocek

Thelma's, the well-loved barbecue place savaged by a February fire, has reopened.

It's got a new address, 3755 Southmore Boulevard, at the corner of Southmore and Scott.

They're so happy about it they couldn't take their fingers off the caps key:

MON-FRI 11AM-7PM; SAT 11:30AM-7PM AND CLOSED ON SUNDAY
THANKS FOR SPREADING THE WORD!!!
THELMA REALLY MISSED HER REGULARS:)
SHE THANKS EVERYONE WHO CAME ON APRIL 1ST TO THE GRAND OPENING TO WISH
HER WELL/SUPPORT...THANKS FOR YOUR PRAYERS, FLOWERS WELCOMING HER TO
THE NEIGHBORHOOD..MY MOM WAS SPEECHLESS...

THANK YOU!!

photo by Robb Walsh

Thelma's B-B-Q will reopen at the corner of Scott and Southmore sometime in the not-too-distant future. The sign out front is already up. A note on the front door says the business will reopen on April 1st, but I'm thinking that's an April Fools Day joke. Granted, the dining room looks ready to go, but there is some masonry work to do and that hasn't even started yet. The building Thelma is taking over was previously used as a barbecue restaurant and there's a nice-looking brick pit already in place--it just needs some repair work. If I had to guess, I'd say we might get some of Thelma's smoked meat by May or June.

Thelma sends her regards and gratitude to the many well-wishers who left comments here. Drive by and say "hi" if you like. With any luck the relocation of Thelma's will help out some of the other restaurants in the neighborhood--like the famous juke joint called Etta's which is a few doors down the street. I used to eat Etta's enchiladas on Sunday nights when they had live blues. Maybe I'll go back and try them again while I wait for Thelma to start making brisket and catfish again.

-Robb Walsh

photo by Robb Walsh

After talking about Texas barbecue and the health benefits of brisket all day, I was ready for a serious barbecue sandwich on the way back to Houston. So I stopped at Clyde's Wyldwood B-B-Q Shack and Casino. There I asked for a sliced brisket sandwich--a decision I regretted as I watched the woman behind the counter slice a very dried-out looking piece of brisket. Thinking fast, I asked the lady to add a link of sausage cut in thin slices on top. The juicy sausage and lots of barbecue sauce moistened the dry meat.

Clyde's Wyldwood B-B-Q Shack and Casino opened for business just north of Bastrop on Highway 71 last December. You can't miss it--it's several stories tall and it has a barbecue pit in the shape of a locomotive on the front porch. Waterwheels fashioned from cut-up propane tanks, a golf ball cannon and other goofy contraptions decorate the grounds. There are a bunch of slot machines on the second story--but the casino is not yet open due to the fact the gambling is lllegal.

The location of the nearest Texas barbecue joint and what to order when you get there seem to be the first questions on the minds of many visitors to SXSW in Austin. So this year, veteran barbecue writer Joe Nick Patoski put together a Texas barbecue panel for conference-goers. Panelists included Rick Schmidt, the owner of Kruez Market in Lockhart; John Morthland, who writes about barbecue for Texas Monthly; Wyatt McSpadden, who has a new photo book out called Texas BBQ; NPR's Kitchen Sisters, who just published a book called Hidden Kitchens Texas; and myself.

Mostly the panel dealt with definitions and debated the "Sauce or No Sauce" thing. The most significant piece of information I gleaned from the gathering was that a study by Texas A&M has identified brisket as a significant source of healthy monounsaturated fats such as those found in olive oil. The "depots" of healthy fat are found in brisket from corn-fed beef.

Jang Guem Tofu & BBQ House in the giant Asian shopping center at 9896 Bellaire, is one of two Korean "tofu and barbecue" restaurants in town. Tofu Village, located in the shopping center across the street, also specializes in this unlikely-sounding pair-up. But once you try some fiery "soon tofu" and hot bulgogi, you'll stop laughing.

"Soon tofu" (soon tubu jjigae) combines a spicy broth, your choice of meat or seafood, and creamy soft tofu chunks. The soup comes to the table boiling hot and bubbling over in a stone bowl with a bowl of rice and a raw egg on the side. You break the egg into the hot soup and stir it around. Then you spoon rice and soup into an individual serving bowl. The most popular dinner combo at both Jang Guem Tofu & BBQ House and Tofu Village across the street is a bowl of soon tofu with a plate of Korean barbecue. While Tofu and BBQ is fairly new in Houston, these restaurants have been popular for a while in Los Angeles.

-Robb Walsh

Photo by Margaret Downing

Click here for plenty more photos of fried goodness.

The food was carefully laid out on each judge's plate. First up, a beef burrito taco. We had palate cleansers (pickles, crackers and green grapes) and water at the ready. Cameras were clicking and video was running. A microphone was on each of the three round judging tables. It was picture perfect. The wind picked up, blowing napkins and judging slips all over the place.

It also airlifted the plate of the judge next to me. John DeMers watched as his plate and its food did a complete flip in the air and came down the wrong way. "Shit," he said, using a word he'd never put on the air doing his Delicious Mischief show on KTRH radio. Two plates later, his rice / etoufee mixture came winging my way as well. I zigged, he intercepted in mid-air and somehow it didn't land on my shirt.

Right away I knew two things: you can never tell what's going to happen in a food judging contest and how stupid can you be to wear a white shirt to one of these things.

The barbecue at Davis Meat Co. on Lockwood is worthy of your attention. The brisket is tender, juicy and tastes fabulous on a sandwich. And the housemade coarsely-ground pork and beef link is one of the best sausages made within the city limits. Unfortunately, the pork ribs come from oversize slabs, rather than the succulent little three and half and down slabs that yield the best rib meat. Overall, the barbecue is long-cooked and tender, but the smoke flavor is not quite as pronounced as we like it. Davis Meat Co. uses hickory wood in a stainless steel Old Smokey rig with a built-in gas burner.

The sides, which come from the exceptional steam table at Davis Meat Co., are far better than those found in typical Texas barbecue restaurants. Instead of the industrial potato salad, beans and slaw that are usually slopped alongside our smoked meat, Davis Meat Co. offers greens with smoked pork, candied yams, and half dozen or so others. The stand-out choice is the pinto beans, which are worked into creaminess with huge chunks of the aforementioned sausage floating around in them.

The cut-to-the-chase barbecue lunch order here has got to be a sliced beef sandwich with a side of beans. While you're there, get a slice of hog's head cheese for tomorrow's breakfast.

-Robb Walsh

This is some awesome barbecued lamb. It's the result of a fairly complicated process--a hybrid of braising and smoking. But I figure this is the season for a challenging barbecue recipe, what with the Rodeo BBQ Championship coming up and all. I figure Houston barbecue enthusiasts are ready to show off their stuff. (I coulda been a contender!)

The smoky-flavored, falling-off-the-bone tender meat this recipe yields is even better than the stellar barbacoa de borrego at Gerardo's Drive-In Grocery. At Gerardo's, the kitchen crew steams the lamb in giant steel-jacketed gas-fired kettles over a chile broth in a process related to the stewed goat dish called birria.

The latest "news" on the smoldered Thelma's Bar-B-Que on 1020 Live Oak is... nothing all that new.

Alicia White, with the Houston Fire Department, told Hair Balls that since the cause of the fire is still under investigation, information beyond the basics isn't going to be released any time soon (the basics being that the call came in to the HFD around 2:05 a.m. on January 31). White said that records show that Thelma's suffered $10,000 in estimated damages.

Though "re-building" does not necessarily imply "re-opening," the restaurant's dead-end phone number leads to a voicemail which bids a farewell, for now:

"Thelma's Bar B Que, we're now closed due to the fire, and we're in the process of rebuilding. Thanks for your concern, thanks for your prayers. Keep in touch. Thank you."

-- Melanie Pang

Nationally famous Thelma's Bar B Que at 1020 Live Oak closed due to a fire. The front of the business appeared as ramshackle as always, but a sign on the door announced the bad news. The rear of the building where the barbecue pit used to be was badly damaged as was the kitchen area. The old-fashioned cinderblock barbecue pit used at Thelma's had a small metal door on the outside where the wood was loaded and a grate with a steel door inside the building where the meats were cooked. The fire appears to have originated in the fire box or chimney as that part of the building has been torn away. The fire reportedly happened last Friday.

Thelma's was first reviewed in the Houston Press in July of 2002 and thereafter achieved national noteriety when the restaurant's brisket sandwich was featured in a 2002 PBS documentary called Sandwiches You Will Like. Thelma's has been featured in the pages of Texas Monthly and in Steven Raichlen's book on regional American barbecue, BBQ USA. There has been no word yet on the extent of the damage or plans for rebuilding.

Robb Walsh

Where there's smoke, there's firemen barbecuing up a mess of briskets, sausage and chicken. The Houston Firefest event was this past Saturday, October 25. Thanks to a friend of mine, I got to go hang out the night before as the different crews fired up their smokers to prepare for the Saturday competitions.

I got to chow down with the Red Knights Team, who got second place in the brisket competition the next day. Lucky me. Here are some photos of the event.

Dodging Hurricane Ike last Friday, Juliet Stewart led her family and friends out to Giddings to stay on some land she owns there. Fourteen men, women and children from Missouri City, Sunnyside and the Southeast end of Houston camped out in two RVs, a tractor-trailer and a car. I ran into the caravan in the parking lot of the famous Southside Market on Highway 290 in Elgin. Juliet Stewart's brother, Pete Pryor, who was driving one of the RVs, said they were on their way back home now.

"You know, if you are coming from Giddings, you're heading in the wrong direction," I pointed out to Drexler Stewart, Juliet's son who was driving the tractor-trailer.

Clarence Pierson, whose outstanding smoked pork is featured in this week's Cafe review, pulls a brisket out of his bank safe-shaped pit.

Pierson & Company's smoker was built by one of Houston's most famous custom barbecue pit builders, BBQ Pits by Klose (2216 W. 34th Street, 800-487-7487).

These are the guys who built the world's largest barbecue smoker, the smoker that looks like a Continental jet, the smoker that looks like a beer bottle, and countless other outrageous rigs. There are photos of their pits on the company Web site, along with a nice collection of barbecue recipes and a place to order a free catalog.

The custom smokers go for tidy sums, but the simplest Klose smokers start at $69. -- Robb Walsh

This week's review of Pierson & Company put me in a BBQ state of mind.

It's my theory that the greatest barbecue in Texas is being served at some out-of-the-way barbecue joint that has yet to be discovered. Which is why I like to stop at barbecue trailers and those here-today, gone-tomorrow shade tree stands with hand-painted signs that pop up on summer weekends. That's also why I tend to fill up at gas stations that sell brisket sandwiches along with the unleaded.

I am always on the look-out for barbecue signs -- the weirder, the better. Here are some classics. -- Robb Walsh