How do you size up a BBQ joint?

[RatSass]

So are you criticizing Kreuz's?

The smell and site of wood burning, what they are known for, how long in business sauce on table = options for me. Normally want to try their brisket as I can count on two fingers the number of times I have thought bbq joint brisket was "as good or better than mine"....franklins was 1 of those...kreuz market was not...). Any place that serves brisket sliced like it came from a deli slicer is an automatic no go.

I also like to try house sausages as I don't make mine from scratch and appreciate a fine link or two.

Walked into kreuz and this is what I saw...(brisket was actually my least favorite of everything we tried here...sausage was on point)

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[lankster35]

I like to walk in to any small Texas town with a small store that sells BBQ or even a building on the side of a country road. You order while they stand there and cut your meat off the pit ....right onto the plate. There are so many good small joints in Central TX you can;t go wrong. I know of two in Waelder where I used to own land and ate there weekly......best Q around and nothing fancy.

 

[gtsum]

So are you criticizing Kreuz's?

No, I should of been more clear in the post...I Thought the whole operation was great...the history, ambiance, pits, the food...all very good. The sausage was very good...brisket was good, but the whole family thought mine was better. I honestly thought I would be "blown away" by the brisket, but i wasn't...it was good, but I expected more honestly. They didn't slice the brisket thinly....it had perfect cuts...I am editing my post above as other bbq joints I've tried do the thin brisket slices

 

[Dueck]

To gtsum, I believe that is Smitty's not Kreuz's.

 

[North Is Up]

I saw this on Guy Fieri's Triple D's one time, but I remember it poorly. Basically, look for a picture of a pig on the storefront sign. It's even better if the pig is wearing a crown.

Surely, you can't miss with something like that. (And, stop calling my Shirley.)

 

[quamdar]

If it tastes good. Wood and no sauce are good indicators but not musts for me...

As far as what I do, at most restaurants BBQ or not I'm trying for the first time I ask for whatever they like the most. You normally see the waiter or counter worker get excited to serve you and seem to get better service.

 

[gtsum]

To gtsum, I believe that is Smitty's not Kreuz's.

Good lord, you are correct. Not sure how I kept saying and thinking kreuz?!?! Smittys it was!

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[DanQuixote]

Maybe not as adventurous as some of y'all, but I rely primarily on word of mouth. If somebody I know has eaten there, and liked it....I probably will too.

 

[Big Kahuna]

#1 on my list is you have to smell smoke, if I don't smell smoke I turn around and walk out the door. I just know from experience it won't be good.

 

[HunkyDory]

First of all the area I live in is not what most would call barbeque country, either by culture or climate. I enjoy trying different peoples approaches to barbecue. There are many. Sometimes I am impressed and sometimes disappointed. Either way it is a learning experience. You can't even expect the same quality from different franchises of the same chain. The experience and pride of the individual cook matters. An example of this is Bubba's in Jackson Hole Wyoming. I eat there about once a year I like their combo of St Louis Ribs, Pulled Pork and Brisket. All good. Yes there is sauce on the table but I am a sauce on the side guy. There is a smoke house with the smells permeating the neighborhood and pallets of Hickory which has to be imported to this area.

While traveling in another town in Wyoming we stopped at another Bubbas. I saw a few pallets of Hickory as we went in. I ordered just the brisket. It was crumbly dry without any detectable smoke flavor. Apparently this was oven cooked brisket. Even the bottled sauce on the table could not bring it back to life. On my way out of the restaurant I stopped and looked at the pallets of wood. It was all old and weathered with no sign of wood being moved around or used. There was no smoke in the air.

While visiting with our friends in that town I learned that the owners of that franchise had bought it after failing at another restaurant chain business. You can't run a smoke house like a McDonalds or whatever.

Q is an art and a passion. I am just learning but it's a fun process.

 

[Greyeagle]

Paper towels holders on the tables

 

[ChrisBarb]

I do like non-traditional approaches. Around here the best bbq was Uncle Pete's (in East Boston, then Revere). Really good old school bbq. You could smell the smoke and Pete always made it a point to visit each table and explain the finer points of good que if the customer was so inclined. His wife was from Thailand. To me there was nothing better than Pete's spares along with a side of his wife's Thai cole slaw. Heaven. Sadly Pete passed on. But that is a perfect example of not judging a book by its cover. Although he did have the biggest baddest offset visible from the front of the restaurant.

 

[Big_AL]

A combo of three things...

1. Brisket - the most difficult meat to cook/keep properly
2. Turkey - the 2nd most difficult meat to cook right
3. The 'Special' or item for which the restaurant is know.

 

[Smoking Piney]

The only BBQ joints in my area are chains - and they don't thrill me.

I eat at Smoking Piney's Q Shack, and I'm my own worse critic. :-D

 

[JS-TX]

For sure the brisket... you get that right and I'll be back. Not to mention spreading the word to my friends. Easily the best brisket I've had recently from a BBQ joint is: Franklins, LA BBQ, Louie Mueller, and Buzzie's BBQ in Kerrville, TX. He came out in BBQ Pitmasters and his brisket was great.

 

[JS-TX]

Has anybody tried Tuffy Stones BBQ restaurant? Seems like it would be pretty good. haha

 

[NickTheGreat]

Not always, but most of the time the new shiny buildings aren't as good as the old crappy ones.

I went to this place in Phoenix in a neighborhood I probably wouldn't have gone in at night, to this little shack in an industrial neighborhood. Not many tables, floor wasn't clean. Best brisket I've ever had. Better than anything I've had in Texas.

 

[JS-TX]

Not always, but most of the time the new shiny buildings aren't as good as the old crappy ones.

I went to this place in Phoenix in a neighborhood I probably wouldn't have gone in at night, to this little shack in an industrial neighborhood. Not many tables, floor wasn't clean. Best brisket I've ever had. Better than anything I've had in Texas.

I've eaten many great meals at rinky dink places before too :biggrin1:
So long as they try to keep it clean I'm good.

 

[SoCalWJS]

Taste.


Don't care if the place is brand new or been around forever. Don't care too much about the ambiance. Lots of napkins/paper towels at the table is nice. A couple of different options with respect to sauce is nice - at the table, ordering with or w/o sauce. Yes, I want to see a stack of wood and get a nice aroma from the smoker, but it still all comes down to taste. Haven't found much good out here unfortunately (Inland Empire of SoCal before, and now SLO. I can find great Tri tip and Ribs, very good sausage and chicken. but no good Brisket so far).

Taste is everything!

 

[sleebus.jones]

another place used a regular traeger pellet smoker that you could see outside of their building. i mean, that's ok for home use, but if they were serious, i think they'd get something a little more commercial grade.

If the Q's good, who cares? I'm not eating the pit! :wink: